24. List of Peter Berger Statements Regarding the Social Construction
and Interpretation of Social Reality and Self. What follows
is an excerpt from a reader prepared for a college class in “Social
Inequality,” Fall 1989, pp. 20-29 of a 36 page paper.
From: SOCIOLOGY AND THE JANUS MASK OF STRUGGLE I:
The Struggle to Affect Life Chances
by Attempting to Maintain or Change the Status Quo
Regarding Providing or Denying Access
to Societal and Capital Resources
OR
The Struggle to Make Haste Slowly, Inclusively,
With Cognitive Respect,
Developing Criteria for Developing Public and Private Policy
Regarding Freedom, Peace, Justice, Effectiveness, and Inclusiveness
Which Will Maximize Meaning and Minimize Pain
by Peter J. Jessen October 30, 1989
Key PRINCIPLES OF PETER L Berger
vis a vis sociology and the sociology of knowledge AS THEY RELATE TO SOCIAL
STRATIFICATION, SOCIAL INEQUALITY, and justice
Which brings us back to Peter Berger. I am a student of his work. He has not nor does he intend to start a school of thought, a"Bergerian School." He would be embarrassed by people claiming to be such, and sees himself as one more practicioner of science following in the footsteps of those who came before, building upon their works, having the advantage of each succeeding generation of data not available to earlier generations, and, most importantly, able to provide the kind of hindsight empirically unavailable to those earlier sociologists, and expecting the generation following his to use his work in the same way.
Hunter and Ainly (Making Sense of Modern Times: Peter L. Berger and the Vision of Interpretive Sociology) state that "Berger has developed a theoretical perspective and analytical model, novel for its synthesis of different theoretical strains in classical and contemporary theory. It is a perspective that comprehensively encompasses the complex relationship between the individual and society, the relationship between the micro-and macro-social worlds, the social genesis, maintenance, and distribution of knowledge, among other things."
The exerpts below are taken from primarily from these book by Berger
Invitation to Sociology
The Social Construction of Reality
Sociology: A Biographcal Approach
The Homeless Mind, Pyramids of Sacrifice
Facing Up To Modernity, To Empower People
The Heretical Imperative
Sociology Reinterpreted
The Capitalist Revolution, Modern Capitalism: Volume 1: Capitalism
and Equality
in America
Modern Capitalism: Volume 2: Capitalism and Equality in the
Third World.
Books written about his work include (1) Making Sense of Modern Times:
Peter L. Berger and the Vision of Interpretive Sociology, Edited by Hunter
and Ainlay. (2) Humanity and Modern Social Thought, Edited by Guzzort
and King, and (3) Cultural Analysis, Edited by Wuthnow, Hunter, Bergesen,
and Kurzweil.
Below is a long list of statements reflecting the work and significance
of Peter Berger's work. They are not meant to be propositions or
principles but rather as an outline, an outline with numbered statements
so that we can better discuss them in class by referring to the number
in question. This is meant to be illustrative and instructive, not
definitive. It presents a theoretical floor accompanied with empirical
data to provide a foundation on which to build to analyze society, understand
society, and then to use the results of such work to inform one's action
as a citizen and as a policy maker or decider and, most pressingly, in
the term paper due at the end of the semester.
The basics of his theoretical approach are as follows:
From the standpoint of reality being a social construction:
1. Reality is a social construction
a. The sociology of knowledge concerns itself with everything that passes for "knowledge" in society
b. Knowledge is socially distributed
c. The sociology of knowledge studies the mechanisms of this distribution
2. The mechanics of reality construction are seen in two
three processes:
The first three-step process:
Externalization Internalization Objectivation
a.In this first process, cultural products are made through social interaction (externalization), which are then presented as being real (objectivation), and then accepted as being real (internalization). Sometimes, when the original reality creating act becomes forgotten, the reality construction takes on a life of its own, as if it had always been real rather than made real through the social interaction and reality construction activity of people.
b.Creating or suggesting ideas, actions, behaviors, or explanations, is externalization. You must then discuss it in such a way, both orally and in writing, that it is seen to be a stand-alone "truth," is real, and is viewed as a real object. This is objectivation. You must then get those who view it as real to take it and make it part of their own understandings and reality. This is internalization.
