Religion and Knowledge: Sociological Perspectives PDF
Preview Religion and Knowledge: Sociological Perspectives
Religion and Knowledge This book deals with a whole series of controversies over religion in a way that could make a real difference because it clarifies what a social scientific approach can and does involve when it comes to genuinely understanding what is at stake. Whatever the topic, whether it is the polemic of the New Atheists promoted as science or Intelligent Design seen as scientifically illiterate or the philosophical presuppositions of anthropologists in presenting their findings, there is much material here to inform and surprise. It is a fresh, vital and an innovative contribution to what can sometimes appear tired topics. david Martin, lancaster University and london School of economics, UK A stimulating look at the interaction between religion and what people think they know. We learn how religion shapes knowledge in several concrete settings and how, in turn, knowledge shapes religion. Sociology needs case studies like these. Without ever losing their concreteness, the authors draw out the implications for social theorizing. Jim Spickard, University of Redlands, USa What counts as knowledge in both religious and not-so-religious contexts? This book is full of nuanced and at the same time engaging sociological studies of tensions, modes of co-existence and negotiations between carriers of knowledge in various parts of society. Pål Repstad, University of agder, norway Religions have always been associated with particular forms of knowledge, often knowledge accorded special significance and sometimes knowledge at odds with prevailing understandings of truth and authority in wider society. This book addresses the relationship between religion and knowledge from a sociological perspective, taking both religion and knowledge as phenomena located within ever changing social contexts. it builds on historical foundations, but offers a distinctive focus on the changing status of religious phenomena at the turn of the twenty-first century. including critical engagement with live debates about intelligent design and the ‘new atheism’, this collection of essays brings recent research on religious movements into conversation with debates about socialisation, reflexivity and the changing capacity of social institutions to shape human identities. Contributors examine religion as an institutional context for the production of knowledge, as a form of knowledge to be transmitted or conveyed and as a social field in which controversies about knowledge emerge. THeologY and Religion in inTeRdiSCiPlinaRY PeRSPeCTiVe SeRieS in aSSoCiaTion wiTH THe BSa SoCiologY oF Religion STUdY gRoUP BSa Sociology of Religion Study group Series editor: Pink dandelion and the publications committee Theology and Religion in interdisciplinary Perspective Series editors: douglas davies and Richard Fenn The British Sociological association Sociology of Religion Study group began in 1975 and provides the primary forum in Britain for scholarship in the sociology of religion. The nature of religion remains of key academic interest and this series draws on the latest worldwide scholarship in compelling and coherent collections on critical themes. Secularisation and the future of religion; gender; the negotiation and presentation of religious identities, beliefs and values; and the interplay between group and individual in religious settings are some of the areas addressed. Ultimately, these books reflect not just on religious life but on how wider society is affected by the enduring religious framing of human relationships, morality and the nature of society itself. Other titles published in the BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group series exploring Religion and the Sacred in a Media age Edited by Christopher Deacy and Elisabeth Arweck Religion and the individual Belief, Practice, identity Edited by Abby Day women and Religion in the west Challenging Secularization Edited by Kristin Aune, Sonya Sharma and Giselle Vincett a Sociology of Spirituality Edited by Kieran Flanagan and Peter C. Jupp Religion and Youth Edited by Sylvia Collins-Mayo and Pink Dandelion Materializing Religion Edited by Elisabeth Arweck and William Keenan Religion and Knowledge Sociological Perspectives edited by MaTHew gUeST Durham University, UK eliSaBeTH aRweCK University of Warwick, UK © Mathew guest and elisabeth arweck 2012 all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Mathew guest and elisabeth arweck have asserted their right under the Copyright, designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work. Published by ashgate Publishing limited ashgate Publishing Company wey Court east Suite 420 Union Road 101 Cherry Street Farnham Burlington Surrey, gU9 7PT VT 05401-4405 england USa www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Religion and knowledge : sociological perspectives. -- (Theology and religion in interdisciplinary perspective series) 1. Knowledge, Sociology of. 2. Knowledge, Theory of (Religion) 3. Truth--Religious aspects. i. Series ii. guest, Mathew. iii. arweck, elisabeth. iV. British Sociological association. Sociology of Religion Study group. 201.6’121-dc23 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Religion and knowledge : sociological perspectives / edited by Mathew guest and elisa- beth arweck. p. cm. -- (Theology and religion in interdisciplinary perspective series) includes bibliographical references and index. iSBn 978-1-4094-2707-0 (hardcover) -- iSBn 978-1-4094-2708-7 (ebook) 1. Religion and sociology. 