Predicting Religion: Christian, Secular, and Alternative FuturesGrace Davie, Linda Woodhead, Paul Heelas Religion in the contemporary west is undergoing rapid change. In Predicting Religion twenty experts in the study of religion present their predictions about the future of religion in the 21st century - predictions based on careful analysis of the contemporary religious scene from traditional forms of Christianity to new spiritualities. The range of predictions is broad. A number predict further secularization - with religion in the west seen as being in a state of terminal decline. Others question this approach and suggest that we are witnessing not decline but transformation understood in different ways: a shift from theism to pantheism, from outer to inner authority, from God to self-as-god, and above all from religion to spirituality. This accessible book on the contemporary religious scene offers students and scholars of the sociology of religion and theology, as well as interested general readers, fresh insights into the future of religion and spirituality in the west. Published in association with the British Sociological Association Study of Religion group, in the Ashgate Religion and Theology in Interdisciplinary Perspective series. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
a Selfexamination | 30 |
The Evolutionary Principle in the Study of Religion and Society | 40 |
Copyright | |
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19th century Age spiritualities alternate ordering American argue astrology become Blackwell Britain Yearly Meeting British Bruce Bryan Bryan Wilson Casanova cent chapels chapter Charismatic Christianity charismatic movement church attendance church membership claims cohort Contemporary cultural cyberspace David Davie decline deism denominations dimension Europe European evidence example experience faith forms Friends Giddens global groups Heelas holy human identity important increasingly individual Inner Cities institutions Internet Karaflogka Kendal liberal London mainstream major Martin modern movement organizations Oxford Paganism pantheism paranormal Partenia Paul Heelas Pentecostalism perspective political practices predictions Quaker question religious beliefs respondents revival Routledge sacred sects secularization significant social networks society sociology of religion space spiritual practitioners Steve Steve Bruce structure suggests survey theology theory of secularization Tocqueville traditional University of Wales University Press values Wales Welsh Welsh language Wicca Wilson witchcraft Yearly Meeting