The second three-step process:
Legitimation Nihilation Therapeutics
c. To protect reality, you must undertake the task of explaining the validity and value (and, if you can, the superiority of your view), differentiate yourself positively from the others also seeking the position (and, as required, underscore, by inference, the defects in others), and present yours as the logical choice, minimally (being satisfactory and acceptable) or maximally (as the best choice). This is legitimation. Where people have an objection to you (something in their interpretation of you or in their questions suggests they either do not accept your view or wish to accept a rival reality definition), you must reinterpret yourself and your past events (and other individuals if need be) in order to bring your listener in line with your reality. In other words, you have to eliminate or negate the opposing view. This is called nihilation (or, we could say, negative legitimation). When applied politically, this act of nihilation results in the competing sides taking the ultimate step of nihilation, killing those who don't accept their reality definition. Finally, you have to maintain your constructed reality. You must do what is necessary to enable people to keep believing your view, skillfully placing the blame for any defection from your view on external factors (the economy, the industry, individual defectors), and provide the proper support for those "backsliding" on accepting your definition. This is called therapeutics.
d. With Durkheim: consider social facts as things
e. With Weber: the object of cognition is the subjective meaning-complex of
f. action
3. The enterprise of sociology or any social science can
best be undertaken in the classical tradition, which calls for a commitment
to the scientific stature of the study of society, a passion to see the
world as it is without first making politial or ethical judgments based
on what one wants to see, and to maintain an objectivity uncolored by
overt political bias.
4. To understand that no matter how much objectivity one
has in approaching the reality of the social world, its meaning is never
self-evident but rather is always subject to interpretation (this is seen
particularly in the "culture shock" of anthropologists who,
when it is too much or they cannot hold onto their own idenity, "go
native").
5. To understand the world in an interpretive manner is to
employ the ordinary words used in the world in the attempt to interpret
the subjective meanings and motives of the social actors. The meaning
must go to the generic, to explain the nature, the causal relations, and
the historical significance of different institutional configurations
and their meaning for and impact on various types of individuals and groups
as they live out the routines of everyday life.
6. Be unprovincial in the analysis, be comprehensive:
understand the historical component, be comparative, and have, as much
as possible, a self-conscious philosophical/methodological component.
7. Dare to take on the most consequential issues of the time,
which today means "modernity": attempt to make sense of
the modern world. Attempt to understand a rapidly changing world
and its consequences for individual existence.
8. Because human beings do not have any biological instincts
for human social interaction, they cannot operate, develop, grow, create,
or inspire in a "role-free" existence.
9. Roles too are socially created.
10. Because there can be no role-free existence, there is a need
for "habituation". Thus: the need for "habituation"
means there can be no "role-free" existence.
11. The best rehearsal hall to "habituate" your role playing
in is the private sphere.
12. To develop habits to draw on for action, humans create their
own instinct substitutes: behaviors (manners, tradition) and procedures
(laws, rules, policies, old wives tales, etc.. Behavior is controlled
by perception (a view, an opinion, a belief about what is or is not true).
13. Institutions are The Carriers of Socially Constructed Behaviors
14. Institutionalization is the process of creating/ordering behavior
15. Traditions are the historical "Instincts" institutionalized
into rituals
§ How is it that subjective meanings become objective facticities?
§ How is it possible that human activity should produce a world of things?
§ What is real? How is one to know?
§ We must see the world as it is, not as we would like it be.
§ Societal meanings are not self-evident: they are open to interpretation
§ Goal: to make sense of the modern world: to study the relationship of technololgy bureaucracy to modern consciousness
§ Humans create society
§ Society acts back upon humans
§ Humans act on that, etc., etc., etc.
§ Humans are in society
§ Society is in humans
16. Social control is then carried out by institutions.
Reality is carried by institutions (some of which are organized bureacracies).
Whichever, institutions are the carriers of socially constructed behaviors.
Institutionalizaton is the process of creating/ordering behavior.
17. Institutionalziation is the process of creating/ordering behavior
18. Tradition: historical "instinct substitutes"
institutionalized into rituals
19. The key institution is language. It is the first institution
encountered.Institutions have basic characteristics:
1. coerciveness: they determine what
2. moral authority: they determine why: claim legitimacy
3. historicity: they legitimate past/present/future
20. Status and roles are concepts and performance indicators/evaluators
1. Achieved (by one's own efforts)
2. Ascribed (assigned by others)
21. Order is the primary imperative of social life, and gives
rise to two other imperatives: continuity and trivia.Order is achieved
through traditions, roles, and rituals.
22. Goal: to learn how to deal with multiple realities, solving
the personal crises in
a. dealing with modernity, so as to maintain a sense of continuity in one's sense of
b. identity: how to play one's different roles correctly on the different stages of life's
c. different realities.
