Table Of ContentReligion and Knowledge
This book deals with a whole series of controversies over religion in a way that
could make a real difference because it clarifies what a social scientific approach
can and does involve when it comes to genuinely understanding what is at stake.
Whatever the topic, whether it is the polemic of the New Atheists promoted as
science or Intelligent Design seen as scientifically illiterate or the philosophical
presuppositions of anthropologists in presenting their findings, there is much
material here to inform and surprise. It is a fresh, vital and an innovative
contribution to what can sometimes appear tired topics.
david Martin, lancaster University and london School of economics, UK
A stimulating look at the interaction between religion and what people think they
know. We learn how religion shapes knowledge in several concrete settings and
how, in turn, knowledge shapes religion. Sociology needs case studies like these.
Without ever losing their concreteness, the authors draw out the implications for
social theorizing.
Jim Spickard, University of Redlands, USa
What counts as knowledge in both religious and not-so-religious contexts? This
book is full of nuanced and at the same time engaging sociological studies of
tensions, modes of co-existence and negotiations between carriers of knowledge
in various parts of society.
Pål Repstad, University of agder, norway
Religions have always been associated with particular forms of knowledge, often
knowledge accorded special significance and sometimes knowledge at odds with
prevailing understandings of truth and authority in wider society. This book
addresses the relationship between religion and knowledge from a sociological
perspective, taking both religion and knowledge as phenomena located within ever
changing social contexts. it builds on historical foundations, but offers a distinctive
focus on the changing status of religious phenomena at the turn of the twenty-first
century. including critical engagement with live debates about intelligent design
and the ‘new atheism’, this collection of essays brings recent research on religious
movements into conversation with debates about socialisation, reflexivity and the
changing capacity of social institutions to shape human identities. Contributors
examine religion as an institutional context for the production of knowledge, as
a form of knowledge to be transmitted or conveyed and as a social field in which
controversies about knowledge emerge.
THeologY and Religion in inTeRdiSCiPlinaRY PeRSPeCTiVe
SeRieS in aSSoCiaTion wiTH THe
BSa SoCiologY oF Religion STUdY gRoUP
BSa Sociology of Religion Study group Series editor:
Pink dandelion and the publications committee
Theology and Religion in interdisciplinary Perspective Series editors:
douglas davies and Richard Fenn
The British Sociological association Sociology of Religion Study group began in
1975 and provides the primary forum in Britain for scholarship in the sociology
of religion. The nature of religion remains of key academic interest and this
series draws on the latest worldwide scholarship in compelling and coherent
collections on critical themes. Secularisation and the future of religion; gender;
the negotiation and presentation of religious identities, beliefs and values; and the
interplay between group and individual in religious settings are some of the areas
addressed. Ultimately, these books reflect not just on religious life but on how
wider society is affected by the enduring religious framing of human relationships,
morality and the nature of society itself.
Other titles published in the BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group series
exploring Religion and the Sacred in a Media age
Edited by Christopher Deacy and Elisabeth Arweck
Religion and the individual
Belief, Practice, identity
Edited by Abby Day
women and Religion in the west
Challenging Secularization
Edited by Kristin Aune, Sonya Sharma and Giselle Vincett
a Sociology of Spirituality
Edited by Kieran Flanagan and Peter C. Jupp
Religion and Youth
Edited by Sylvia Collins-Mayo and Pink Dandelion
Materializing Religion
Edited by Elisabeth Arweck and William Keenan
Religion and Knowledge
Sociological Perspectives
edited by
MaTHew gUeST
Durham University, UK
eliSaBeTH aRweCK
University of Warwick, UK
© Mathew guest and elisabeth arweck 2012
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Mathew guest and elisabeth arweck have asserted their right under the Copyright, designs
and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work.
Published by
ashgate Publishing limited ashgate Publishing Company
wey Court east Suite 420
Union Road 101 Cherry Street
Farnham Burlington
Surrey, gU9 7PT VT 05401-4405
england USa
www.ashgate.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Religion and knowledge : sociological perspectives. --
(Theology and religion in interdisciplinary perspective series)
1. Knowledge, Sociology of. 2. Knowledge, Theory of
(Religion) 3. Truth--Religious aspects.
i. Series ii. guest, Mathew. iii. arweck, elisabeth.
iV. British Sociological association. Sociology of Religion
Study group.
201.6’121-dc23
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Religion and knowledge : sociological perspectives / edited by Mathew guest and elisa-
beth arweck.
p. cm. -- (Theology and religion in interdisciplinary perspective series)
includes bibliographical references and index.
iSBn 978-1-4094-2707-0 (hardcover) -- iSBn 978-1-4094-2708-7 (ebook) 1. Religion and
sociology. 2. Knowledge, Theory of (Religion) i. guest, Mathew. ii. arweck, elisabeth.
Bl60.R3335 2012
306.6--dc23
iSBn 9781409427070 (hbk) 2012021998
iSBn 9781409427087 (ebk – PdF)
iSBn 9781409471165 (ebk – ePUB)
IV
Printed and bound in great Britain by the
MPg Books group, UK.
