...Parsons: Values and Meaning• Parsons sees religion helping individuals to cope with unforeseen events and uncontrollable outcomes. He identifies two other essential functions that religion performs in modern society. • It creates and legitimates society’s central values. This is done my sacralising them. In the USA, Protestantism has sacralised the core American values of individualism, meritocracy and self-discipline. This serves to promote consensus and social stability. • It is the primary source of meaning. It answers ultimate questions about the human condition e.g., why the good suffer and why some die young. Such events defy our sense of justice and make life appear meaningless, and this may undermine our commitment to society’s values. Religion provides answers to such questions, e.g. by explaining suffering as a test of faith that will be rewarded in heaven. By doing so, religion enables people to adjust to adverse events or circumstances and helps maintain stability Parsons: Values and Meaning• Parsons sees religion helping individuals to cope with unforeseen events and uncontrollable outcomes. He identifies two other essential functions that religion performs in modern society. • It creates and legitimates society’s central values. This is done my sacralising them. In the USA, Protestantism has sacralised the core American values of individualism, meritocracy and self-discipline. This serves to promote consensus and social stability. • It is the primary source...
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...enlightens on how religion and family is affected by the functionalist perspective. The functionalist perspective, also called functionalism, is one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology. It has its origins in the works of Emile Durkheim, who was especially interested in how social order is possible or how society remains relatively stable. The functionalist perspective emphasizes the interconnectedness of society by focusing on how each part influences and is influenced by other parts. Each of the social institutions contributes important functions for society: Family provides a context for reproducing, nurturing, and socializing children; education offers a way to transmit a society’s skills, knowledge, and culture to its youth; politics provides a means of governing members of society; economics provides for the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services and religion provides moral guidance and an outlet for worship of a higher power. Functionalism has received criticism for neglecting the negative functions of an event. Critics also claim that the perspective justifies the status quo and complacency on the part of society's members. Functionalism does not encourage people to take an active role in changing their social environment, even when such change may benefit them. Instead, functionalism sees active social change as undesirable because the various parts of society will compensate naturally for any problems that may arise. Religion from a Functionalist...
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...Trinity Evangelical Divinity, and Wesley Biblical Seminary. According to Oswalt, serious questions about the evolutionary paradigm inherent in the philosophy of Idealism were the result of the economic depression in the late 40’s. Since there was little separation from Idealism and the standard higher critical views of Old Testament that had prevailed for the past fifty years, there was cause for some rethinking about the Old Testament and the associated religion. This rethinking was led by William F. Albright, G. Ernest Wright, and others of the Harvard Divinity School. Sixty years later, it is widely accepted that Israelite religion is just one more West Semitic religion and that its characteristic features can be fully explained on through evolutionary change. Oswalt writes that no new discoveries led to this dramatic change in thinking. Because of the work of Karl Barth in 1950, the scholarly world was ready the idea of revelation in ways not found in the last couple of generations. Revelation assumes that this world is not self-explanatory and that some communication from beyond the world is necessary to explain it. Oswalt states that this idea is distasteful to humans in that humans are not in control of their own destiny. Although the biblical and Near Eastern data had not changed at all, the possible ways of explaining that data did change. Here, another feature of the Old Testament enters the discussion: the obvious similarities that exist between the literature...
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...------------------------------------------------- Religion in a Global Context For secularisation theory, modernisation undermines religion. The importance of science and technology in economic development, and the rational worldview on which they depend, are seen as destroying belief in the supernatural. On the other hand, religion may contribute to development, as Weber argued in the case of the protestant ethic (AO2 – Gordon Marshall and Peter Berger). More recently, sociologists have examined what role religion may play in development in today’s globalising world. Religion and Development Meera Nanda - God and Globalisation in India Globalisation has brought rising prosperity to India’s new middle class. Nanda’s book ‘God and Globalisation’ examines the role of Hinduism, the religion of 85% of the population, in legitimating both the rise of a new Hindu ‘ultra-nationalism’ and the prosperity of the Indian middle class. Hindusim and Consumerism Globalisation has created a huge and prosperous, scientifically educated, urban middle class in India, working in IT, Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology sectors closely tied into the global economy. According to Inglehart and Norris, these are precisely the people whom secularisation theory predicts will be the first to abandon religion in favour of a Secular View (AO2). Yet as Nanda Observes, a vast majority of this class continue to believe in the supernatural. A survey by the ‘Centre for the Study of developing Societies...