23. Solving social problems requires working out a calculus of
meaning and a calculus of pain criteria, which could include such questions
as "is it good for children?" and "is it inclusive"
(as opposed to exclusive)?
24. Recognize the reality of the unintended consequences of social/political/religious
action, and plan accordingly.
25. The problem is not economic but ideational, not capitalism
vs. socialism, but rather the discontents of modernity.
26. Theories are based on both micro and macro considerations,
although only a few press on toward each other, such as the sociology
of knowledge framework as worked out by Berger.
27. Social change theories are constructed to explain and predict
large societal level activity.
28. Social change attempts are also attempts to change social stratification,
either to increase or decrease social inequality. There is dialectical
relation (Weber’s “recipirocal causation of reality”)
between the structural realities and the human enterprise of constructing
reality. (including theories about this). Contemporary society can
be better understood with empirical research showing the relation of institutions
to legitimating symbolic universes.
29. Symbolic universes are the fourth level of legitimation, bodies
of theoretical tradition that integrate different provinces of meaning
and encompass the institutional order in a symbolic totality.
1st level = Incipient legitimation by language, vocabulary
2nd level = theoretical propositions in a rudimentary form: proverbs, moral maxims, wise sayings, ledgends, folk tales
3rd level = explicit theories, comprehensive frames of reference for the respective sectors of institutionalized conduct
4th level = symbolic universes integration of all subjective and objective meanings in an all embracing frame of reference
30. Order is the primary imperative of social life, and is obtained
through roles and rituals.
31. There is always an existension tension between structure and
action, between pessimism and affirming the possibilities of human autonomy.
To do justice to empirical reality of human social life requires acknowledging
both "structure" and "action" and not denying one
or the other.
32. Hence, a theoretically sound soicology will show both the limits
and the possibilities of what individuals experience as their freedom,
being pessimistic in the sense of being anti-utopian yet not being automatically
cynical or passive because of the constraining structures.
Then, moving from theory and empirical data to action based on both vis
a vis policy making:
33. That in moving from analysis to policy, a "postulate of
ignorance" is required, a stance that recognizes the limits to knowing
what to do after all of the empirical evidence is in, and that, in the
policy arena, to utilize the moral criteria of the "calculus of pain"
and the "calculus of meaing" forpolicy, especially developmental
ones.
34. That, from a policy standpoint, it would appear, from the data
so far, that the best bet is not on socialism but on democratic capitalism,
within the recognition that whether one uses a redistributionist model
or not, there can be nothing to redistribute to the poor if there is no
wealth to produce.
35. That the lost "sense of community" decried in the
60's and 70's was overblown because of the "mediating structures"
cushioning people from the blows of "modernity": the family,
church, the neigborhood, voluntary associations, and sub-cultures, and
that another aspect of the calculi of developing policy is to evaluate
it on the basis of how it will (or does after being implemented) strengthen
these mediating structures rather than weakening them.
36. That "participatory politics" may well not be the
place to begin, but rather participating within the institutions which
carry on and support politics, in order that they are framed to protect
and facilitate individual autonomy (which, by defintion, rules out fascism
and socialism and any other "totalistic" political schemes,
which increase human deprivation and tear away the safeguards of human
meanings.
37. That doctrines of "liberation" as criteria for policy
will not necessarily lead to freedom, as the major totalitarian systems
of the modern world all have their roots in doctrines of libertion.
38. That if one does not see the justice one feels needs to be in
place, that the place to begin is with the institutions of the modern
welfare state in order to make the decision(s) on whether to keep, modify,
reform, or seek altogether different alternatives more appropriate to
American society than the current system.
39. That in dealing with policy, one is also dealing with the great
question of theodicy, which is more than a philosophical problem, as it
deals with the subjective meanings that make up the base of everyday life.
Thus, to deal with and make sense of suffering, injustice, and death,
one must begin with the institutions, as these are needs of human beings
as a whole, not just philosophers or theoreticians.
40. That "cognitive respect" is as much a methodological
as a moral principle, and deals with meanings of people. Respecting
the common values and traditions of people requires rejecting all notions
of "raising the consciousness" of people or worse, pretending
to know better than they what is good for them.
41. That these realizations link up with Burkean conservatism, predisposing
one toward democracy as a form of government and toward a market economy.
42. That wherever sociology is practiced in the classical tradition,
there too will be the liberating qualities of sociological consciousness.
Having said all of this, what is the result of Berger's work vis a vis
modern capitalism?
