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Vol. 11 No. 1 (2023)
Religion and Education

Articles

Studying Religion Today: Controversiality and ‘Objectivity’ in The Sociology of Religion

Published 2024-08-25

  • Thomas Robbins
    • ,
  • Roland Robertson

Thomas Robbins
Department of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, U.S.A.

Roland Robertson
Department of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, U.S.A.

Abstract

The salience of issues of ‘objectivity’ in the study of religion is presently increasing in the context of enhanced religious conflict, controversy and overt politicization. These issues arise and ramify on various levels: epistemological, ethical, existential and interpersonal. As students of religion are increasingly impelled to ‘become part of their data’, they need to consider whether a value-neutral ‘scientific’ study of religion can remain viable in a period of religious tumult? Feminism, Liberation Theology and concern over the perceived persecution of stigmatized religious minorities (‘cults’) represent three orientations which are currently shaping the sociology of religion in the United States.

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