Contents
List of Figures and Tables vii
Notes on the Contributors ix
Acknowledgements xv
1 Religion and Knowledge:
The Sociological agenda 1
Mathew Guest
Part I InstItutIons of KnowLeDge
2 Reified Knowledge about ‘Religion’ in Prisons 25
James A. Beckford
3 Faith and the Student experience 39
Ian Fairweather
4 Young People in Mixed Faith Families:
a Case of Knowledge and experience of Two Traditions? 57
Elisabeth Arweck and Eleanor Nesbitt
5 The amish in north america:
Knowledge, Tradition and Modernity 77
Elizabeth C. Cooksey and Joseph F. Donnermeyer
Part II the reLIgIous KnowLeDge eConomy
6 new atheism as identity Politics 97
Teemu Taira
7 Rejection or Accommodation? Trends in Evangelical
Christian Responses to Muslims 115
Richard McCallum
8 Knowledge, Tradition and authority in British
islamic Theology 133
Stephen H. Jones
vi Religion and Knowledge
9 Choosing My Religion:
Young People’s Personal Christian Knowledge 149
Sylvia Collins-Mayo
10 Safe and Risky Readings:
women’s Spiritual Reading Practices 165
Dawn Llewellyn
11 intelligent design as a Science enabler:
Prolegomena to a Creationist left 181
Steve Fuller
12 The Influence of Fundamentalist Beliefs on
evolution Knowledge Retention 199
Ryan T. Cragun, Deborah L. Cragun and Jason Creighton
13 The Sea of Faith:
exemplifying Transformed Retention 227
Douglas Davies and Daniel Northam-Jones
Part III KnowLeDge, reLIgIon anD aCaDemIC enDeavour
14 on the Materialization of Religious Knowledge and Belief 247
Peter Collins
15 Bracketing out the Truth? Managing Bias in the
Study of new Religious Movements 269
Rebecca Catto
Index 287
list of Figures and Tables
figures
5.1 amish schools match their lifestyle – small and plain. Most
schools have only one room, shared by students (called
‘scholars’ by the Amish) from the first through the eighth grade 79
5.2 The amish reliance on horse and buggy slows down the pace
of life and provides a clear symbol of separation between the
amish and other north americans driving around them 86
5.3 The amish follow a plain lifestyle by restricting the use
of large machinery on their farm operations. Horse drawn
ploughs are preferred for field work, and are encoded in the
church district’s ‘ordnung’ 88
12.1 Path model predicting evolution knowledge (pre-and post-test)
with path loadings and direct, indirect, and spurious effects 210
12.2 Model of factors influencing evolution knowledge and
acceptance 214
14.1 Plan of the Shaker village in watervliet, new York 255
14.2 Plan of Canterbury Village 256
14.3 The Shaker meeting house in new lebanon, new York 257
14.4 dwelling house interior of South Union Village, Kentucky,
showing separate stairs and entrances for men and women 258
14.5 Fitted cabinets in Hancock Village, Massachusetts 259
14.6 Shaker dance 261
14.7 ‘The Tree of life’ 264
tables
9.1 Beliefs about god and Jesus 153
9.2 Influences on religious beliefs 155
9.3 The influence of youth work on thinking 158
12.1 Descriptive statistics and significance tests (ANOVA) for
scales by various descriptors 207
12.2 Correlations between interval/ratio measures 209
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notes on the Contributors
elisabeth arweck is Senior Research Fellow in the warwick Religions and
education Research Unit (wReRU), institute of education, University of
warwick, and editor of the Journal of Contemporary Religion. Her recent
research has focused on young people’s attitudes to religious diversity and the
religious socialization and nurture of young people. Recent publications include a
number of co-authored articles (for example with eleanor nesbitt) and (co-edited)
volumes, such as Exploring Religion and the Sacred in a Media Age (with Chris
deacy, 2009) and Reading Religion in Text and Context (with Peter Collins, 2006).
She is the author of several book chapters and of Researching New Religious
Movements in the West (2007).
James a. Beckford, Fellow of the British academy, is Professor emeritus
of Sociology at the University of Warwick. His main fields of research are the
sociology of religions, social theory and the sociology of prison chaplaincies.
His publications include The Trumpet of Prophecy: A Sociological Analysis of
Jehovah’s Witnesses (1975), Cult Controversies (1985), Religion and Advanced
Industrial Society (1989), Religion in Prison: Equal Rites in a Multi-Faith Society
(1998, with Sophie gilliat), Social Theory and Religion (2003), Muslims in
Prison: Challenge and Change in Britain and France (2005, with d. Joly and
F. Khosrokhavar) and The SAGE Handbook of the Sociology of Religion (2007,
edited with n.J. demerath iii).
rebecca Catto is Research associate for the aHRC/eSRC Religion and Society
Programme at lancaster University. She has published work on non-western
Christian missions to the UK, religion and law and globalization. She has advised
the equality and Human Rights Commission on religion or belief, been Principal
Investigator on the ‘The Young Atheists Research Project’ and is co-editor (with
linda woodhead) of Religion and Change in Modern Britain (2012).
Peter Collins is Senior lecturer in the department of anthropology, durham
University. His research interests include religion, historical anthropology, space
and place and narrative theory. He has published widely on the Religious Society
of Friends (Quakers). He has recently co-edited The Quaker Condition: The
Sociology of a Liberal Tradition (Cambridge Scholars Press, with P. dandelion),
Locating the Field: Space, Place and Context in Anthropology (2006, with Simon
Coleman), Reading Religion in Text and Context (2006, with elisabeth arweck),
Keeping an Open ‘I’: The Self as Ethnographic Resource in Anthropology (2010,
