Communities of Faith: Sectarianism, Identity, and Social Change on a Danish Island / Edition 1

by Andrew S. Buckser

Overview

Most studies of modern religious change have viewed it as a process of secularization in which the advance of science and technology discredits religious beliefs and destroys religious institutions. Yet religion has stubbornly failed to expire in the West, and in some places is undergoing a resurgence. This book reconsiders secularization theory through a case study of arural island in Denmark where, in the late nineteenth century, a series of powerful religious awakenings electrified its population, dividing it into several large and intense Lutheran movements. After examining the history and social structure of those Protestant groups and revealing their cultural and ideological complexity, the author concludes that the secularization theory is inadequate and that an anthropological approach, focusing on religion's role in creating identity and community for its members, offers much better insight into religious processes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781571810427
Publisher:	Berghahn Books
Publication date:	11/01/1996
Series:	New Directions in Anthropology , #5
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1200L (what's this?)

About the Author

Andrew S. Buckser is at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Purdue University

Table of Contents

List of Maps
Acknowledgments
Preface

Introduction: Secularization and its Discontents

PART I: THE SETTING

Chapter 1. Mors in Time and Space
Chapter 2. The Social World
Chapter 3. Being a Morsingbo

PART II: RELIGION ON MORS

Chapter 4. A Brief History of the Danish Church
Chapter 5. The Mors Island Free Congregation
Chapter 6. The Church Society for the Inner Mission in Denmark
Chapter 7. The Apostolic Church

PART III: MORS AND THE MEANING OF RELIGION

Chapter 8. Religion, Science, and Secularization on Mors

Appendix

Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

A reconsideration of secularization theory using, as its core study, the people of a rural island in Denmark. Buckser (sociology and anthropology, Purdue U.) combines historical research and field study to portray the people of Mors whose community went through a profound religious awakening in the 19th century that divided it into several intense Lutheran movements. The author finds remnants of that deep religious fervor in the contemporary lives of Mors' inhabitants, making him conclude that secularization theory is inadequate to an anthropological approach focused on religion's role in creating identity and community for its members. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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