Modernity and Religion

Description

"It would be possible to argue," writes William Nicholls, "that the pivotal subject of debate among theologians for the past two hundred years has been the relationship between modernity and the Christian tradition."

What is modernity—a philosophical outlook or a set of ideas? What is modernization —a social process? Is modernity the same as secularity, as many theologians and sociologists in the West believe? Is the impact of modernity weakening religious traditions? Are the responses of non-Western religious traditions to modernity similar to Western ones, or are they distinctive, indigenous adaptations to the same world-wide development.

These are the kinds of concerns the interdisciplinary group of scholars addresses in this volume. Contributors include Moshe Amon ("Utopias and Counter-Utopias"), Alan Davies ("The Rise o Racism in the Nineteenth Century: Symptom of Modernity"), Robert Ellwood, Jr. ("Modern Religion as Folk Religion"), Irving Hexham ("Modernity or Reaction in South Africa: The Case of Afrikaner Religion"), Shotaro Iida ("Japanese New Religions"), Shelia McDonough ("modernity in Islamic Persepctive"), William Nicholls ("Immanent Transcendence: Spirituality in a Scientific and Critical Age"), K. Dad Prithipaul ("Modernity and Religious Studies"), Tom Sinclair-Faulkner ("Caution: Moralists at Work"), Huston Smith ("Can Modernity Accommodate Transcendence?"), and John Wilson ("Modernity and Religion: A Problem of Perspective").

Sujets

• Religión
• Religion

Informations

• Publié par: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
• Date de parution: 08 février 1988
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781554587599
• Langue: English

