Religion on the Edge: De-centering and Re-centering the Sociology of Religion

by Courtney Bender (Editor), Wendy Cadge (Editor), Peggy Levitt (Editor)

The thirteen essays in this volume challenge conventional scholarly approaches to the sociology of religion. They urge readers to look beyond congregational settings, beyond the United States, and to religions other than Christianity, and encourage critical engagement with religion's complex social consequences. Religion on the Edge offers groundbreaking new methodologies and models, bringing to light conceptual lacunae, re-centering what is unsettled by their use, and inviting a significant reordering of long-accepted political and economic hierarchies. The book shows how social scientists across the disciplines can engage with the sociology of religion. By challenging many of its long-standing empirical and analytic tendencies, the contributors to this volume show how their work informs and is informed by debates in other fields and the analytical purchase gained by bringing these many conversations together. Religion on the Edge will be a crucial resource for any scholar
seeking to understand our post-modern, post-secular world.

312 pages, Hardcover

First published October 23, 2012

Reviews

[Kenneth Vaughan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The new perspectives authored range from good to excellent. Critiques of the current state of field range from poor to excellent.

[C Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This theoretical anthology "highlights a growing body of research that de-centers taken-for-granted categories in the sociology of religion" (1). The collection looks to the "edges" of four "tendencies” in the sociology of religion to challenge and expand the field. These include a focus on the U.S., Christianity, and congregations, as well as "investment in presenting religion as a positive force in American life" (1). Select chapters include: Manuel Vasquez' "Grappling with the Legacy of Modernity," a critical view of epistemological modernism embedded within much of the sociology of religion that sets the religious up as an "archaic, irrational, and ... temporal Other" (29) and presumes an understanding of the self that is thoroughly inflected with an Enlightenment Christianity ("a stable and unified self with an unchanging core grounded on ... reason" [30]). David Smilde's "Beyond the Strong Program in the Sociology of Religion" applies "feminist, postcolonial, poststructural, and postmodern" (62) theoretical critiques of presumptions of cultural autonomy within the sociology of religion. Michal Pagis' "Religious Self-Constitution: A Relational Perspective" promotes “an understanding of religious self-constitution as a relational and embodied process” (92). Paul Lichterman’s “Studying Public Religion: Beyond the Beliefs-Driven Actor” advocates a “pragmatic model of public religion” that “helps us see religious pluralism as an ongoing accomplishment” (131). Courtney Bender’s “Pluralism and Secularism” discusses different conceptions of religious pluralism, noting that many embed within them the now discredited secularization thesis. Peggy Levitt’s “Religion on the Move” asserts that “we need to study religious movement” from place to place rather than assuming that religion is static and place-dependent. Dawne Moon’s “Difficult Dialogues” is an analysis of “religion on the edge” through empirical examination of a Jewish-Palestinian Reconciliation Circle and discussions on homosexuality among Methodists. Kelly Chong views how Korean Evangelical Churches serve as “disciplinary institutions,” training women to subservient gender roles.