The History of Religion as Social Science

In: Telos, Band 58, S. 20-29

Abstract

The history of religion, like some other social sciences, is difficult to define precisely; a historical phenomenology & a historical typology both have weaknesses. Primitive, archaic, historical, & modern religions display significant differences; Third World religions are unique in being products of societies that passed directly from archaic culture to modern civilization through colonialization. Several examples are presented of religious phenomena that require an interdisciplinary approach. Bourgeois society has deprived religion of the function of legitimizing social & political behavior, but it remains a source of meaning & strongly influences modernization processes, taking the form of messianic movements that seek either national unity or the abolition of SC society. W. H. Stoddard.