Vol 3 No 1: Shifting Gear: New agendas in the sociological study of religionhttps://www.doria.fi:443/handle/10024/1345782024-03-28T13:02:15Z2024-03-28T13:02:15ZBook reviewEulitz, Melaniehttps://www.doria.fi:443/handle/10024/1346412017-09-23T05:17:40Z2017-04-26T10:07:01ZBook review
Eulitz, Melanie
Mapping Religion and Spirituality in a Postsecular World edited by Giuseppe Giordan and Enzo Pace (2012) is reviewed by Melanie Eulitz
Melanie Eulitz, Diplom-sociologist, is a PhD student at the Department of Cultural Studies at the University of Leipzig. In her thesis she analyses the changes in the current Jewish community in Germany. Her main research interests include the sociology of religion, sociology of migration and bio-graphical research.
2017-04-26T10:07:01ZThe theological turn of postmodernity: to be alive againIdziak-Smoczynska, Urszulahttps://www.doria.fi:443/handle/10024/1346392017-09-23T05:17:39Z2017-04-26T10:01:23ZThe theological turn of postmodernity: to be alive again
Idziak-Smoczynska, Urszula
This article discusses the role of religion in the philosophy of Jacques Derrida. The author considers a specifically Christian, affirmative character of deconstruction that is found through the biblical references of Derrida, inspired by his forgotten master Gérard Granel. This line of argument opposes both the presence of Heideggerian death drive in Derrida’s subject and advances the possibility of a genuinely Christian rebellious subject as an answer to the question; who comes after the subject? Derrida’s thought informs us about the affective and weak concept of subjectivity that might be fruitful for the development of new outlines for the social realm of subjectivity.
Urszula Idziak-Smoczynska PhD, is currently working as Assistant Professor at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow Poland in the Institute of Religious Studies. She is mostly interested in the theological turn of contemporary philosophy especially in the thought of Jacques Derrida, Jean-Luc Marion and Jean-Luc Nancy, but also religious issues in late Wittgenstein. She has published a book concerning the discussion about the category of giving between Derrida and Marion (Dar. Spór między Jacquesem Derridą and Jean-Luc Marionem, Kraków 2009).
2017-04-26T10:01:23ZConcepts of religion in debates on secularizationZielińska, Katarzynahttps://www.doria.fi:443/handle/10024/1346372017-09-23T05:17:38Z2017-04-26T09:55:44ZConcepts of religion in debates on secularization
Zielińska, Katarzyna
Defining the concept of religion is a recurring theme in the sociology of religion. Yet the constant attempts to determine the subject of the study do not necessarily indicate the immaturity of the discipline. The ongoing discussions are rather part of a broader problem, as the acceptance or rejection of certain understandings of the core concepts determines the scope of the discipline’s field. More importantly, it also permits other concepts to be understood, along with the social reality beyond them. Since the social reality is changing under the influence of various dynamics taking place in the contemporary globalised world, so should the conceptual apparatus aiming at describing those dynamics. This paper aims to grasp this changing nature of the central concept – that of religion. This is done through analysis of the debate on secularisation theories.
Katarzyna Zielińska is Lecturer at the Institute of Sociology of the Jagiellonian University. Her academic interests focus on religion in contemporary societies, gender in Central Eastern European societies and transformations of collective identity. She has participated in several research projects such as ‘Religion at the European Parliament’ (RelEP) and ‘Reconstituting Democracy in Europe’ (RECON). Currently she is a leader of the project ‘Religion in Polish Politics in the Context of the European Integration’. Her recent publications include: Collective Identity and Democracy in the Enlarging Europe (Peter Lang, 2012, co-edited with M. Góra and Z. Mach); Democracy, State and Society: European Integration in Central and Eastern Europe (Jagiellonian University Press, 2011, co-edited with M. Góra).
2017-04-26T09:55:44ZApproaching religion through linguistics: methodological thoughts on a linguistic analysis of 'religion' in political communicationGarling, Stephenhttps://www.doria.fi:443/handle/10024/1346352017-09-23T05:17:37Z2017-04-26T09:29:02ZApproaching religion through linguistics: methodological thoughts on a linguistic analysis of 'religion' in political communication
Garling, Stephen
The constructions of ‘religion’ in general language are seldom themselves in the focus of empirical research. Aiming to retrieve the inherent knowledge that lies within these constructions, this article suggests a term-based textual analysis to focus on the linguistic use of ‘religion’. This method invites us to question the unity of texts through an analysis of textual semantics. It offers the chance to ask about the formation of the concept. The article initially shows how this approach differs from comparative and policy-oriented studies by differentiating between criticism and critique. It then develops the idea of a term-based textual analysis. Using examples from the policy field of foreign aid, the text illustrates how much inherent knowledge there is in the usage of ‘religion’ in political communication and calls for a general reconsideration of the way ‘religion’ is approached in empirical research.
Stephanie Garling is currently working at the GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies in Hamburg, Germany. In 2000–7 she studied political science, law and economics at the University of Leipzig. Her PhD thesis dealt with the construction of religion in foreign aid. In addition to this, her main research interests are questions of identity, critical development theory and discourse analysis. Her last publication was a volume edited together with Simon W. Fuchs entitled Religion in Diktatur und Demokratie. Zur Bedeutung religiöser Werte, Praktiken und Institutionen in politischen Transformationsprozessen [Religion in Dictatorship and Democracy: Religious Values, Practices and Institution in Political Transformation Processes] (Münster 2011).
2017-04-26T09:29:02Z