2 - Classical Theories of Religion Flashcards
What is Modernity?
It is a period of intense change.
It breaks down traditions, things that bound people into communities.
What are some examples of modernity?
- industrialization
- urbanization
- Bureaucratization
- Rationalism
- Individualism
- Pluralism
- Secularism
- Social differentiation
What is Bureaucratization?
House of rules. Rules that are made on how we should live: going to the bank, applying for a passport, signing up for a course.
What social differentiation?
Social organizations that took over tasks performed by religious groups.
What is rationalism?
The idea that we need to organize the world in a rational way.
What is individualism?
The movement away from a collectivist view towards greater individualism.
What is pluralism?
Going from a society that were more homogenous both racially, ethnically and religiously and increasingly
What is secularism?
the growth of a world view that does not include religion.
What are the two projections of modernity according to Stanley Hauerwas?
1.) That modernity is sought to secure knowledge in the structure of human rationality. That God is a projection of the ideal and wants of what it means to be human by letting us serve and worship the only God that matters - human
2.) That modernity is produced by people who believe they should have no story except the story they chose when they had no story; freedom. Application to the youth. You can choose a different story for yourself. e.g; choosing a gender/how you identify yourself.
Why was Karl Marx’s society changing?
Due to capitalism and industrialization.
Why was Karl Marx against capitalism?
Due to the alienation of their work. Workers get no real benefit while the bourgeoisie benefit all.
Thought to believe the ruling class values(bourgeoisie) predominate over other class values
Thinks that religion supports the bourgeoisie
What did Karl Marx call religion?
The opium of the people. Made to describe how it often tranquilizes the underprivileged into accepting their lot in life.
What is the deprivation theory?
A suggestion that people who turn to religion is fundamentally to make up for the deficiencies in people’s lifestyle, poverty etc. in which religion comes to bring them a beautiful afterlife
What is something Marxism fails to recognize in regards to religion?
The emancipation aspect of religion.
It fails to recognize the ways that religion often inspires people to protest inequalities and that they often come from the oppressed classes and use it as a tool to fight this oppression. African-American civil rights movement, using the words of Christianity in order to fight back the oppressors.
What was Emile Durkheim’s responsibility in relation to religion?
Believes that the social activity that binds both people in societies together.
To provide socially agreed upon values and norms
The ritualized experiences of collective effervescence