43. In 1974, he published Pyramids of Sacrifice: Political
Ethics and Social Change, in which he summarizes his argument into twenty-five
theses (no Lutheran delusions of grandeur should be read into this), and
which are included in Reader Item #17. In this book he demonstrates
how economic planners and intellecutals -- the latest priesthood -- demand
the labor and the lives ofpeople today on the shaky premise of a better
tomorrow. He outlines why we must not accept any ideology, whether
of the left or right, whether of capitalism or socialism, that justifies
human suffering, or who, in the name of "consciousness raising"
deny the values and perceptions of those they are theoretically trying
to help, and in doing so rob them of the meaning in their lives.
44. In 1986 he published The Capitalist Revolution: Fifty
Propositions About Prosperity, Equlaity,& Liberty (the 50 are listed
in Reader Item #17, again doing so without the noted delusions).
His central theme is that the modern market economy called capitlism transforms
every other aspect of society, that it is the most successful economic
mechanism ever devised for improving material standards of large numbers
of people, grounding privilege and prestige in economic achievement, doing
so in a connection with political democracy and individual autonomy.
By looking at capitalism in both the West and in East Asia, he shows that
capitalism is not a mere by-product of specifically Western culture.
By looking at both capitalism and socialism, he demonstrates that inequality
is an issue not of capitalism versus socialism but of modernization.
45. In 1987, he edited the publication of the fist two volumes of
a set aimed at "Capitalism and Equality in America."
46. He entitles his introductory essay for Volume I (Capitalism
and Equality in America) "America and the Myth of Inequality."
47. He entitles his introductory essay for Volume II (Capitalism
and Equality in the Third World) "Betting on Capitlism."
His points are summarized below in the continuation of statements, based
not on theorizing, but on empirical data gathering around this country
and around the world by twenty scholars and investigators.
First, about America:
48. Capitalism is a mode of organizational ecomomic activity, with
a flexibility equally amazing to its
a. friends and discouraging to its critics. .
49. Capitalism is not understood. Despite the Marxist and
neo-Marxist criticisms, and the predictions for its demise, capitalism
not only continues but does so healthily in its homelands and continues
to grow in the Third World and is being resurrected in socialist countries.
50. Marxism's attraction is due to its theoretical force, not to
its decency of politics. It is a militant creed intended to inspire
people to revolutionary action to destroy capitalistic society.
It is a myth.
51. Because in the ongoing debate between capitalism and its critics
the issue regularly raised is that of equality, an empirical look at "equality"
is needed to overcome the "common sense" accepted by capitalists
and their critics alike, that although it has greater econommic efficiency,
it cannot be defended on the grounds of equality. Nonetheless, it
is better to be free, with liberty, than have equality.
52. A key question becomes: does this trade-off in fact prevail?
Is it in fact empirically valid that inequality is one of the hallmarks
of capitalism?
53. As no one really believes that perfect equality, fully equal
shares of the available resources and services for all is possible, the
key question is that of relative equality, which means that a comparison
must be made not only with the past but with other societies in the present.
54. America, long a symbol of equality, is today a symbol of the
opposite: a society of crass inequalities, oppressive and exploitative,
a bastion of privilege and hierarachy, fostering "racism" and
"sexism.". Is this a fair and accurate assessment?
The evidence, within the comparative framework of the the preceding statement,
suggests it is not.
55. It will not be easy to demonstrate the empirical evidence to
those who have a considerable cognitive investment in the proposition
that American capitalism is, essentially and irrevocably, a structure
of inequalties.
56. An empirical inquiry into this propositon will not resolve the
normative issue of whether American society is "just" or "unjust"
in its distribution of resources and services. And, in such an inquiry,
once one has concluded that America is or is not, comparatively speaking,
an egalitarian society, is it capitalism that should be either praised
or blamed?
57. An empirical investigation can only investigate, when it comes
to equality or equity; thus, the question is of how much equality there
is in America, not how much equality there should be.
58. The data shows, in Berger's quote of Samuel McCracken's statement,
that capitalism has nabled Americans to undergo "the liberating transformation.of
man from a beast of burden to a master of machines", and refers to
the qualiy of life on a number of levels in regards to a number of areas:
cheap and efficient energy, life expenctancy, incidence of diseases, nutrition,
the prices of basic commodities, accessibility of inexpensive consumer
goods, housing, clothing, leisure, transportation, and communications.
