Current Debates in Sociology, Lectures, Religion and Modern Society

Far from fading away in modern societies, religion is very much present and in some ways is becoming more relevant than before in Europe and around the world. Yet, we are often not aware of how to go about looking for religion in modern society, or even how to define the two problematic terms. This course is thus organized around a single aim: to equip students to probe the intersection between religion and society. We will review key sociological approaches and methodologies to religion and secularization, before focusing on a critical realist perspective to appreciate how society and religion both continue to be “made” in relation to each other and to social structures. Special attention will be paid to historical and postcolonial formations of modern world society. Equipped with conceptual and methodological tools in, we will move to seeing how religion is always and already public. We will study the intersection of religion with politics, institutions, science, and culture, and understand how such relations have changed over time. In the final module, we will zoom in on religious personhood and probe how religion engages with contemporary social concerns of identity, ethics, and spirituality.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this course, students will be able to define religion’s intersection with society, have a grasp on the main conceptual tools needed, perceive social relations and contemporary issues in new ways as being informed by religion, reflect on their own religious and spiritual assumptions, as well as write critically and rigorously about these topics.