Modern people and religion

Author: Georg Simmel
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-10-01
Features: Based on Simmel's On Religion, this book comprehensively elaborates on his post-religious theory of religion. His religious thought spans three main areas: religious sociology, the religious perspective within "life philosophy," and the religious view in modern cultural theory. In theological terms, Simmel's religious theory can be connected to Kierkegaard's individualistic theory of faith and compared with the dialectical theology of Barth and Bultmann, particularly the distinction between "Christliness" and "Christianity." In social thought, it can be compared with the liberal religious theory of Max Weber and Niklas Luhmann. In socializing Christian thought, Simmel's contributions are no less than those of Troeltsch. Simmel is the most prolific theorist of religion among classical social thinkers, even though Durkheim and Weber have more extensive writings on religious theory, neither covers as broad a scope as Simmel.