British Sociological Association Sociology of Religion Study Group

Religion in an Urban Ecology

Sociology of Religion Study Group Conference
8-11 April 2002
University of Birmingham

The Sociology of Religion Study Group held its annual meeting at Birmingham
University hosted by the Worship in Birmingham Project. This in itself is
an indication of the breadth of the Groupís interest as Martin Stringer, an
anthropologist who will shortly become head of the Theology Department at
Birmingham, leads the Project. Alongside sociologists from the UK and
overseas, participants included anthropologists, theologians, geographers,
demographers and religious studies specialists.

The title of the conference was Religion in an Urban Ecology, a theme that
was fully developed in two of the plenaries. Martin Stringer talked about
some of the themes that were emerging from the Worship in Birmingham
Project as it completed five years of ethnographic research projects
undertaken by graduate students. The meanings local people read into
sacred spaces are not always linked to the meanings supplied by religious
functionaries. This was illustrated by a paper by Peter McGrail who showed
how the meanings attributed to the celebration of a childís first communion
were about demonstrating family solidarity rather than the process of
Christian initiation taught by the priest.

In another plenary, Lowell Livezey of the University of Illinois talked
about the Religion in Urban America Program that has conducted ethnographic
studies of 35 Chicago churches. As Chicago becomes an increasingly
post-industrial city, changes to the urban ecology are mirrored in its
religious life as local churches reflect geographical, cultural and racial
changes. UK participants were overawed at the level of funding available
for this kind of research in the US, which mostly comes from the Lilley
Endowment. Art Farnsley talked about a program of similar scale they had
funded in Indianapolis.

The Conference continued its practice of asking a senior member of the
Group to talk about their contribution to the discipline and how their
thinking and interests had developed during their career. Grace Davie of
the Department of Sociology at Exeter University executed this brief with
both humility and energy. She spoke of the ongoing struggle to develop
both empirical and theoretical work and maintain a dialogue between them.
She identified that her contribution was to offer theoretical narratives
that suggest interpretations of empirical data that others could then
debate and contest.

Over thirty papers complemented the richness of these three plenary
sessions, many addressing the theme of the conference, some reporting work
in progress and with a good number of graduate students taking part.
Unusually the conference had a high proportion of papers investigating
contemporary Christianity but this did not mean that the Groupís interest
in other world religions, implicit religion and new religious movements was
not sustained. It was encouraging to see a number of papers dealing with
black Christianity both in Europe and Africa ñ it would have been good if
the conference could have included some dialogue with members of the
theology department in Birmingham on this topic.

I enjoy going to meetings of the study group ñ the pace of the conference
gives time for people to explain their ideas and get feedback within
sessions as well as talking more informally. The atmosphere is supportive,
particularly to graduate students and newcomers and dialogue with other
disciplines is welcome. Donít feel you have to be a sociology of religion
specialist to attend ñ Iím not. If your work involves engagement with
religious phenomena of whatever kind you will find someone who will take an
interest in your work.

Helen Cameron
Centre for Civil Society, London School of Economics