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...on What is the Relation between Science and Religion William Lane Craig Examines several ways in which science and theology relate to each other. Back in 1896 the president of Cornell University Andrew Dickson White published a book entitled A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom. Under White’s influence, the metaphor of “warfare” to describe the relations between science and the Christian faith became very widespread during the first half of the 20th century. The culturally dominant view in the West—even among Christians—came to be that science and Christianity are not allies in the search for truth, but adversaries. To illustrate, several years ago I had a debate with a philosopher of science at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver , Canada, on the question “Are Science and Religion Mutually Irrelevant?” When I walked onto the campus, I saw that the Christian students sponsoring the debate had advertised it with large banners and posters proclaiming “Science vs. Christianity.” The students were perpetuating the same sort of warfare mentality that Andrew Dickson White proclaimed over a hundred years ago. What has happened, however, in the second half of this century is that historians and philosophers of science have come to realize that this supposed history of warfare is a myth. As Thaxton and Pearcey point out in their recent book The Soul of Science, for over 300 years between the rise of modern science in the 1500’s and the late 1800s the relationship...
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...Subject: Conflict Analysis and Resolution Assignment: Based on conflict theory, discuss why intra and inter party unity in Kenya seems elusive Discussion: Conflict within and between Rural and Urban populations in Kenya. There is no peace within (intra) and between (inter) rural and urban populations in Kenyan. Within the discussions of this paper, rural populations will refer to persons living in geographic areas away from towns and cities with their characteristic lack of social amenities and infrastructural development. The urban population on the contrary refers to persons inhabiting towns and cities with benefits of improved social amenities and developed infrastructure. Conflict refers to a “peaceless” coexistence within a society. Lewis Coser (1913-2003) defines conflict as “a struggle over values and claims to scarce status, power and resources in which the aims of the opponents are to neutralize, injure, or eliminate their rivals.” He argued that intergroups and intragroups conflicts are part of social life defining relationships but not necessarily resulting in instability. Through conflict society can attain social change, come up with outstanding innovations and strengthen central powers in times of war. The conflict theory explains causes of conflict; its containment and potential modes of resolving these conflicts. The human race has experienced different forms of conflict that manifest in both physical and psycho-emotional forms. The conceptual...
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...--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 Chapter 10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 The Bible Among the Myths: Unique Revelation or Just Ancient Literature?. By John N. Oswalt. Grande Rapides, MI: Zondervan, 2009. Introduction Oswalt begins by discussing the origins of this book. How that at the close of the Second World War people had begun to re-evaluate some of their long held beliefs. As Oswalt would have said their paradigms began to shift. As this shift began people such as Albright and his students say a major difference between Jewish religion and the other religions of the ANE. As time passed this pendulum began to swing in the other direction, scholars no longer found the major difference in the religions but began to view them as variation on the other major religions found in the ANE. Judaism was only a few steps down the evolutionary ladder from the other religions of the ANE. As scholars began to look at the religion of the ancient Israelites, they found concepts that were troubling to them in the light...
