Presidential Address: Religion and Power-A Return to the Roots of Social Scientific Scholarship

Early social scientists, including Karl Marx, Max Weber, and W. E. B. DuBois, recognized the importance of religion for power systems. Since the beginning of the 20th century, however, there has been a decline in scholars examining how religion matters for power. This address proposes that scholars...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal for the scientific study of religion
Main Author: Edwards, Korie L. 1970- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell [2019]
In: Journal for the scientific study of religion
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Religion / Political system / Power structure
RelBib Classification:AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
ZC Politics in general
Further subjects:B Religious Institutions
B power systems
B sociology of religion
B Power
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Volltext (doi)
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Summary:Early social scientists, including Karl Marx, Max Weber, and W. E. B. DuBois, recognized the importance of religion for power systems. Since the beginning of the 20th century, however, there has been a decline in scholars examining how religion matters for power. This address proposes that scholars bring religion back to the center of understanding the production, deconstruction, and distribution of power as religion is critical to the flows of power in the social world. I propose that furthering an agenda that interrogates the role of religion for power means we emphasize that (i) religion is an institution; (ii) religious ideas motivate action; (iii) our epistemology sources theories of power rather than those that invalidate the centrality of religion in societies; and (iv) ground-breaking theoretical and empirical contributions to the social scientific study of religion and power demand that we broaden and diversify the standpoints from which this knowledge is produced.
ISSN:1468-5906
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the scientific study of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12583