Sociology of Religion - Abstracts

 

SOCIOLOGY INDEX
Religion and Mental Health: The Case of American Muslims
Amber Haque - Department of Psychology, International Islamic University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; amberhaque@yahoo.com
Abstract: Muslims have lived in America for centuries and their numbers are increasing like those of any other ethnic or religious group living in America. There is a growing awareness among mental health professionals of how to deal with mental health issues of the American minorities but little, if any, research is available on American Muslims. American living presents unique challenges to the Muslims who stick to their Islamic faith. The nature of Islamic faith and the concept of mental health in Islam are presented in this paper as well as the stressors that lead to mental health problems among the American Muslims. The article also covers the response of American Muslim communities to such challenges and the prescriptions given in Islam for positive mental health. Recommendations are outlined in the hope of initiating relevant research that would address the psychological needs of this largely neglected American Muslim minority. - kluweronline.com/issn/0022-4197

Religion and Sexuality: The Perversion of a Natural Marriage
David Leeming
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Religion and Health. Emeritus Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut
Abstract: From the beginning of human history religion and sexuality have shared certain characteristics. But what existed in early history as a natural linguistic and liturgical marriage between two activities with certain shared emotional, psychological, and even physical goals, ended in most of the “great religions” centuries ago in divorces fueled by patriarchal fear and prejudice. The split between sexuality and religion is especially evident in the repression of women and the criminalization of sexuality characteristic of our Abrahamic religions, factors that have led all too often to tragic and perverted parodies of the old natural marriage. - kluweronline.com/issn/0022-4197

Chinese Conversion to Evangelical Christianity: The Importance of Social and Cultural Contexts Why Conservative Ethnic Churches Are Growing: The Case of Chinese Protestant Churches - uh.edu/~fyang/sociolog.htm


The Silence of the Body
Melvyn A. Hill
Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. York University in Toronto. Blanton-Peale Institute
Abstract: As a practice meant to release the subject from the narcissism that informs the concerns and preoccupations of her or his ego, psychoanalysis aims at a transformation of the subject comparable to the Buddha's quest for enlightenment. In order to clarify this subtle and difficult dimension of psychoanalytic work, this essay draws upon a clinical example and discusses it in the context of both Freud's and Lacan's ideas about the role of narcissism in the formation of the ego, and the Buddha's doctrine of Anatta, which insists that the concept of the Atman, or self, is based upon an illusory thought. - kluweronline.com/issn/0022-4197

 

The Cultural Significance of New Religious Movements: The Case of Soka Gakkai. - Author/s: Lorne L. Dawson - This paper advances previous arguments I have made about assessing the cultural significance of new religious movements (Dawson 998a, 1 998b) using the example of Soka Gakkai. An examination of this Japanese-based, but now world-wide, new religion highlights two things: (1) it demonstrates that there is an intimate relationship between the investigation of the "success" and the "significance" of a new religious movement, though the two concerns arc not necessarily linked; and (2), and it points to the most methodologically sound foci for future research on both topics through the comparative analysis of new religious movements.

The bible and sociology.(1998 Paul Hanly Furfey Lecture) - Author/s: John A. Coleman - The main proposition I want to argue is that a marriage of social-scientific critical studies of the Bible with literary and rhetorical criticism actually makes for, not only better biblical scholarship, but better sociology.

The sociology of religion of W.E.B. Du Bois. - Author/s: Phil Zuckerman - The goals of this article are: 1) to call attention to Du Bois's sociology of religion in the hopes of generating more attention to and appreciation of his work; and 2) to summarize his contributions, illustrating their continued relevance for the sociological study of religion. In brief, Du Bois's treatment of religion is typified by three characteristics: 1) a reliance upon standard sociological methods in generating data; 2) a focus on the religious life of African Americans; and 3) special attention paid to the this-worldly, communal, specifically social rewards which religious affiliation provides

Syncretic sociology: towards a cross-disciplinary study of religion. (1997 Paul Hanly Furfey Lecture)  - Author/s: Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo - While this way of expressing concern is hyperbole, the crisis in academia's analysis of religion is very real. I believe it affects anyone who would study religion, including sociologists. In less dramatic language, I would state the problem as follows: Epistemological challenges to objectivity in the study of religion have made more important sociology's focus on empirical and statistical data, but paradoxically this focus makes sociology more inaccessible to the other fields of religious analysis.

Sociology and public theology: a case study of pro-choice/ profile common ground.(1998 Presidential Address) - Author/s: James R. Kelly - Why should there be an Association for the Sociology of Religion? The reason used to be clear. ASR's parent association was the American Catholic Sociological Society, which began its organizational life in 1938 and ended it in 1971 as it transformed itself into the Association for the Sociology of Religion.

Reflections on the Sociology of Religion today. (The 2000 Paul Hanly Furfey Lecture). - Author/s: Peter L. Berger - Since its inception, presumably dated in the classical period of Durkheim and Weber, the sociology of religion has been fascinated by the phenomenon of secularization. This term, of course, has been endlessly debated, modified and occasionally repudiated. But for most purposes it could be defined quite simply as a process in which religion diminishes in importance both in society and in the consciousness of individuals. And most sociologists looking at this phenomenon have shared the view that secularization is the direct result of modernization.

Rethinking religious social action: what is "rational" about rational-choice theory? - Author/s: James V. Spickard - At the level of entire communities and societies, models of religious markets and religious regulation challenge the predictions of secularization theory, asserting instead the vitality of religion in pluralistic settings.

Religion-Online - Archive provides full text of books and articles on a broad variety of issues, including the Bible, the sociology of religion and local worship. - religion-online.org/

 

Sociology of Religion Project - Conservative force means either 'resisting social change' or 'involving traditional beliefs/customs'. ... - thegrendel.freeserve.co.uk/sr4.htm

Theologypapers.com. Site has been created and maintained by Professor Jeffrey Hadden at the University of Virginia. - http://www.theologypapers.com/categories/158-007.html

Sociology and public theology: a case study of pro-choice/ profile common ground.

findarticles.com/m0SOR/2_60/55208515/p1/article.jhtml

 

Papers and reports on the sociology of religion

theologypapers.com/categories/158-007.html

 

The Sociology of Religion....DURKHEIM Durkheim's earlier concern with social regulation was in the main focused on the more external forces of control

hewett.norfolk.sch.uk/curric/soc/durkheim/durkw3.htm

 

Scientology and the Definition of Religion

Alejandro Frigerio of the Catholic University of Argentina examines Scientology from a sociological standpoint. - qualifiedscientology.org/