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...Zoroastrianism and Its Influences on the World With a membership of about 200,000, the importance of Zoroastrianism is far greater than its numbers suggest. Closely related to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, its concepts of Satan, angelology, demonology, a deliverer, future life, paradise and judgment in these religions may have been directly or indirectly derived from Zoroastrianism. Founded by the Iranian prophet and reformer Zoroaster in the 6th century BC, Zoroastrianism contains both monotheistic and dualistic features. Its concepts of one God, judgment, heaven and hell likely influenced the major Western religions. History of Zoroastrianism The origins of the Zoroastrian religion are shrouded in mystery. The prophet Zarathustra, later referred to by the Greeks as Zoroaster, founded Zoroastrianism roughly between the 16th and 10th centuries BCE. Zoroaster's birth date is also uncertain and modern scholarship currently suggests he lived in northern or eastern Iran or nearby such as in Afghanistan or southern Russia. In Zoroaster’s thirties he had a revelation in which he saw an angel who told him that there is only one true god and that God’s name was Aura Mazda (Clark, 1998). It is certain that by the year 549 B.C.E., Zoroastrianism had become a major world religion. It was Cyrus the Great, first ruler of the Persian Empire, who ordained Zoroastrianism as the official religion of his state. It was this same Cyrus that liberated the Jews from the occupation they...
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...“The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion, but rather by its superiority in utilizing organized violence. Westerners often dismiss this fact, non-Westerners never do.” Samuel P. Huntington, Eaton professor of the science of government and director of the John M. Olin Institute for strategic studies at Harvard, wrote a thought-provoking article; “The Clash of Civilizations” was published by Foreign Affairs in the summer of 1993. (Foreign Affairs). Huntington’s article given in nine topics, gives the reader a big-picture look at the world which nerved to imagine that a bi-polar rivalry between communism and capitalism was about to be reinstated by a multi-polar world of contradicting civilizations. He argues that the short-term warfare between ideologies is being replaced by the ancient warfare between civilizations. People’s cultural and religious identities will result in future conflicts. Huntington cautions that all this proposes that there will be cultural clangorings in the future. He says the troubling ones "are likely to arise from the interplay of Western arrogance, Islamic intolerance, and assertiveness." This is indeed a debated statement. Such clangoring’s are by no means an evident necessity, after all. Neither is it at all apparent that in the lack of such exterior issues, Western society would not have very uncompromising internal complications with absolutism and wars. I. The Next Pattern of Conflict: Huntington advocates...
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...specific personal agenda that support a power base. Often, a congregation will work together deliberately to discern what, for them, is appropriate corporate mode of worship language. But rare instances, the question of how to worship is usually part of a larger, ongoing discussion over how to be the Body of Christ in a community. Each perspective, each point of view, carries some part of the totality of what worship signifies in the life of the believer and of the Christian community. The diversity of worship setting can be a valuable asset; it prompts creativity from many voices, and keeps worship vital and energized. But diversity without focus is often destructive; competing forces can tear down a congregation apart, creating pain and wounds, and rendering the whole ineffectual. What lies at the heart of the controversy over current forms of worship practice across the evangelical movement? The declaration of many who have experienced frustration and discord on all sides of the issue, the root cause is simply not one of the contentions over a particular worship style. Or can subsequent fallout resulting in congregational and denominational schisms be attributed ultimately to matters of power politics, leadership, manipulation, or even personal agendas. Even though, these aberrant manifestations surface as tangible evidence of existing tensions and the conflict in worship practice, they are symptomatic of complex of a larger...
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...contrast to each other. Although by the simplest definitions they are opposites, they actually have a lot in common. In fact, it s entirely possible for one to occur as a result of the other. Both are very common in modern Western society, although for the most part extreme hedonists or nihilists are almost unheard of. Even thought we don’t normally pay attention to it, we all have Nihilistic and Hedonistic tendencies at various times throughout our lives. Nihilism is the belief that nothing we do, own or believe is of any value. It is the belief that we are worthless and that life has no purpose. It comes across as a very dark, empty way of life, yet we all embrace it in small ways. For example, someone may deem voting worthless, arguing that their political choices won’t affect anything. This, on a small scale, is Nihilism. It's a common assumption that without religious moral codes people will behave in a dishonest, violent and otherwise anti-social manner. Yet, the most pious and devout believers still lie, cheat, steal and kill; an open non-believer could do no worse. And the dishonest and anti-social behavior of believers exploiting religious morality are all the more malevolent because they do it under the cover of “righteousness”. The fact is that religion, and the morality it attempts to conclude, is actually parasitical upon natural human social behavior and the rules that automatically emerge from the process of healthy socialization learned during life. Places with...