2. Knowledge, Theory of (Religion) i. guest, Mathew. ii. arweck, elisabeth. Bl60.R3335 2012 306.6--dc23 iSBn 9781409427070 (hbk) 2012021998 iSBn 9781409427087 (ebk – PdF) iSBn 9781409471165 (ebk – ePUB) IV Printed and bound in great Britain by the MPg Books group, UK. Contents List of Figures and Tables vii Notes on the Contributors ix Acknowledgements xv 1 Religion and Knowledge: The Sociological agenda 1 Mathew Guest Part I InstItutIons of KnowLeDge 2 Reified Knowledge about ‘Religion’ in Prisons 25 James A. Beckford 3 Faith and the Student experience 39 Ian Fairweather 4 Young People in Mixed Faith Families: a Case of Knowledge and experience of Two Traditions? 57 Elisabeth Arweck and Eleanor Nesbitt 5 The amish in north america: Knowledge, Tradition and Modernity 77 Elizabeth C. Cooksey and Joseph F. Donnermeyer Part II the reLIgIous KnowLeDge eConomy 6 new atheism as identity Politics 97 Teemu Taira 7 Rejection or Accommodation? Trends in Evangelical Christian Responses to Muslims 115 Richard McCallum 8 Knowledge, Tradition and authority in British islamic Theology 133 Stephen H. Jones vi Religion and Knowledge 9 Choosing My Religion: Young People’s Personal Christian Knowledge 149 Sylvia Collins-Mayo 10 Safe and Risky Readings: women’s Spiritual Reading Practices 165 Dawn Llewellyn 11 intelligent design as a Science enabler: Prolegomena to a Creationist left 181 Steve Fuller 12 The Influence of Fundamentalist Beliefs on evolution Knowledge Retention 199 Ryan T. Cragun, Deborah L. Cragun and Jason Creighton 13 The Sea of Faith: exemplifying Transformed Retention 227 Douglas Davies and Daniel Northam-Jones Part III KnowLeDge, reLIgIon anD aCaDemIC enDeavour 14 on the Materialization of Religious Knowledge and Belief 247 Peter Collins 15 Bracketing out the Truth? Managing Bias in the Study of new Religious Movements 269 Rebecca Catto Index 287 list of Figures and Tables figures 5.1 amish schools match their lifestyle – small and plain. Most schools have only one room, shared by students (called ‘scholars’ by the Amish) from the first through the eighth grade 79 5.2 The amish reliance on horse and buggy slows down the pace of life and provides a clear symbol of separation between the amish and other north americans driving around them 86 5.3 The amish follow a plain lifestyle by restricting the use of large machinery on their farm operations. Horse drawn ploughs are preferred for field work, and are encoded in the church district’s ‘ordnung’ 88 12.1 Path model predicting evolution knowledge (pre-and post-test) with path loadings and direct, indirect, and spurious effects 210 12.2 Model of factors influencing evolution knowledge and acceptance 214 14.1 Plan of the Shaker village in watervliet, new York 255 14.2 Plan of Canterbury Village 256 14.3 The Shaker meeting house in new lebanon, new York 257 14.4 dwelling house interior of South Union Village, Kentucky, showing separate stairs and entrances for men and women 258 14.5 Fitted cabinets in Hancock Village, Massachusetts 259 14.6 Shaker dance 261 14.7 ‘The Tree of life’ 264 tables 9.1 Beliefs about god and Jesus 153 9.2 Influences on religious beliefs 155 9.3 The influence of youth work on thinking 158 12.1 Descriptive statistics and significance tests (ANOVA) for scales by various descriptors 207 12.2 Correlations between interval/ratio measures 209 This page has been left blank intentionally notes on the Contributors elisabeth arweck is Senior Research Fellow in the warwick Religions and education Research Unit (wReRU), institute of education, University of warwick, and editor of the Journal of Contemporary Religion. Her recent research has focused on young people’s attitudes to religious diversity and the religious socialization and nurture of young people. Recent publications include a number of co-authored articles (for example with eleanor nesbitt) and (co-edited) volumes, such as Exploring Religion and the Sacred in a Media Age (with Chris deacy, 2009) and Reading Religion in Text and Context (with Peter Collins, 2006). She is the author of several book chapters and of Researching New Religious Movements in the West (2007). James a. Beckford, Fellow of the British academy, is Professor emeritus of Sociology at the University of Warwick. His main fields of research are the sociology of religions, social theory and the sociology of prison chaplaincies. His publications include The Trumpet of Prophecy: A Sociological Analysis of Jehovah’s Witnesses (1975), Cult Controversies (1985), Religion and Advanced Industrial Society (1989), Religion in Prison: Equal Rites in a Multi-Faith Society (1998, with Sophie gilliat), Social Theory and Religion (2003), Muslims in Prison: Challenge and Change in Britain and France (2005, with d. Joly and F. Khosrokhavar) and The SAGE Handbook of the Sociology of Religion (2007, edited with n.J. demerath iii). rebecca Catto is Research associate for the aHRC/eSRC Religion and Society Programme at lancaster University. She has published work on non-western Christian missions to the UK, religion and law and globalization. She has advised the equality and Human Rights Commission on religion or belief, been Principal Investigator on the ‘The Young Atheists Research Project’ and is co-editor (with linda woodhead) of Religion and Change in Modern Britain (2012). Peter Collins is Senior lecturer in the department of anthropology, durham University. His research interests include religion, historical anthropology, space and place and narrative theory. He has published widely on the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). He has recently co-edited The Quaker Condition: The Sociology of a Liberal Tradition (Cambridge Scholars Press, with P. dandelion), Locating the Field: Space, Place and Context in Anthropology (2006, with Simon Coleman), Reading Religion in Text and Context (2006, with elisabeth arweck), Keeping an Open ‘I’: The Self as Ethnographic Resource in Anthropology (2010,
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