Customer Reviews

On Secularization: Towards A Revised General Theory

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

David Martin is one of the leading scholars in the field of Sociology of Religion, and that alone makes this book worth reading. However, it is comprised of lectures and shorter essays, not new material forming a new theory or argument. It is somewhat repetitive, and doesn't provide much that is new for someone who is well read in secularization theory. That said, the repetition and reiteration of prior work would be valuable to anyone who is not familiar with the literature in the field, and is accessible to lay persons.

Of course, David Martin is one of the world's experts on secularization, although most Westerners think that because this is their cultural milieu, that that is the fate of the whole world, whereas Samuel Huntington and others have proved that this is not so.

I gave this book a 4 star rating, only because of what i consider this following flaw. On p. 7, Martin states that "my approach lies in the intimate correlation between the theological and the sociological accounts, so that faith is understood in terms of its social incarnations and in its dialectic relation to nature as observed in action." To the extent this is Martin's understanding of 'faith,' to that extent he is mistaken, because it seems that the unbeliever cannot penetrate to the ultimate, subjective value of faith. On that same p. 7, Martin mentions Christian "incursions" on secular nature, and that word always conveys a negative connotation. In the same vein, on p. 24 Martin opines that "all in all, it seems that in various contexts religion acts as a repository of human values and transcendental reference. . ." This is a reductionist misunderstanding of faith and religion, from which perspective it is almost impossible to truly understand his subject, from inward to outward.

Those observations having been made, there are far more true insights. Several times Martin shows how our post-Christendom [sub]culture is running on the fumes of the Christian ethic, and if europe and bi-coastal USA does not return to those roots, there will be no basis for the french revolution values of liberte, egalite, and fraternite. On pp. 68, 92, 97, 99 Martin shows how the western enlightenment culture has appropriated much of the terminology and activities better carried on by an organic Christianity.

On pp. 107 and 204, Martin states that in the USA, there has been a unique collaboration between the enlightenment and faith, but this is a dated observation. It was true before the USA, in the colonial period, and then in the USA until c. 1947, when the secualist enlighteners asserted their power and expelled religion from the public square.

All in all, well worth your time.

David Martin is simply the smartest person in the world on the subject of secularization (and a few more subjects besides). His groundbreaking work on secularization theory goes back to the 1960s and this collection of much more recent essays is yet fresh, stimulating, astonishingly well-informed, and helpful to both longtime scholars and relative newcomers to the conversation.