Awakening Community: The Need to Reinvent the Social Dimension of Religion
There is something within our current worldview that is perpetuating the crises of the modern world. Using Sean Kelly’s comprehensive explication of the patterns of American history in Coming Home, we recognize the location of our current condition—we are within the sixth cycle of repeating triphasi...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Common Ground Publishing
2011
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| In: |
The international journal of religion and spirituality in society
Year: 2011, Volume: 1, Issue: 2, Pages: 47-56 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | There is something within our current worldview that is perpetuating the crises of the modern world. Using Sean Kelly’s comprehensive explication of the patterns of American history in Coming Home, we recognize the location of our current condition—we are within the sixth cycle of repeating triphasic patterns in our history. This triphaic model is: (1) identity, (2) differentiation, and (3) integration, and can be found embedded in the myths of our civilization and in the depths of our psyches, demonstrated by both Carl Jung and Kelly. Robert Wuthnow adds to this discussion by presenting how spirituality has evolved in modern American society, echoing the first two phases of the triphasic model. Claude Fischer and Michael Hout’s demographic research in the United States present the specific nature in which the spirituality described in Wuthnow’s offering is developing. We realize in Fischer and Hout’s findings that there is a continued presence of religious beliefs despite the decline in religious affiliation, but along with the decline in religious preference is also a decrease in civic engagement. Finally, using the theory of Ninian Smart on the elements of what creates worldviews, we can deduce the missing piece to our puzzle—the sixth cycle needs the social dimension of religion in order to reach its final integration phase. In order to solve the problems of our time, we need to creatively reintegrate the social dimension of religion, the concept of community, into our current worldview. |
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| ISSN: | 2154-8641 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The international journal of religion and spirituality in society
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.18848/2154-8633/CGP/v01i02/51156 |