The purpose of the Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion (ARSR) is to investigate the "new" role of religion in the contemporary world, which is characterized by cultural pluralism and religious individualism. It is the aim of the ARSR to combine different methods within the social scientific study of religion. The ARSR employs an interdisciplinary and comparative approach at an international level, to describe and interpret the complexity of religious phenomena within different geopolitical situations, highlighting similarities and discontinuities. Dealing with a single theme in each...
The purpose of the Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion (ARSR) is to investigate the "new" role of religion in the contemporary world, which is ...
Over the past thirty years, religion has increasingly played a relevant role, both on a national level and in international affairs. The attempt made by politicians to reframe the policy of social cohesion in a neo-nationalist light (one land, one language, one religion = one political community), demising any kind of multiculturalism, facilitating instead a return to assimilation shaped by fear of the other (culture, religion, language, and so on), is very often associated with a restoration of the primacy of religious discourse in the public sphere. It is not just a return of religion in...
Over the past thirty years, religion has increasingly played a relevant role, both on a national level and in international affairs. The attempt made ...
This volume points to methodological innovations in social research and their potential for social scientific studies of religion. Computerization has opened for both quantitative and qualitative systematic analyses of complex materials, and the epistemological discourse after Positivism has opened for reconsidering the foundation of empirical social research. Furthermore religion is changing, and sociology of religion therefore widens its scope by including non-institutional forms of religion. This refocusing calls for new methodological considerations. As the range of available methods...
This volume points to methodological innovations in social research and their potential for social scientific studies of religion. Computerization has...
Prayer is a phenomenon which seems to be characteristic not only of participants in every religion, but also men and women who do not identify with traditional religions. It can be practised even by those who do not believe either in a God or transcendent force. In this sense, therefore, we may assert that the prayer is a typically human activity that has accompanied the development of different civilizations over the course of the centuries. Both the material issues of concrete daily life as well as more symbolic elements expressed through words, gestures, body positions, and community...
Prayer is a phenomenon which seems to be characteristic not only of participants in every religion, but also men and women who do not identify with tr...
In contrast with the growing belief in society that traditional religious institutions are losing credibility, there has been renewed interest in monasteries going beyond what is strictly defined as religious. There are, for example, increasingly numerous requests for cooking and gardening courses as well as guided tours in monasteries, the appeal of monastic products and media interest in the subject. In parallel with a strong crisis in its recruitment, monasticism in the Western world is experiencing a period of innovation and experiments accompanied by unexpected popularity, as is...
In contrast with the growing belief in society that traditional religious institutions are losing credibility, there has been renewed interest in mona...
While the churches are emptying, other virtual religious places - as the religious websites - seem to be filling up. The researcher focusing on religion and internet or digital religion as an object of study must seek answers to a number of questions. Is computer-mediated religious communication a particular communication process whose object is what we conventionally call religion? Or is it a modern, independent form of religious expressiveness that finds its new-born status in the web and its particular language? To examine the questions above, and others, the book collects more empirical...
While the churches are emptying, other virtual religious places - as the religious websites - seem to be filling up. The researcher focusing on religi...
Recent studies show that atheism is increasing. The reasons for this development have not as yet been examined thoroughly. Many atheists continue to be residual groups in surveys on religiosity, making it difficult to examine who they are and why they have chosen to be atheists. Moreover, they are minority groups in most countries (former Soviet bloc countries are left out of discussion); many do not identify with any organized groups of atheists or agnostics. Atheist groups and ideologies, then, represent a wide range of attitudes, behaviour and ways of acting towards religion. The lack of a...
Recent studies show that atheism is increasing. The reasons for this development have not as yet been examined thoroughly. Many atheists continue to b...
The intersection of religion, ritual, emotion, globalization, migration, sexuality, gender, race, and class, is especially insightful for researching Pentecostal notions of the body. Pentecostalism is well known for overt bodily expressions that includes kinesthetic worship with emotive music and sustained acts of prayer. Among Pentecostals there is considerable debate about bodies, the role of the Holy Spirit, possession of evil spirits, deliverance, exorcism, revival, and healing of bodies and emotions. Pentecostalism is identified as a religion on the move and so bodies are transformed in...
The intersection of religion, ritual, emotion, globalization, migration, sexuality, gender, race, and class, is especially insightful for researching ...