Extrait

SR SUPPLEMENTS
Volume 19
Modernity and Religion
edited by William Nicholls

Published for the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion/Corporation Canadienne des Sciences Religieuses by Wilfrid Laurier University Press 1987
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Modernity and religion
(SR supplements ; 19) Papers presented at the Consultation on Modernity and Religion held at the University of British Columbia, Dec. 15-18, 1981. ISBN 0-88920-154-4
1. Religion - Congresses. 2. Religious thought - 20th century - Congresses. 3. Secularism - Congresses. I. Nicholls, William, 1921- II. Series.
BL21.M63 1988 200 C88-093291-0
1987 Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion/ Corporation Canadienne des Sciences Religieuses
87 88 89 90 4 3 2 1
No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche, or any other means, without written permission from the publisher.
Cover design by Michael Baldwin, MSIAD
Order from: Wilfrid Laurier University Press Wilfrid Laurier University Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3C5
Printed in Canada
Contents
Contributors
Introduction by William Nicholls
PART I: IDENTIFYING MODERNITY
1. Modernity and Religion: A Problem of Perspective by John F. Wilson
2. Modern Religion as Folk Religion by Robert S. Ellwood, Jr.
PART II: CASE STUDIES
The Rise of Racism in the Nineteenth Century: Symptom of Modernity by Alan T. Davies
4. Modernity or Reaction in South Africa: The Case of Afrikaner Religion by Irving Hexham
5. 700 Years After Nichiren by Shotaro Iida
6. Modernity in Islamic Perspective by Sheila McDonough
PART III: MODERNITY AND RELIGION
7. Utopias and Counter-Utopias by Moshe Amon
8. Modernity and Religious Studies by K. Dad Prithipaul
9. Can Modernity Accommodate Transcendence? by Huston Smith
10. Immanent Transcendence: Spirituality in a Scientific and Critical Age by William Nicholls
11. Caution! Moralists at Work by Tom Sinclair-Faulkner
Contributors
Moshe Amon, Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of British Columbia (to 1984).
Alan T. Davies, Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Victoria Campus, University of Toronto.
Robert S. Ellwood, Jr., Bashford Professor of Oriental Studies, School of Religion, University of Southern California.
Irving Hexham, Assistant Professor, Department of Religion, University of Manitoba (now Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of Calgary).
Shotaro Iida, Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of British Columbia.
Sheila McDonough, Professor, Department of Religion, Concordia University.
William Nicholls, Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of British Columbia (Head, 1964-1983).
K. Dad Prithipaul, Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of Alberta.
Tom Sinclair-Faulkner, Associate Professor, Department of Religion, Dalhousie University; Editor, Studies in Religion/Sciences religieuses.
Huston Smith, Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion, Emeritus, Syracuse University.
John F. Wilson, Professor and Chairman, Department of Religious Studies, Princeton University.
INTRODUCTION William Nicholls
The papers included in this volume were originally presented at the Consultation on Modernity and Religion held at the University of British Columbia, from December 15-18, 1981, under my chairmanship. Though extraneous factors have delayed their publication until now, the papers seem to be no less relevant than when they were originally delivered.
The idea of holding such a consultation originated in a seminar on the same subject which had been meeting regularly for several years under my chairmanship in the Department of Religious Studies of the University of British Columbia. The seminar consisted of the members of the department who were professionally interested in modern aspects of the religions we study. We hoped our studies and discussions might lead us to some understanding of modernity as a cross-cultural phenomenon. At the same time, we hoped that the relatively new discipline of religious studies might throw fresh light on a topic that had previously been the province of theologians and sociologists.
As more than one of us already knew from our own reading, theologians have devoted a great deal of thought to modernity. It would be possible to argue that the pivotal subject of debate among theologians for the past 200 years has been the relationship between modernity and the Christian tradition. Jewish thinkers since the Emancipation have encountered similar problems and proposed analogous solutions to them. In this sense our theme was certainly not a new one, and involved some traversing of well-trodden ground. These discussions had taken place, however, within Western culture. The newer academic study of religion is not confined to Western culture. Study of modernity in other cultures ought, we supposed, to lead to fresh understanding. The sociologists had also begun to study essentially the same phenomenon, under the name of modernization. The sociologists seemed to us more aware than the theologians that modernity, or modernization, is a world-wide phenomenon.
What then is modernity (a philosophical outlook or set of ideas?) or modernization (a social process?)? Since modernity evidently began In the West, is modernization identical with Westernization? Is modernity the same as secularity, as many theologians and sociologists in the West believe? If so, is modernization the same as secularization? Is Its impact upon religion invariably weakening or destructive to the religious traditions? Are the responses of non-Western religious traditions to modernity modelled upon or analogous to those Western ones that have been studied already, or are they perhaps distinctive indigenous adaptations to the same world-wide development? After our seminar had been meeting for only a short time, it became apparent to us that widely different answers could be given to these questions. The cooperation of a broad spectrum of scholars from different disciplines and of different outlooks would probably be needed if answers were to be refined and developed to the point of commanding wide assent.
Thus the suggestion took hold of organizing a consultation of scholars interested in the field of modernity and religion to see what others were saying on our topic and to try out the ideas we ourselves were developing. A preliminary draft of the protocol of the consultation was circulated among some leading scholars, and their responses and critiques of our proposal proved sufficiently encouraging to go ahead with the practical problems of fund-raising, finding participants willing to read papers and discussion chairmen, and arranging the details of an actual program.
The consultation finally took place at International House on the campus of the University of British Columbia in fine December weather, and to our delight it came together as a coherent exploration of a common theme. The papers that were read provoked lively and suggestive discussions, and everyone got to know one another and their ideas quickly. Several of the leading participants afterwards told me that, from the point of view of their own work, this was one of the best scholarly meetings they had attended. There was also general agreement that this way of approaching the topic of modernity and religion was in fact a fruitful one and ought to lead to long-term research and continued communication between those engaged in it.
As editor of these published proceedings, I therefore have to hope that something of the vitality and stimulus of the actual consultation will be preserved in these pages. The papers presented here were not the whole of the consultation. Not only was each paper individually discussed at length, but the issues raised in each group of papers were also discussed in special sessions under the leadership of designated chairmen. It will be obvious that, for the participants themselves, such exchanges were of the greatest value. Nevertheless I am confident that the papers now presented to a wider public are worth studying in their own right, as a substantial body of research and reflection upon a topic of interest to anyone concerned with the present and future of religion.
The proposals for papers which we originally received seemed to fall into three main groups, which we designated Identifying Modernity , Case Studies, and Modernity and Religion. While this general grouping of the papers has been preserved in publication, the order of the papers has been slightly changed, and some of them have been transferred to a different group in which they now seem to be more at home.
The papers by Huston Smith and Sheila McDonough were originally delivered without a manuscript, and have been revised for publication by their authors from transcribed tape recordings. McDonough s paper was originally an informal chairman s introduction to the discussion on modernity as a transcultural phenomenon. It was felt to contain material of such importance and interest that I asked her to turn it into a short paper for publication In this volume. Another stimulating paper is not included here because it has been published In a book which most readers of these proceedings are likely to have in their hands or can easily borrow. Jacob Needleman s paper on Socrates and the philosophical tradition can now be found in his The Heart of Philosophy (New York: Knopf, 1982). Sinclair-Faulkner s contribution has been newly written for these proceedings in an attempt to convey to the re