We live in a time of high Church membership, but low Church
attendance. Franco Ferrarotti, arguably the most important
sociologist of religion alive, captures the source of this paradox
In the title of his new book, Faith without Dogma. For it is belief
that propels membership, while the absence of dogma results in a
reticence to accept hierarchical direction from above or
beyond.
Basing much of his analysis on the postwar struggles within
Roman Catholicism, Ferrarotti views the demand for religious
renewal and revival as part and parcel of the emergence of broad
social agendas--agendas to which not even the Roman curia could
remain impervious. The former easy relationships between Church and
State, especially authoritarian states in Europe and Latin America,
gave way to a critical defense of individual rights within a
context of a broadened vision of Christian doctrine.
In addition to issues Involved in internal affairs of religion,
Ferrarotti explores a series of developments that have changed for
all time the nature of Church survival. The critical element, one
that goes beyond specific doctrinal accommodations, is the new
primary connection of Church to people rather than Church to State.
This came about through the widespread acceptance of science and
technology as frames of intellectual reference, the emergence of
secularization as mediating religious claims and the creation from
the Enlightenment to the Postmodern eras of "civil religions."
The volume concludes with a set of chapters on the nature of
sacred events and objects, the emergence of new varieties of
prayer, and concludes with a chapter on the relationship of
ideology to theology prepared especially for the English language
edition of Faith without Dogma. This is a book likely to attract a
broad audience among religionists and culturologists, as well as
social scientists.
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