59. Comparatively speaking, America's poor enjoy a standard of living
which, for most of human history, was beyond the dreams of all but royalty,
and in some respects (beginning with life expectancy) even beyond the
dreams of royalty.
60. Despite the inequalities (the rich enjoy more of the benefits)
the fact remains that the working-class American enjoys access to the
good things of life in a measure unparalleled in human history, anywhere
or anytime, and this fact in itself has egalitarian implications.
61. Industrial capitalism in America has raised the standard of
living of virtually everyone in the society, an achievement for which
the incredibly productive economy of American capitalism is to be credited.
Thus, despite the persisting inequalities of wealth and income, American
society has become more egalitarian in the distribution of wealth and
income, particularly when compared to other countries, even Sweden.
Much of this is due to government transfer programs, especially those
of the 1930's and 1960's, without which there would be twice as many poor.
The conclusion here, then, is that democratic capitalism generates political
processes that reduce inequality.
62. Another way of looking at stratification and social inequality
is to look at social mobility. And, when compared with its own past
or with other societies, America has a substantial amount of intergenerational
mobility and, to use Vilfredo Pareto's phrase, a "circulation of
elites," with movement on the ladder going both up and down.
The egalitarian dynamics of American society is such that the truck driver's
son has a better chance of becoming a professional or businessman than
the professional or businessman's son, whose greater likelihood is to
become a truck driver.
63. The market dynamics of capitalism have been modified by corporations,
the state, labor unions, and other interest groupings.
64. Compared to other societies and to America's own past, America
is a highly egalitarian society and that, as time passes, it is becoming
increasingly more so. Despite this, the myth of inequality, of those
seeking a utopian egalitarian society, hate America for not being so.
65. The egalitarian utopia, whether socialist or capitalist, is
a myth of a world in which all will be brothers and sisters, with all
barriers broken down, having given way to society-wide solidarity.
No society has or can meet such criteria. Here the problem of comparison
is that the critics refuse to compare the situation to others or to the
past, but rather make the comparison with an unattainable ideal.
66. For inspiration, the economic and political arenas still turn
to the Judaeo-Christian religious tradition, without which there would
be no western civilization and no America.
67. The question then becomes the degree to which the socio-economic
model of America is exportable to other countries.
Next, about the Third World.
We are led next, therefore, to the question of the Third World, which
is of particular importance for those of you considering vocations in
overseas missions. Berger's master hypothesis, taken from the critics
of capitalism, "is that capitalist developmen fosters inequality."
Berger goes on to say that "coupling this hypothesis with the moral
demand that the success of any development model should be assessed in
terms of its effects on the condition of the poor, the critics of capitalism
have asserted that capitalism either does not alleviate or even worsens
the poverty of the lower classes in Third World societies, and that this
is the principal reason why it is morally unacceptable." The
authors of the volume have accepted this moral assumption also.
Yet, as a result of their work, "the evidence gathered here lends
very little support indeed to the master hypothesis. Rather, it
tends in the opposite direction--toward the proposition that capitalist
development generates powerful equalizing forces and that it tends to
do so more reliably and more humanely than its empirically socialist or
statist competitors. If this is so, however, the moral equation
changes greatly--and (this is very important) it changes even if one concedes,
as one must, that all the data are not yet in. In moral terms, one
may quite simply put it this way: given the evidence thus far, the
burden of proof is on the side of the critics of capialism. Again
in moral terms, this burden should be especially troublesome to those
who advocate a 'preferential option for the poor'."
Now lets look at the results of some of these studies as they related
to confirming or not confirming the master hypothesis. Berger will
be our guide.
68. The gigantic laboratory of the world presents various models
of capitlist and non-capitalist development, which can be compared, either
in terms of capitalism and equality or in terms of the equity consequences
of capitalism.
69. There is no guarantee that, even though the equity effects of
American capitalism are high, that they can be a model for export.
70. Capitalism is but one of the ingredients of the American stew.
Other parts include the democratic institutions derived from England,
the Puritan religious and moral heritage, the values and sensibilities
of an immigrant society, and so on.
71. Liberation theologians who proclaim "preferential treatment
for the poor" want this as the basic moral criterion for evaluating
any society or social strategy.
72. The data do not support the notion that communist regimes have
accelerated the decrease in inequalities. They have politicized
them. The inequalities of class have been replaced bythe inequalities
of political status.
73. Data suggest that modern technology, with its tremendous power
of productive capability, must also be factored in. Cuba's progress,
for instance, could have been predicted in 1960 before the Castro takeover,
which liquidates the favored legitimation of the Castro regime.
