The classical works of Marx, Weber and Durkheim are central to the formation of modern day sociological interpretations. Within the study of social life, Marx, Weber and Durkheim have their own distinctive characteristics on how they perceive the structure of society. The aim of this essay is to explore and evaluate some of the key sociological perspectives held by Marx, Weber, and Durkheim in relation to the subject of religion. In order to undertake this it is necessary to clarify a general definition of the sociology of religion. The sociology of religion endeavours to ascertain the explanations of social life in regards to religion and the diverse roles it plays within society.
Critically assess with reference to William James, the argument from religious experience. The argument from religious experience seems to state that we can experience God and therefore God must exist, for surely what we experience must be real. William James, American psychologist and philosopher, worked to expand on and validate this topic. James defined religious experience as ‘The feelings, acts and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatsoever they may consider divine.’ He then identified the four types of mystical experiences: ineffable, noetic, transient, passive. An ineffable experience is one that cannot easily be articulated.
This is especially true of Christianity. In short it can be said that theology works on religion. Theology is in fact based on religion. It is a system of studying about God especially Christian religion. Religion does not deal with any sort of rational analysis.
The main point that Jung makes in relation to communism by actually getting people to literally having self-knowledge, connecting this to religious experience that becomes the only counter-balance to a human being and society, it is the unconscious areas of ourselves that we have absolutely no knowledge about whatsoever, as our only conception for gaining the experience. Jung is stating these kinds of experiences can’t be found plainly, an individual must self-explore create his own weltanschauung. A human being knows and understands his distinction from animals and wild beasts by anatomical and physiological differences, but as an aware and conscious being, lacks all the requirement for his own self-judgement. Humanity does not have another self-aware being to compare to, therefore consciousness will remain an unsolvable puzzle. Without consciousness there would be no world, because we wouldn’t be aware of it “for the world exists for [all of] us in so far a it is consciously reflected by a psyche “Consciousness is a precondition of
The argument from religious experience states that if we can experience God, then surely God must exist because what we experience must be real. There are many philosophers that try to explain this but the one I am going to focus on in this essay is William James. James defines religious experience as though it should be the primary topic in the study if religion rather than religious institutions, since institutions are merely the social descendent of genius. He also defines a religious experience as, 'The feelings, acts and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatsoever they may consider divine.’ To James a prominent feature of religious experience is mysticism. He says, '...propose to you four marks which, when an experience has them, may justify us in calling it mystical...' The marks to which he is referring to are inefficiently, notices quality, transiency and passivity.
I think they are all three subjective according to the civilization they exist in. To the religious they are all one in the same. To philosophers, they are distinctly different. As well as being subjective they are also developed in accordance with societal norms of the day. Each society has differing values that play heavily into the establishment of these norms.
Although not everyone in the United States shares the same religious beliefs, religion plays a big part in society. Just as there are many different variations of religious beliefs, however, there are also many different sociological theories to explain the relationship between society and its aspects. Some sociologists view the world as a stable and ongoing being, while others see society as many groups battling some sort of conflict. Even more, there are some sociologists who are more interested in routine interactions between individuals that are seen from day to day (Schaefer, 2011). These three different perspectives are the functionalist, conflict, and interactionist perspectives, and are the most commonly used views by sociologists.
Emille Durkheim was as many know a functionalist and like any other functionalist he examined religion in terms of what a societies needs where. Functionalists are concerned with the way religion contributes to meeting the needs of a society. “The function of religion is the contribution it makes to meeting such functional prerequisites - for example, its contribution to social solidarity.”# Durkheim set out to establish the fact that religion was not divinely or supernaturally inspired but was in fact a product of society. He sought to identify the common things that religion placed an emphasis upon, as well as what effects those religious beliefs (the product of social life) had on the lives of all within a society. To have some insight into Durkheim’s view of religion and social solidarity, we shall firstly look at his idea of the sacred and the profane.
What is religious fundamentalism? Refer both to literature on modernity and religious fundamentalism INTRO Throughout the course of this essay, a study will be embarked on fundamentalist movements in order to investigate what religious fundamentalisms are, if and why they appear to be resurging, their characteristics, their possible links to violence, and their relation to modernity What is religious fundamentalism? Sometimes the term fundamentalist is used to describe any group that takes religion seriously or that views religion’s role in public life to be greater than the labeller would wish it to be. The term also might be used for those who are too religiously confident or who engage in any sort of action out of religious conviction. Thus, not only are the Christian religious right in the United States and the global al Qaeda Muslims called fundamentalist, but so too are local parent groups who want restrictions placed on Internet access in local schools.
for religious movements. Showing two recent developments of new religious movements, popular culture and media are often intertwined. In Anthropology as an academic discipline, whose main interest is to understand how people live in the world, and how they make sense of the world around them, the interest in religion, belief and ritual has been on the rise as well, to understand concepts and theoretical approaches, and to see how they have been applied to religious phenomena in the past and present (Becker & William, 2011: 1). In the study of the reading Comaroff and Comaroff, we learn that Pentecostals”support governments that protect the liberty of commerce and religion, rather than social reform and redistribution” (Shepherd, N. & Robins, and S.