In his new book, Richard Fenn looks at the way in which we experience time in a secular society. He argues that secularization is virtually synonymous with individualism. Fenn shows that the Church created the idea of individualism through its demysitification of the universe, its insistence on individual self-discipline, and its intensification of individual responsibility for the use of time. Required to take responsibility for his or her own standing in the eyes of God, the individual emerged from the protection of the Church into the full current of time. No longer protected by Providence...

This book attempts to articulate the nature of a secular society, describe its benefits, and suggests the conditions under which such a society could emerge. To become secular, argues Fenn, is to open oneself and one's society to a wide range of possibilities, some interesting and exciting, some burdensome and dreadful. While some sociologists have argued that a "Civil Religion" is necessary to hold together our newly "religionless" society, Fenn urges that there is nothing to fear--and everything to gain--from living in a society that is not bound together by sacred memories and beliefs, or...

This study demonstrates how fruitful the relationship between the social sciences and Biblical studies can be if sociological method is imaginatively applied to an account of Palestinian society during the first century. It seeks to show how a sociologist, in examining Josephus' account of the struggle for succession within the Herodian household, would set about asking certain questions about Palestinian society as a whole. The author identifies a succession-crisis that affects every level of Palestinian society, which leads him to ask how that crisis may threaten Israel's capacity to...

Why does Western civilization take time so seriously? While various scholars have traced the intensification of time in the West either to the Enlightenment or to the Protestant Ethic, the author traces Western attitudes toward time back to the doctrine and myth of Purgatory. As popular and theological understandings of Purgatory became increasingly secularized, the lifespan of the individual became correspondingly purgatorial. No time could be wasted. The author demonstrates the impact of Purgatory on the preaching of Richard Baxter and William Channing, but he also argues that John Locke's...

Why does Western civilization take time so seriously? While various scholars have traced the intensification of time in the West either to the Enlightenment or to the Protestant Ethic, the author traces Western attitudes toward time back to the doctrine and myth of Purgatory. As popular and theological understandings of Purgatory became increasingly secularized, the lifespan of the individual became correspondingly purgatorial. No time could be wasted. The author demonstrates the impact of Purgatory on the preaching of Richard Baxter and William Channing, but he also argues that John Locke's...

The Blackwell Companion to Sociology of Religion is presented in three comprehensive parts. Written by a range of outstanding academics, the volume explores the current status of the sociology of religion, and how it might look in future.

• Explores the current status of the sociology of religion, and how it might look at the beginning of the next millennium.
  
• Traces the boundaries between sociology and other closely related disciplines, such as theology and social anthropology.
  
• Edited by one of the best known and most widely...

This study demonstrates how fruitful the relationship between the social sciences and Biblical studies can be if sociological method is imaginatively applied to an account of Palestinian society during the first century. It seeks to show how a sociologist, in examining Josephus' account of the struggle for succession within the Herodian household, would set about asking certain questions about Palestinian society as a whole. The author identifies a succession-crisis that affects every level of Palestinian society, which leads him to ask how that crisis may threaten Israel's capacity to...