Religion Unbound: Implicit Religion and Contemporary Spirituality

marten — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 10:35:17 +0000

At this year’s Leipzig conference of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion (ISSR) the Canadian scholar of religion dr. Guy Menard and I are hosting a thematic session on non-institutionalised forms of religion. The conference will take place from the 23rd to the 27th of July 2007.

The call for papers was published on this blog towards the end of 2006 and by now we have a complete programme to fill four sub-sessions. The abstracts that we have received look very promising and I am quite excited about ‘our’ sessions.

You can find a description of the session below, and a preliminary programme with the titles of the presentation can be found on the website of the conference: http://soc.kuleuven.be/ceso/sisr/eng/conference/index.htm

Thematic session STS 43
Religion Unbound: Implicit Religion and Contemporary Spirituality

Conveners:
GUY MÃ‰NARD, UniversitÃ© du QuÃ©bec Ã MontrÃ©al, menardg[at]mlink.net
KAREN PÃ„RNA, University of Leiden, k.parna[at]let.leidenuniv.nl

Description of session
The notion that religion is not necessarily bound to specific institutions can be traced back to the early sociology of religion. In the late 19th century Durkheim argued that the defining feature of religion is not to be found in organisations but in its function of giving meaning to society and articulating its central beliefs. He posited that religion can nestle anywhere in the social fabric, including secular phenomena. In the contemporary world, this understanding of religion is more relevant than ever. Today, much of religion and spirituality is not embedded in religious organisations. It is fluid and tacitly present in all aspects of society and everyday life. One might think of sports-manifestations, trust in science and progress, political ideologies, the celebrity culture and a variety of personal beliefs and values.

We call for papers concerned with such instances, where religiosity cannot be exclusively linked to specific denominations or faith communities but where manifestations of more implicit religiosity can be recognised.

The deadline for abstracts of papers is the 31st of October 2006. Please e-mail them to either one of the conveners in Word or PDF format.

For more information about the ISSR, the conference and Leipzig please visit: http://soc.kuleuven.be/ceso/sisr/eng/index.htm

Introduction Karen PÃ¤rna

Mon, 02 Oct 2006 22:00:42 +0000

I am a sociologist of culture, affiliated to the faculty of theology at Leiden University (NL) as a PhD student. My area of research is concerned with the (quasi)religious dimensions of techno-utopias. I focus on crazes and other forms of collective enthusiasm related to consumer technologies. The popularisation of the Internet in the mid-nineties presents a particularly interesting case study of the (mostly unintentional) use of religious notions and imagery in a part of our culture that may well be described as the epitome of the rational-scientific mindset. In my work I try to account for the sort of religious language and the hopes of salvation and transcendence that are often projected on new technologies.

Meaning, religion, technophilia

Religion Unbound: Implicit Religion and Contemporary Spirituality

Introduction Karen PÃ¤rna