Religions of Modernity: Relocating the Sacred to the Self and the Digital (International Studies in Religion and Society, 12)

Book info: Religions of Modernity: Relocating the Sacred to the Self and the Digital (International Studies in Religion and Society, 12) (Hardcover, 288 pages) – Brill, 2010. Language: English.

Religions of Modernity' challenges the social-scientific orthodoxy that, once unleashed, the modern forces of individualism, science and technology inevitably erode the sacred and evoke the profane. The book’s chapters, some by established scholars, others by junior researchers, document instead in rich empirical detail how modernity relocates the sacred to the deeper layers of the self and the domain of digital technology. Rather than destroying the sacred tout court, then, the cultural logic of modernization spawns its own religious meanings, unacknowledged spiritualities and magical enchantments. The classical theoretical accounts of modernity by Max Weber, Emile Durkheim and others, it is argued in the introductory chapter, already hinted that there's a future for such religions of modernity. Contributors: Stef Aupers, Kelly Besecke, Kirsten Marie Bovbjerg, Siobhan Chandler, Olav Hammer, Dick Houtman, Murray Lee, Carly Machado, Karen Pärna, Adam Possamai, Linda Woodhead, and Dorien Zandbergen. About the Author Stef Aupers (Ph.D., 2004) is Associate Professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam and a member of the Center for Rotterdam Cultural Sociology (CROCUS). He published on contemporary spirituality, conspiracy culture, internet culture and authored Under the Spell of Modernity (Ashgate, 2010).
Dick Houtman (Ph.D., 1994) is Professor of Cultural Sociology at Erasmus University Rotterdam and member of the Center for Rotterdam Cultural Sociology (CROCUS). He studies cultural change in the contemporary west, particularly the spiritualization of religion and culturalization of politics.