The Precarious Vision: A Sociologist Looks at Social Fictions and Christian Faith

by Peter L. Berger

What an actor does on the stage is condi-
tioned by the role he is playing. In the
same way, what most people do and think
and what they think they can and can-
not do: their picture of the world is de-
termined by the limitations of the role
they play, whether it be that of an advertis-
ing man, an Episcopalian minister, a high
school teacher, a suburban wife, or what-
have-you.

THE PRECARIOUS VISION is a
highly original and uninhibited sociolo-
gist's look at i) this substantial element of
role-playing and fictitiousness in modem
society, 2) the Church's involvement in
these fictions, and 3) the way in which the
social scientist's perception of them clears
the ground for the apprehension of the
Christian faith. Parts i) and 2) are the
major part of the book and are illustrated
with lengthy fictional case-histories and
pieces.

258 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Peter L. Berger was an internationally renowned sociologist, and the founder of Boston University's Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs. He was born in Vienna and came to the U.S. in his late teens. He had a master's degree and a doctorate from the New School for Social Research in New York. After two years in the United States Army, he taught at the University of Georgia and the University of North Carolina before going to the Hartford Seminary Foundation as an Assistant Professor in Social Ethics.

In 1992, Peter Berger was awarded the Manes Sperber Prize, presented by the Austrian government for significant contributions to culture. He was the author of many books, among them The Social Construction of Reality, The Homeless Mind, and Questions of Faith.

Reviews

[Titus Hjelm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book that Berger wrote (although the second that was published). I've seen very few references to it in the literature that refers to his other work. The sociological bits are an interesting read because they show that many of the ideas that came to fruition in The Social Construction of Reality already existed in germinal form in his earliest work. The difference is that this book does not yet talk about 'construction', and the influence of European thinkers like Sartre and Heidegger, who disappear by 1966, is more obvious. The theological bits, although in Berger's signature style interestingly intertwined with sociology, are less interesting, of course. But overall, a better book than his first (published), The Noise of Solemn Assemblies.

[Robert Tessmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at social roles we play, often in "bad faith" and the relationship between this "bad faith" and the Christian faith.