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The Invisible Religion has been a highly influential text, and also the concept that its title embodies. The theoretical context of the work provides its point of departure. It forms part of Luckmann's concerted effort to understand the locus of the individual in the modern world. Sociological approaches to religion, deriving from the sociological classics, form a central theme within this quest. Luckmann's essay aims to reestablish this connection, insisting that the problem of individual existence in society is essentially a "religious" one. It is, precisely, the lack of theoretical reflection within the flourishing subdiscipline of the sociology of religion in the postwar period that concerns Luckmann. The association of religion with church has oriented a whole generation of scholars toward a relatively narrow field, the more so in that church-orientated religion has become a marginal phenomenon in modern societies. To redress this balance, Luckmann opts firmly for a functional definition of religion but differentiates this from the structural-functionalism prevalent in contemporary sociology. Luckmann regards as problematic what is taken for granted in sociological functionalism. His perspective is, essentially, an anthropological one.
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T h e Invisible Religion THE PROBLEM OF R E L I G I O N IN M O D E R N S O C I E T Y by Thomas Luckmann THE M ACM ILLAN COMPANY, NEW YO RK C O L L I E R —M A C M I L L A N LTD ., L O N D O N CONTENTS C o p y rig h t © 1967 by T h e M a cm illan C o m p an y O rig in a lly p u b lish ed u n d er the title Das P r o b le m der R e lig io n in der M o d ern en G esellsch aft by T h o m a s L u ckm a n n . V e rla g R o m b a ch & C o. G m b H , F re ib u rg im B reisga u (D eutschland). First E d itio n . C o p y rig h t by V e rla g R o m b a ch & Co. G m b H . A ll rig h ts reserved. N o p a r t o f this book m ay be rep ro d u ced o r tran sm itted in any fo rm o r by any m eans, ele ctro n ic o r m ech a n ica l, in c lu d in g p h o to co p y in g , re co rd in g o r by an y in fo rm a tio n storage a n d re trie v a l system , w ith o u t p erm ission in w ritin g fro m th e P u b lish e r. L ib r a ry o f Congress C a ta lo g C a rd N u m b e r: 67-11631 1963 FIRST PRINTING T h e M a cm illan C o m p a n y , N e w Y o rk C o llie r M a cm illan C a n ad a L td ., T o ro n to , O n ta rio P rin te d in the U n ited States o f A m erica I. II. Foreword 7 Introduction 9 R E L IG IO N , C H U R C H A N D S O C IO L O G Y C H U R C H -O R IE N T E D R E L IG IO N O N T H E P E R IP H E R Y O F M O D E R N S O C IE T Y III. IV. V. VI. V II. *7 28 T H E A N T H R O P O L O G IC A L C O N D IT IO N O F R E L IG IO N 41 T H E S O C IA L F O R M S O F R E L IG IO N 5° IN D IV ID U A L R E L IG IO S IT Y R E L IG IO N A N D P E R S O N A L ID E N T IT Y IN M O D E R N S O C IE T Y M O D E R N R E L IG IO U S T H E M E S 69 77 J07 Postscript Notes Index 119 I2J FOREWORD This essay was originally motivated by my dissatisfaction with the limitations of various empirical studies in the sociology of religion—my own included. The problems developed in the present essay were first touched upon in my review of some pub lications in the sociology of religion, published in the K oelner Zeitschrift fur Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie (12:2, i960, pp. 315—326). Later I wrote a first draft of the present essay under the title “Notes on the Case of the Missing Religion” which, if for no other reason, remained unpublished because of its title. Arnold Bergstraesser, late professor of political scienc