andi's perspective

RODNEY STARK - DEUTSCH (DE)

Für alle, die der amerikanische Religionssoziologe Rodney Stark (siehe hier, hier und hier) interessiert, aber eine deutsche Version bevorzugen, hier die gute Nachricht: Marlin hat es getan - und das deutlich besser und ausführlicher als ich es konnte! Überhaupt scheint mir Marlins Blog eine großartige Ressource für deutschsprachige Gemeinde-Über-Denker!  Cool Marlin, weiter so!

RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS

Just finished reading Stark's "Discovering God". Pretty boring title for what turns out to be an excellent sociological work on comparative religions.

Starks couragiously claims that rational thinking allows to distinguish between inspired and non-inspired religions, that all religions descend from early High-God conceptions before having been watered down into temple cults, and that by today we have a better understanding of God than ever before. He builds strongly on the notion of the "Axial Age", i.e. the remarkable parallelism of religious innovations during the 6th cy. BC.

What impressed me most, however, was how consistently he traced characteristics of social movements across times, contexts and religions:

• There is no mass conversion. Conversi0n processes in growing religious movements are standard diffusion processes along social networks and identical to the S-curve we know from the take up of technological innovations: It took about 300 years for Christianity to fill the Roman Empire as it took about 250 years for Islam to fill Persia and North Africa.
• When given a "free market", religions compete for adherents: a process that stimulates religious innovation. In stifled religious monopolies individual spirituality will turn to the cheapest solution (read: magic) and decrease in general.
• A well documented church-to-sect cycle sufficiently explains the inevitable fragmentation of any monotheistic religion.
• Religiosity is not irrational, but based on rational choice following perceived personal benefits - which again has all to do with social networks.

My next Stark book is already on the table, ready to provide more building blocks for my increasingly sociological perspective on life.

RELIGIOUS CAPITAL - POWER STRUCTURES (DE)

Habe mich auf der Basis von Bourdieus Feldkonzept an einer machtanalytischen Betrachtung des freikirchlichen Feldes versucht: PDF. Nur der Anfang einer Arbeitsrichtung, die ich vertiefen möchte. Feedback erwünscht. //

// You can test your German on my essay on power structures within the religious field of German evangelicalism. I sketched this analysis based on Bourdieu's "field" concept and as part of my sociological studies. Feedback welcome.

REFLEXIVE MODERNISATION

Recently i did an excerpt on a pretty well-known book of current sociological analysis of our times:

• Ulrich Beck on Reflexive Modernisation

My (watch out: 12 page German) summary should be a far more easy reading than his quite elaborate way of wordsmithing.

His key idea is that we have entered a new epoch (of reflexivity) where it is no longer about making progress (modernization), but about realising that our automatised progress is putting the globe in unmanageable risk (collateral hazard).  A sociology for this uncharted territory, he says, has yet to be invented.

A very good deconstructivist and a courageous constructivist. I'd like to learn from his sharpness for the kingdom challenge.

U TEACH WHAT U R

Can you be a reformator and still pastor an old-system church? I for certain could not, but some of our Connect friends feel called so. (God help them!..!) I remember challenging them in Prague to "think structure":

• What pattern are you actually setting with your behaviour?
• What behaviour are you reinforcing by the infrastructure of your building or the way the chairs are positioned?
• To what percentage are you (or "leaders") talking and to what extent do the participants actually do something else than listen, sing'n pray?
• Who is actually doing what - and why - when you meet? And what are the people expecting to happen?
• How can you break free from established patterns of interaction and experiment with participatory forms of interaction?

My suggestion for alternatives went into the direction of adopting the "second view" perspective, employing sound moderation techniques, and experimenting with established large group facilitation methods like Future Search Conferences.
This for sure is not a miracle remedy, but i'm convinced here is one key to the future:

• be sensitive to the patterns of interaction actually happening and
• take steps to cautiously & courageously increase interaction quality by structure, guidance, and role model.

BASIC CONCEPTS I

Preparing for my first exams in sociology. Did i mention that i absolutely LOVE sociological thinking and literature? It keeps being a huge eye-opener and gives words to many of my questions about "church", society and relationships in general.
Let me introduce you to some strap-lines of my favorite Pierre Bourdieu:

• "the social world is accumulated history"
• "capital is accumulated labor (or power, which amounts to the same thing)"
• "the performative magic of the power of instituting, the power to show forth and secure belief or, in a word, to impose recognition"
• "social alchemy[...] institutes cultural capital by collective magic"

Understanding the nature of institutionalising, of power, and of value production to me seem to be very essential concepts to the questions of how to organise a community of believers, of how to lead, and of how to bring to relevance what does not seem relevant at first sight (i.e. the gospel).
I fully recommend expanding your thinking and vocabulary by studying the full text of this much acclaimed French sociologist of our time.

COMMUNICATION IS UNLIKELY

Communication is highly unlikely to happen.

1. Communication is unlikely to happen at all between individuals.
2. Communication is highly unlikely to be captured and stored for reuse.
3. Communication - once stored - is extremely unlikely to be utilized as intended.

These are my growing convictions after innumerous meetings of all sizes, including those i did the group facilitation myself. Interestingly i just came across a sociological theory that makes a very similar point.
More on this later. Am horribly tired and worn-out on the end of a 3day business meeting here in the city that never sleeps.

SOCIOLOGY IS...

• ... systematic alienation from every day reality
• ... change of perspective on the seemingly obvious
• ... mistrust against common sense
• ... questioning, marvelling and povoking new thinking
• ... challenging un-reflected behaviour
• ... destruction of routine
• ... the variability of sanctuaries
• ... systematic desorientation of normality
• ... to view all things as if they could likewise be totally different

It feels like i have always been a sociologist without knowing it ;)

(source)

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und weil es so schön war das ganze auf deutsch:
SOZIOLOGIE IST...

• ... systematische Verfremdung des Alltäglichen
• ... Perspektivwechsel gegenüber dem scheinbar Offensichtlichen
• ... Misstrauen gegenüber dem gesunden Menschenverstand
• ... Hinterfragen, sich Verwundern und neues Denken Provozieren
• ... das Herausfordern nicht-reflexiven Handelns
• ... die Zerstörung der Routinewirklichkeit
• ... die Variabilität von Heiligtümern
• ... gezielte Desorientierung im sscocheinbar Geordneten
• ... alle Dinge so betrachten, als ob sie auch anders sein könnten

Fühle mich sehr zuhause in dieser Disziplin :)
(Quelle)