Meaning and Modernity: Religion, Polity, and Self

Front Cover
Richard Madsen
University of California Press, Dec 4, 2001 - Religion - 345 pages
"This interesting volume of essays on contemporary religion and its ambivalent relationship to modernity not only serves as a testimony to the intellectual influence of Robert Bellah, it establishes a new school of comparative religious and social thought. This Bellahian school--at the intersection of sociological, theological, and contemporary philosophical thinking--has roots in Durkheim and Weber, borrows insights from Marx, Foucault, and Bourdieu, and finds its clearest voice in the writings of Bellah himself. The essays by some of Bellah's colleagues and former students that have been gathered in this volume address some of the most sagacious of these Bellahian themes: the religious dimension of contemporary civil societies, the relationship between religious and capitalist values, the cultural critique of modernity, and the moral visions that hold a promise of civic renewal."—Mark Juergensmeyer, author of Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence (California, 2000).

"This highly readable collection of original, thought-provoking essays by leading scholars provides fresh insights into the issues that Robert Bellah has addressed so fruitfully in his long career. Readers will learn much about such issues as how Calvinism contributed to political revolution, why democracies require an enlarged sense of political community, how the religious foundations of Japan and the United States differ, and what it means to be a Christian and an American."—Benton Johnson, coauthor of Vanishing Boundaries: The Religion of Protestant Baby Boomers (1994) and author of Functionalism in Modern Sociology: Understanding Talcott Parsons (1975)
 

Selected pages

Contents

Robert N Bellah and Cultural Sociology
1
Social Differentiation and Moral Pluralism
15
Ann Swidler
41
The Walzer Thesis Reconsidered
78
Discovering Different Paths to Moral Integration in the Modern Ecumene
105
A SocioTheological Critique
124
American Commercial Culture as a Climate of Hospitality to Religion
136
Charles Taylor
181
On Being a Christian and an American
224
America and the World
255
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Meaning and Modernity: Religion, Polity, and Self
Richard Madsen,William M. Sullivan,Ann Swidler,Steven M. Tipton
Limited preview - 2002

Common terms and phrases

activities adults American argued asked authority become believe Bellah bureaucrats called Catholic central century Christian church citizens civic civil collective commitment conception congregations constitutional continual create critical culture define democracy democratic developed discussion early economic equality especially essay ethical example experience expressed feel freedom give groups Heart hope human idea identity important individual institutions interests Japan Japanese kind least less liberal live means modern moral move movements nature organizations persons political possible practice Press principles problems Protestant question reason Reformation religion religious responsibility Robert role rules sense shared social society sociology strong structure style symbols theory Thurman tion tradition turn understanding United University values vision volunteers

References to this book

About the author (2001)

Richard Madsen is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of five books, including China's Catholics (California, 1999). William M. Sullivan is Professor of Philosophy at La Salle University and Senior Scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He is the author of Work and Integrity: The Crisis and Promise of Professionalism in America (1995). Ann Swidler is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. Her most recent book is Talk of Love: How Culture Matters (2001). Steven M. Tipton is Director of the Graduate Division of Religion and Professor of Sociology at Emory University and its Candler School of Theology. He is at work on Public Pulpits, a study of religious advocacy in Washington. All four editors are the coauthors, with Robert N. Bellah, of Habits of the Heart and The Good Society.

Bibliographic information

QR code for Meaning and Modernity
TitleMeaning and Modernity: Religion, Polity, and Self
EditorRichard Madsen
PublisherUniversity of California Press, 2001
ISBN0520226577, 9780520226579
Length345 pages
Subjects › 

Religion / Comparative Religion
  
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