Von „religiösen Vergemeinschaftungen“ zu „spirituellen Erfahrungen“ – eine genealogische Betrachtung des religionssoziologischen Diskurses

Abstract

Schlüsselwörter: Religionssoziologischer Diskurs, Religionsbegriff, religiöse Erfahrung, individuelle Religion, Spiritualität.

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From “collective religion” to “spiritual experience” – a genealogy of sociological discourse on religion.

Abstract

While early sociology of religion theorists like Weber and Durkheim were  interested in the societal level of religion, this conceptualization of religion changed in the 1960s. Luckmann, for example, assumes that religion does not loose its signifi cance in modern society but changes its social form. Luckmann, as well as Berger and Luhmann, assume an individualization of religion, meaning that the question of belief becomes a private decision and an individual experience. This point of view has had a great impact on the latest debates concerning the concept of religion. Currently, definitions which focus on religious experience or religious communication are enjoying great popularity in the sociology of religion. Supposing that such conceptualizations of religion can be problematic, we examine the current sociology of religion discourse and critically discuss various definitions of religion. In so doing, we present an alternative sociological approach to religion.

Keywords: Sociology of Religion, definition of religion, religious expe rience, individual Religion, Spirituality.

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Bibliographie: Daniel, Anna/Hillebrandt, Frank: Von „religiösen Vergemeinschaftungen“ zu „spirituellen Erfahrungen“ – eine genealogische Betrachtung des religionssoziologischen Diskurses, PERIPHERIE, 2-2014, S. 187-211. https://doi.org/10.3224/peripherie.v34i134-135.22445