In other words, it would have happened without him.
74. Another study shows the dynamic results that can occur when
people in the Third World cities are allowed to participate in small,
even tiny, entrepreneuring activities, on their own. It is shown
to be an important vehicle for the poor to improve their condition, a
vehicle to enable rural migrants to survive in the city, where their children
get a better education and thus improve their chances of mobility.
75. Such data show that "philosopher-kings" or "detached
but all knowing intellectuals" are not needed to provide centralized
planning and decision making, but rather a market economy which allows
for any to take the opportunity to improve their chances and especially
the chances of their children. Although socialist countries are
allowing such"penny capitalism", it cannot do its greatest work
unless it is allowed at the macro-structures as well.
76. In another Third World study, the whole strategy of having central
coordiating mechanisms embodied in law and carrying out the planning is
shown to be short-sighted and self-defeating. In the Third World,
these central coordinating mechanisms seek to command the norms and patterns
of social interaction, rather than reflect them. In other words,
it is not the economic development that lays the groundwork for political
participation but political participation which sets the ground work for
economic development. This study clearly advocates a gradualist
approach for developing the kind of grassroots participatory
patterns for building institutions of accountability and discipline.
77. Another study, in India, shows that capitalist agriculture increases
the chances of improving the condition of both rural and urban poor people.
In Russia, the private plots have produced significantly more per acre
than the collectivised forms.
78. Taiwan and other societies of Each Asia, have demonstrated that
capitalism can develop and provide development without also providing
what the critics say has to accompany it, high inequality.
79. The "East Asian Model" of capitalism has worked in
sharp distinction to the "Latin American Model" (which is why
the Marxist and neo-Marxist interpretation carry more persuasiveness in
Latin America than elsewhere in the Third World). The difference
is the conscious political decisions made in East Asia vs. those made
in Latin America. In East Asia, the political decisions made were
for government policy favoring market forces, the rapid absorption of
unskilled labor into all sectors of the economy, and the improveement
of agricultural incomes in the wake of a comprehensive land reform.
In this comparison we can see the importance of culture. A country's
social and cultral patterns are important, and they must be included in
any study of the economic picture.
80. Many of the authors of this volume readily count equity (in
the sense of increasing prosperity reaching all people in a society) as
one of the key criteria of success. The results of their work lead
them unhesitatingly to pro-capitalist policies regarding economic and
political variables. No such uniformity exists regarding which cultural
variables, but this shows capitalism can succeed in any culture, but not
in any economic or political framework.
81. The researchers, not being able to definitively state what should
be done, place their bets on a market system and on government policies
that encourage it. Policies, within the gradualist framework, could
include free trade zones, entrepreneurial education, and assistance to
the small-business sector.
Which leads to one of the most famous questions of doing social science:
so what?
82. "There are no certainties in the social sciences.
There are only different degrees of probability. This, of course,
presents the policymaker with a painful dilemma. The social scientist
can always say, 'more research is needed.' The policy-maker has
no such luxury. He must act under the pressures of the moment (these
are urgent indeed in most of these countries) and on the basis of less
than conclusive information. In other words, he must gamble.
If there is one strong suggestion coming out of he present volume, it
is that he will be well advised to bet on capitalism.
Berger also has a religious side
83. The fate of the individual in modern society is largely a religious
problem. The efffort to make sense of modern times in a sociologically
responsible fashion can take us outside the formal boundaries of sociology
to inform theological concerns.
84. Religion helps people face the problem of meaningfully ordering
their lives. His sociological assumptions inform his theology and
his theological (and, more broadly, metaphyscial) assumptions inform his
sociology.
85. Religion needs to be defined more in substantive than functional
terms, if it is to be be properly understood, for it is important apprehend
the meaning substance of religion before looking at how it functions in
society.
86. An excellent way to conceptualize the phenomena is to think
of the "supernatural" and the "sacred" as two intersecting
circles. What has been traditionally known as religious experience
is contained in the common area of the overlapping circles.
87. The title of his book The Heretical Imperative contains his
central thesis: "heresy" is from the Greek word "harein"
which means choice: selectivity in the face of religious tradition.Where
"fate" once dominated faith, now "choice" does.
To go on believing as if nothing has changed is delusion. Given
the need for choice, a viable option is the "inducive option":
turning from external authority to individual experience. In other
words, resolve the tension between reason and faith by confronting, exploring,
comparing, assessing, one's religious experience. In short:
religious truth has nothing to fear from reason.