Re-modernities: or the volcanic landscapes of religion

Abstract

Is theology dead or dying? Or can we confidently do theology? Since the 1990s Ulrich Beck, one of the best known living sociologists both in Europe and beyond, has promoted the critical reading of the contemporary discourse as ‘reflexive modernization’. He has recently looked into the ‘fascinating byways’ of religion. Based on Beck’s re-assessment of the secularisation trap, this paper reflects upon religion in a world that has moved beyond secular modernity and non-committed post-modernity, and asks how to locate theology as reflexive religion in our contemporary discourse. As a case in point, the forthcoming book by Marius Felderhof serves to illustrate a re-modern approach beyond both modernity and post-modernity.

Keywords:

• modernity
• post-modernity
• secularization
• risk society
• sociology or religion

Notes

1. An indication is given by the hugely successful project of the Quandt-Foundation on the trialogue of cultures; see Sajak (2010) and Kaul-Seidmann, Nielsen, and Vinzent (2003, 2004).

2. See Heinrichs (2011, 19) on the latest writings of Peter Sloterdijk.

3. See the differentiation made between cynicism and the misreading of it in a cynical attitude by Sloterdijk (1988).

4. In 1994 the term ‘second modernity’, appears simultaneously in a number of works, for example: Klotz (1994) and Beck (1992).

5. An extensive description of how Branzi sees Modernity is captured in his essay ‘Postface’ (2006b).

6. See what Kierkegaard has to say about the aesthetic life in, for example, Kierkegaard (1987).

7. See Marius Felderhof (forthcoming, chapter 18, ‘Defining theology’).