British Sociological Association

ULRICH NEMBACH

Changes in traditional preaching: prophecy?

Christianity based in history has taken an outlook on the future. Nowadaysnew relevation are not made, but the traditional message is still ofrelevance for the present situation. So it can and will be preached in an new, topical way. To deepen this thesis: Christianity proclaims to influence and change social systems that are unsocial at the present; to update the practice of preaching. Formerly believe was inseparable linked to a belonging system, the church. Today people don't want to be linked with institutional systems. They prefer to be connected to an informal organised community or social system. The result of this necessity is a new kind of prophecy. It is not based on a single person - neither man nor woman. This prophecy is not a new religion.

It is reformed in its concrete way facing actual new problems and a new kind of addressing people.

ROGER O'TOOLE

Matters of life and death: reflections on art and religion

Treading rather cautiously through notoriously treacherous definitional labyrinths, this paper examines certain broad aspects of the sociological study of religion in its present phase by exploring some of the links between religion and art. An investigation of influential definitions of both these phenomena reveals some uncanny resemblances which appear especially relevant to current conceptions of privatized religiosity or spirituality as well as to a revived interest in multiple manifestations of the sacred. Contemplation of aesthetic concerns also underlines that curious neglect of the emotions which has long characterized the sociology of religion and which finds prominent contemporary expression in the widespread impact of rational-choice explanations. Though interesting and important in socio-historical terms, the juxtaposition of art and religion also provokes intense theoretical meditation on the appropriate scope of the sociology of religion.

JO PEARSON

'Witchcraft will not soon vanish from this earth': Wicca and Paganism in the 21^st century

Since its inception in the 1950s, English Wicca has grown and diversified, exporting ideas and practices to the rest of the British Isles, Europe, North America and Australia to the extent that Ronald Hutton has called it 'the only religion which the English can claim to have given the world'. Over the past 20 years, chiefly North American derivations of Wicca have proliferated, resulting in confusion and conflation between Wicca, witchcraft and Paganism as a variety of forms have become increasingly popular.

This paper situates itself in the present, looking back over the past 50 years and forwards to 2050, when Wicca will be approximately 100 years old. It seeks to address a variety of questions through an examination of the development of Wicca, its demographics and its organisation. Will the increase in popularity of this area of spirituality continue, or lose momentum? Will the organisation of Wicca change and become more standardised (even institutionalised) in an effort to retain its individual identity in the face of continued popular derivations? Will the demographic profile change significantly? Although Wicca is often classed as 'Pagan', is it, or will it be, necessary to be Pagan in order to be Wiccan? Could it even be possible for one to be both Christian and Wiccan?

MARTYN PERCY

A new kind of practical theology?

David Martin's practical sociology of religion offers a considerable and important resource for theologians. This paper explores some of his earliest work on confirmation policy and ecclesiology, from the 1960s. The paper demonstrates how the insights of a sociologist, if properly used, can have a profound effect on the self understanding of the Church, not least in the delivery of its own ministry against the apparent background of secularisation. Ironically, few scholars in theology, and even fewer in the Church, understand or use sociology to their advantage. David Martin's work, with its sympathy and rigour, is suggestive of a new kind of practical theology, which pays attention to empirical insight and eccesiology. In turn, this suggests the possibility of a new complementarity between theology and the Social Sciences, which can be traced in David Martin's work for over thirty years.

GAY PILGRIM

Towards an alternate ordering …

The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britian continues to regard itself as a single body, despite its extraordinarily wide range of theological beliefs. In the process of my research into Friends' experience of the Meeting for Worship and their relationship with the Divine, the question of Quaker unity has moved into the foreground. In the USA Friends Meetings separated and split as belief diverged, but this has not been the case in Britain. Why? Given that there is no longer a common understanding of 'God', 'worship', 'divine will' and other features central to traditional 'quakerism', what is it that holds Britain Yearly Meeting (the term used to denote Friends corporately in Britain) together? Kevin Hetherington's use of Foucault's concept of heterotopia offers a possible explanation and this paper will address the question of unity and identity in Britain Yearly Meeting through this theoretical lense. It not only provides an explanation of the past and present, but points towards the possible shape of the Religious Society of Friends in the future.

SARAH POTTER

Secularization, social capital and prediction

Bryan Wilson has argued that secularization is closely related to the change in social form from the local community rooted in religion to the large-scale society which is rationally organized. In this paper, it will be argued that work on social capital by writers such as the political scientist Robert Putnam indicates a more compex pattern of changing social forrms, although a decline in sociability, including religious sociability, is still the predicted outcome. Research on social capital indicates that some western societies have deep rooted traditions of civic life and secondary associations, while others rapidly developed these in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and then experienced comprehensive decline in these social forms more recently. While hierarchical religion seems to characterize less civic and more familial societies, wider mutual associations, including religion, are found in more civic societies.

In this paper, the idea of social capital is examined critically for its predictive value not only for patterns of church growth and decline but also for understanding newer forms of religion.

URSULA RAO

Social empowerment through prophetic embodiment: the belief in divine guidance in an Indian urban environment

Centering on the question of how to combine the belief in western scientific thinking with the belief in divine agency this paper presents the case study of Bagware, a bank employee and temple president in Bhopal, India. His engagement in temple activities has been motivated by both: his ambition to become an eminent person in the city as well as by his belief that the goddess herself has chosen him for the job. As his personal guru the goddess Kali has addressed him in several revelations. But in spite of his closeness to the goddess he is convinced that it is his hard work which has been responsible for his climbing of the social ladder.

Conceptual dilemmas face people who believe in divine intervention in a society influenced by western scientific concepts. Accordingly, this paper tries to explore the discourses that seem to accommodate both revelations and miracles in the modern world. Many believers try to find a 'hidden rationality' in their religious practices. This way they are fighting for an acceptance of religious beliefs in the modern world, though they are aware that the reliance on science does not solve the puzzle of divine revelation and intervention itself satisfactorily.

PHILIP RICHTER

Do moving ministers move congregations? Rational choice theory and the philosophy and practice of Methodist ministerial itinerancy.

Why do clergy itinerate? How does this practice benefit churches? This paper will focus on the Methodist Church, given that in the Oxford English Dictionary (nd ed.) religious itinerancy is defined primarily in relation to this denomination. It will, however, also relate to other religious institutions: the Church of England is, for instance, currently moving towards a more itinerant clergy deployment system.

The paper will argue that one of the main reasons for the survival of itinerancy has been its capacity to serve the interests of both the local church and the denomination as a whole: promoting and reinforcing commitment to the local church, but also serving as a check against localism. It will, in the process, critically apply rational choice theory to the philosophy and practice of itinerancy, developing Finke and Stark's perspectives (as in their The Churching of America).

My prediction, in the context of this Conference and drawing on current Methodist trends, is that clergy itinerancy - whilst it has been characteristic of many religious institutions, given the means-ends rationality of the modern era - will become increasingly more difficult to sustain and will become a more optional pathway for religious professionals.