Interpreting Charles Taylor’s Social Theory on Religion and Secularization

A Comparative Study
Buch | Hardcover
XV, 207 Seiten
2016 | 1st ed. 2017
Springer International Publishing (Verlag)
978-3-319-47698-8 (ISBN)

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Interpreting Charles Taylor’s Social Theory on Religion and Secularization - Germán McKenzie
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This book examines "Taylorean social theory," its sources, main characteristics and impact. Charles Taylor's meta-narrative of secularization in the West, prominently contained in his major work A Secular Age (2007), has brought new insight on the social and cultural factors that intervened in such process, the role of human agency, and particularly on the contemporary conditions of belief in North America and Europe. This study discusses what Taylor's approach has brought to the scholarly debate on Western secularization, which has been carried on mostly in sociological terms. McKenzie interprets Taylor's views in a way that offers an original social theory. Such interpretation is possible with the help of sociologist Margaret Archer's "morphogenetic theory" and by making the most of Taylor's particular understanding of the method of the social sciences and of his philosophical views on human beings, knowledge and modernity. After exploring the philosophical and sociological sources informing Taylorean social theory and proposing its basic concepts and hermeneutic guidelines, the author compares it with two widespread theories of secularization: the now waning "orthodox" account and that proposed by Rational Choice Theory scholars, particularly prevalent in the United States. In doing so, the book shows in which ways Taylorean social theory supersedes them, what new issues it brings into the scholarly discussion, and what difficulties might limit its future development.

Germán McKenzie is a Peruvian-Canadian theologian who earned a Ph.D. in Religion and Culture from the Catholic University of America (Washington, D.C.). His academic interests evolve around secularization and religion in the West, minority religions, and on the intersection of theology and sociology. He worked as Chief-Editor of Revista VE, a peer-reviewed journal aimed at the study of Latin American theology and spirituality, and lectured at various Peruvian universities and at Niagara University (Lewiston, New York). He is currently an Assistant Professor at St. Mark’s and Corpus Christi Colleges, University of British Columbia. Dr. McKenzie was awarded by his alma mater with the Hubbard Dissertation Fellowship, and by the Canadian Consortium for the Study of Religion with the Travel Scholarship for Doctoral Students. He has published the monograph Contemporary Cultural Trends in Peru (Universidad Catolica Sedes Sapientiae, Lima, Peru), as well as scholarly articles and entries on contemporary Catholicism and Buddhism in Latin America.

Part I. Meta-Narrative.- Chapter 1. The Contemporary Landscape of Theories of Secularization.- Chapter 2. Charles Taylor's Account of Secularization (I).- Chapter 3. Charles Taylor's Account of Secularization (II).- Part II. Sources.- Chapter 4. Philosophical and Classic Sociological Sources.- Chapter 5. Contemporary Sociological Sources.- Part III. Taylorean Social Theory.- Chapter 6. Interpreting a Social Theory.- Chapter 7. Taylorean Social Theory and the "Orthodox" and "Counter-Orthodox" Models.- Chapter 8. Conclusion.

Erscheinungsdatum
Reihe/Serie Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures
Zusatzinfo XV, 207 p. 12 illus. in color.
Verlagsort Cham
Sprache englisch
Maße 155 x 235 mm
Themenwelt Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Allgemeines / Lexika
Geisteswissenschaften Religion / Theologie
Schlagworte Contemporary religion • Critical Realism • Hermeneutic social science • Philosophy • Philosophy of the social sciences • Public theology • Relational Sociology • Religion and Philosophy • Religion: general • Religion in the West • Religious Studies, general • Secular • Secular age • Secularization • Secularization theories • Secularization Theory • Secular Studies • Social and political philosophy • Social groups: religious groups and communities • Social Theory • Sociological realism • sociological theory • Sociology • Sociology of Culture • Sociology of Religion
ISBN-10 3-319-47698-X / 331947698X
ISBN-13 978-3-319-47698-8 / 9783319476988
Zustand Neuware
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