Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ttngx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-13T11:18:20.701Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Public Religion and Secularization in England: Defending Bryan R. Wilson

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2016

Steve Bruce*
Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen [s.bruce@abdn.ac.uk].
Get access

Abstract

Matthew Wood’s recent article in the European Journal of Sociology is a useful addition to the secularization debate. There is value in studying ways in which religious organizations now attempt to re-enter the public arena and the secularizing consequences of such activity. However, there is no justification for framing that case as an indictment of either Bryan R. Wilson’s original 1966 presentation of the modern sociological secularization theory or the subsequent work of others in the same paradigm. This rejoinder explains Wilson’s apparent assuming rather than demonstrating the declining influence of religious institutions and concludes that his work can be augmented without asserting that he had missed something which fundamentally alters the secularization approach to religious change.

Type
Reply
Copyright
Copyright © A.E.S. 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Beckford, James and Gilliat, Sophie, 2008. Religion in Prison: “Equal Rites” in a Multi-Faith Society (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Bown, Fiona, 1994. “Influencing the House of Lords: the Role of the Lords Spiritual 1979-1987”, Political Studies, 42: 105-119.Google Scholar
Bruce, Steve, 1985. No Pope of Rome: Militant Protestantism in Modern Scotland (Edinburgh, Mainstream Publishing).Google Scholar
Bruce, Steve, 2012. Politics and Religion in the United Kingdom (London, Routledge).Google Scholar
Bruce, Steve, 2014. Scottish Gods: Religion in Scotland 1900-2012 (Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press).Google Scholar
Davie, Grace, 1994. Religion in Britain Since 1945: Believing Without Belonging (Oxford, Blackwell).Google Scholar
Popper, Karl, 1969. Conjectures and Refutations (London, Routledge).Google Scholar
Wesley, John, 1960 [1747]. Primitive Physic or an Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases (London, Epworth Press).Google Scholar
Wilson, Bryan R., 1966. Religion in Secular Society (London, CA Watts).Google Scholar
Wood, Matthew, 2015. “Shadows in Caves? A Re-Assessment of Public Religion and Secularization in England Today”, European Journal of Sociology, 56: 241-270.Google Scholar
Young, Lawrence A., 1997. Rational Choice Theory and Religion: Summary and Assessment (New York, Routledge).Google Scholar