The Invisible Religion: The Problem Of Religion In Modern Society

The Invisible Religion THE PROBLEM OF RELIGION IN MODERN SOCIETY by Thomas Luckmann THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, NEW YORK COLLIER-MACMILLAN LTD., LONDON Copyright © 1967 by The Macmillan Company Originally published under the title Das Problem der Religio"n i11 der Modemen Gesellschaft by Thomas· Luckmann. Verlag Rombach & Co. GmbH. Freiburg im Breisgau (Deutschland). First Edition 1963. Copyright by Verlag Rombach &: Co. GmbH. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 67·116~p FlllST PRINTING The Macmillan Company, New York Collier Macmillan Canada Ltd., Toronto, ·ontario Printed in the United States of America CONTENTS I. n. Foreword 7 Introduction 9 RELIGION, CHURCH AND SOCIOLOGY I7 CHURCH•ORIENTED RELIGION ON THE PERIPHERY OF MODERN SOCIETY 28 Ill. THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL CONDITION OF RELIGION 4I IV. THE SOCIAL FORMS OF RELIGION 50 INDIVIDUAL RELIGIOSITY 69 RELIGION AND PERSONAL IDENTITY IN MODERN SOCIETY 77 v. VI. VII. MODERN RELIGIOUS THEMES I07 Postscript II5 Notes rr9 Index r27 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 publications in the sociology of religion. published in the Koelner Zeitschrift fur Soziologie und Soz.ialpsychologie (12:2, 1960, 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the present essay under the title "Notes on the Case of the Missing Religion" which, if for no other reason, remained, unpublished because of its title.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 science and sociology at the University of Freiburg. encouraged me to rewrite the draft and publish it in German in the Sociological Series edited by him for Rombach Freiburg. The volume was published in 1963 under the title Das Problem der Religion in der modernen Gesellschaft. In 1962 I read a paper on the problem of religion in modern society to the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. The paper was published in the Society's journal (2: 12, i963. pp. 147-162). Having undertaken to translate-or retranslate-the volume published by Rombach for American publication, I found myself rewriting it. Some sections were expanded. others reformulated~· still others shortened. In addition to the late Arnold Bergstraesser I am indebted to my ·teacher in the sociology of religion. Carl Mayer of the Graduate Faculty .of the New School for Social Research, New York. Peter ~erger of the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and Friedrich Tenbruck of the University of Frankfurt for many fruitful discussions of the problems treated in the present volume. INTRODUCTION In our day the autonomy of individual existence appears to have become problematic. One of the reasons for this is the fear that highly organized, monolithic society is suppressing many areas in which individuality might otherwise have free play. The social sciences need not take such fear at face vaiuebut they cannot ignore the possibility that it is the symptom of a genuine problem. Although the social sciences have come to concern themselves almost exclusively with the analysis of social "systems," they must not treat the fate of the individual in society as irrelevant. The