A Systems Theory of Religion

by Niklas Luhmann, André Kieserling (Editor), David A. Brenner (Translator)

A Systems Theory of Religion, still unfinished at Niklas Luhmann's death in 1998, was first published in German two years later thanks to the editorial work of André Kieserling. One of Luhmann's most important projects, it exemplifies his later work while redefining the subject matter of the sociology of religion. Religion, for Luhmann, is one of the many functionally differentiated social systems that make up modern society. All such subsystems consist entirely of communications and all are "autopoietic," which is to say, self-organizing and self-generating. Here, Luhmann explains how religion provides a code for coping with the complexity, opacity, and uncontrollability of our world. Religion functions to make definite the indefinite, to reconcile the immanent and the transcendent.

Synthesizing approaches as disparate as the philosophy of language, historical linguistics, deconstruction, and formal systems theory/cybernetics, A Systems Theory of Religion takes on important topics that range from religion's meaning and evolution to secularization, turning decades of sociological assumptions on their head. It provides us with a fresh vocabulary and a fresh philosophical and sociological approach to one of society's most fundamental phenomena.

Genres: Philosophy, Sociology, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2000

About the author

Niklas Luhmann was a German sociologist, and a prominent thinker in systems theory, who is increasingly recognized as one of the most important social theorists of the 20th century.

Luhmann wrote prolifically, with more than 70 books and nearly 400 scholarly articles published on a variety of subjects, including law, economy, politics, art, religion, ecology, mass media, and love. While his theories have yet to make a major mark in American sociology, his theory is currently well known and popular in German sociology and has also been rather intensively received in Japan and Eastern Europe, including Russia. His relatively low profile elsewhere is partly due to the fact that translating his work is a difficult task, since his writing presents a challenge even to readers of German, including many sociologists. (p. xxvii Social System 1995)

Much of Luhmann's work directly deals with the operations of the legal system and his autopoietic theory of law is regarded as one of the more influential contributions to the sociology of law and socio-legal studies.

Luhmann is probably best known to North Americans for his debate with the critical theorist Jürgen Habermas over the potential of social systems theory. Like his one-time mentor Talcott Parsons, Luhmann is an advocate of "grand theory," although neither in the sense of philosophical foundationalism nor in the sense of "meta-narrative" as often invoked in the critical works of post-modernist writers. Rather, Luhmann's work tracks closer to complexity theory broadly speaking, in that it aims to address any aspect of social life within a universal theoretical framework - of which the diversity of subjects he wrote about is an indication. Luhmann's theory is sometimes dismissed as highly abstract and complex, particularly within the Anglophone world, whereas his work has had a more lasting influence on scholars from German-speaking countries, Scandinavia and Italy.

Luhmann himself described his theory as "labyrinth-like" or "non-linear" and claimed he was deliberately keeping his prose enigmatic to prevent it from being understood "too quickly", which would only produce simplistic misunderstandings.

Reviews

[Evelyne Bous · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must admit that this book was quite demanding, even for me. It took me a few thorough reads to even partially understand a few of the things he was explaining.

I am currently writing my thesis on blasphemy in contemporary art. So, this book helped me understand the situation with secularization and religion’s evolution within the many decades. (With a focus on chapters 7 and 8, on religion’s evolution and secularization, but I did read the whole book!)

My thesis supervisor suggested that I read and analyze this book and that it will help me get an idea of what I could integrate in my thesis. No regrets! I am very grateful I got introduced to this book after having heard of Luhmann in a few of my supervisor’s classes and a few conferences.

I do like and even agree with what Luhmann communicates in his book (though I am not quite sure if 100% of it was written by him, but I suppose it IS based on his views). I never even thought of it too deeply and just focused on my own belief. But I find it interesting to open up and look at religion from the outside (without bias, of course!). It is clear and obvious that religion has transformed into a subsystem (without claiming that it has disappeared, because it has not!) and I like how Luhmann explains the reasons and how it came to this point. Though at times I thought to myself “An example would be great right now!, but I suppose that’s a me problem.

At times he makes humorous comments, which I enjoyed quite a bit (even marked a smiley at the side of the text when I actually did smile). I believe more than half of my physical book is marked up. I liked so many things he wrote and didn’t know I agreed with them until I actually read them.

I am not used to reading sociological texts, but it was definitely interesting to do so. Would I put myself into the same situation and read another book by Luhmann? Probably not.

I’d give this book a 3.5/5. (But it is not possible on Goodreads to give half stars, at least not on my device). Why? The language killed me. It took way too much effort to read something that could have been written and communicated in much easier terms. But… once again… a me problem!