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...understanding religion today Functionalists have put forward their perspective on religion and how it benefits both society and the individual starting with how religion brings people together harmoniously, creating social cohesion and a sense of belonging as people believe in the same thing and all abide by the same rules. Religion creates and maintains a value consensus whilst giving society social order. By confirming to religious beliefs this allows us to gain morals and therefore Functionalists see religion as a positive aspect to society. Durkheim defines religion as ‘a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things’. He says all societies divide the world in to the sacred and the profane. Sacred are things set apart and forbidden, inspiring feelings of awe, fear and wonder. Profane are ordinary things that have no significance. Durkheim’s views on sacred symbols represents society’s collective consciousness which is the shared norms, values, beliefs and knowledge that make social life possible; without such consciousness it would crumble. Participating in shared rituals binds individuals together reminding them that they are a part of a community. Religion defines values as sacred giving the people great power compared to the non-believers. Through collective worship society understands the moral bonds that unite them. Durkheim also argues that religion functions to reinforce the collective unity/ social solidarity of a group. The individual sees religion performing...
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...The main thrust of Durkheim's overall doctrine is his insistence that the study of society must eschew reductionism and consider social phenomena sui generis. Rejecting biologistic or psychologistic interpretations, Durkheim focused attention on the social-structural determinants of mankind's social problems. Durkheim presented a definitive critique of reductionist explanations of social behavior. Social phenomena are "social facts" and these are the subject matter of sociology. They have, according to Durkheim, distinctive social characteristics and determinants, which are not amenable to explanations on the biological or psychological level. They are external to any particular individual considered as a biological entity. They endure over time while particular individuals die and are replaced by others. Moreover, they are not only external to the individual, but they are "endowed with coercive power, by . . . which they impose themselves upon him, independent of his individual will." Constraints, whether in the form of laws or customs, come into play whenever social demands are being violated. These sanctions are imposed on individuals and channel and direct their desires and propensities. A social fact can hence be defined as "every way of acting, fixed or not, capable of exercising on the individual an external constraint." Although in his early work Durkheim defined social facts by their exteriority and constraint, focusing his main concern on the operation of the legal...
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...covers a wide variety of essential elements which are required to constitute a civilization with its development, refinement and improvement. The elements are not only available but exist in abundance within most of the regions around the world. Those only need to be searched or explored and benefits drawn to the utmost in order to gradually establish a civilization by using our body and mind bestowed by the Creator as the best of all the creations on earth. It takes time to attain any level of civilization in any country or region. It is a slow process which grows with the extent of time given to it and the amount of efforts made on it. There is hardly any standard parameter by which to judge the level or the measure of civilization attained except their standings as projected at the world stage in terms of progress and development. When a civilization develops in any region it takes into account many sectors such as social, political, economy, agriculture, education, industry, health care, trade and commerce, science and technology, art and culture and moral and ethical values, the refinement and the steady improvement of each one is to be insured which constitute the foundation of civilization. When a civilization emerges in one part of the world...
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...utopia after living morally on earth? Many argue that with the right combination of certain social and economical policies, we actually don’t have to wait till afterlife to live in an ideal society. This paper will present the classic theories and contemporary arguments circulating the essential elements of societies and from these arguments, construing what elements are most important that could be used to create an ideal society. In order to part away from the religious view that heaven can only exist in the hereafter, we try to establish a scientific explanation of how we as human beings have come to existence through the process of evolution. This theory appeals significantly to us for at least two reasons. First, it gives some of us who aren’t as religious a more satisfying validation of our origin and our destination. This view opposes Max Weber’s description of a Calvinist who always suffers great inner loneliness due to his ambiguous predestined fate. Second, the theory of evolution is in alignment with our positive and pre-established perception of progress and improvement. In his book An Inquiry into the Nature of Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), Adam Smith illustrates in details how to achieve progress and improvement in production through the concept of division of labor. Smith states that the division of labor not only improves how we are manufacturing goods but also creates interdependent relationships among all societal members, professions, and...
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