The Mystical Body of Society: Religion and Association in Nineteenth-Century French Political Thought
In this paper I explore the history of the notion that to believe in religion is to believe in society by tracing instances in which, in the discourse of this current within nineteenth-century French republicanism, the term religion entered into the same semantic field as the notions of society and...
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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Published: |
University of Pennsylvania Press
2008
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In: |
Journal of the history of ideas
Year: 2008, Volume: 69, Issue: 2, Pages: 219-243 |
Online Access: |
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Summary: | In this paper I explore the history of the notion that to believe in religion is to believe in society by tracing instances in which, in the discourse of this current within nineteenth-century French republicanism, the term religion entered into the same semantic field as the notions of society and association. I analyze several groups and individuals who sought to define religion by invoking "association" and "society": the Saint-Simonians, P.-J.-B. Buchez, Pierre Leroux, Jean-Marie Guyau, and Emile Durkheim. I conclude by suggesting that this way of thinking about religion not only illuminates the intellectual context in which Durkheim's religious sociology emerged, but also highlights a distinctly French social imaginary. |
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ISSN: | 1086-3222 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of the history of ideas
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/jhi.2008.0019 |