L Woodhead
Biographic Data
| ID | 11536 |
|---|---|
| NAME | L Woodhead |
| GIVEN NAMES | L |
| FAMILY NAME | Woodhead |
| SIGNATURE | WOODHEAD L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Lancaster University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1232-1173 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 38 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 176 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 38 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1987 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Care – Rehabilitating an Orphaned Virtue
Concern about a “crisis of care” in liberal democracies has deepened since the pandemic. Analyses focus on social, economic and political factors. Here I give attention to a cultural and religious aspect of the crisis. I suggest than for earlier generations the work of care was undergirded by a Christian ethic that sanctified the work of self-giving work care for others (especially on the part of women). This ethic has been undermined since the 1…
Changes in religious education in response to growing diversity: A comparison of Brazil, Canada and England
Über die Herausforderung der Verschiedenheit und die neue Wertereligion
In ihren Festreden anlässlich der Verleihung des Dr. Leopold Lucas-Preises des Jahres 2020 stellen Adam B. Seligman und Linda Woodhead ihre unterschiedlichen Ansätze zum Zusammenhang von Religion und Gesellschaft prägnant und anschaulich dar. Seligman zeichnet aus sozialpsychologischer Perspektive nach, wie das Zugehörigkeitsgefühl zu einer Gruppe konstruiert und erlernt wird. Da gesellschaftlich geformte Kategorien die Selbst- und Weltwahrnehmun…
Truth and Deceit in Institutions
This article considers why truth-telling is so difficult in institutions, and deceit and paltering are so common. Drawing on recent examples of churches and charities exposed for covering up the truth about abuse, the article explores the institutional barriers to truthfulness and considers how they might be removed
Interview with Terhi Utriainen
An interview with Terhi Utriainen by Linda Woodhead
Gen Z, Explained: The Art of Living in a Digital Age
Afterword
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book introduces to many examples of this interplay between powerful, strategic forms of religion, and women and men, who take from them what they want, use them, subvert them and play with them. It suggests that the power dynamics can also be thought of in terms of dialectic between purifiers and pragmatists. The book shows a situati…
Gendering Secularization Theory
The sociology of religion is not blind to gender, yet its central paradigms remain relatively untouched by an awareness of its significance. This is most obviously true of theories of secularization, which have long constituted the core curriculum of the subject. This chapter proposes a related but significantly different account of how existing explanations of secularization can be enhanced by taking account of changing gender relations. Women a…
Religions and Social Progress: Critical Assessments and Creative Partnerships
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Religion and Emotion
Scholarly interest in emotion in general and religious emotion in particular revived in the last quarter of the twentieth century, in anthropology as well as other disciplines. The revival has made it easier to appreciate the important place of religious emotion in the anthropological tradition as a whole, and the variety of approaches to the subject. Approaches can be differentiated according to the focus of their interest: in the social basis o…
Religion and Brexit: Populism and the Church of England
Drawing on our own recent surveys on beliefs and values in Great Britain (Woodhead) and evangelical Christians in the UK (Smith) this article explores the links between religion, views and votes on leaving or remaining in the EU in the UK’s 2016 referendum. Poll data gathered shortly after the 2016 referendum (n = 3,243) allows us to test associations between religious identity and behaviour and attitudes to voting Leave, while controlling for ot…
Portrait
I wish I had been present at the 1993 annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) when Professor Eileen Barker delivered her subversive presidential address: "The Scientific Study of Religion? You Must Be Joking!" I imagine that not all audience members were delighted. The address lives up to its billing, driving a cart and horses through pervasive positivistic assumptions in the study of religion and ushering in a v…
Wie der Feminismus die Religionsforschung revolutioniert hat
The Rise of 'No Religion: Towards an Explanation
The rise of “no religion” has been swift in many formerly Christian liberal democracies, from the USA to Australia. In few places has it happened more decisively than in Britain where there is now a “no religion” majority and Christianity finds itself for the first time in second place. I have documented the rise of “no religion” in more detail elsewhere (Woodhead 2016a), but will begin this article with a summary account, not least because I hav…
Mary Eberstadt, How the West Really Lost God
Intensified Religious Pluralism and De-differentiation: The British Example
Drawing on surveys of religion and values in Great Britain, this paper suggests that Peter Berger's paradigm of two pluralisms can be usefully supplemented by taking account of a third kind of intensified pluralism. This involves the breakdown of the boundaries between religions, and between the religious and the secular, and is therefore a pluralism of de-differentiation. It helps explain many features of contemporary religion and identity, incl…
Liberal Christianity
Christianity: A Very Short Introduction
At a time when Christianity is flourishing in the Southern hemisphere but declining in much of the West, Christianity: A Very Short Introduction offers an important overview of the world's largest religion. Exploring the cultural and institutional dimensions of Christianity, and tracing its course over two millennia, it provides a candid portrait of Christianity's past and present. Addressing topics including the competition for power between dif…
New Forms of Public Religion: Spirituality in Global Civil Society
This chapter clarifies the meaning of spirituality, and demonstrates the inadequacy of approaches which insists that it should be categorised as 'private'. It suggests that spirituality like some other forms of contemporary religion is better understood as a project in global civil society. Different forms of spirituality favour different social forms, and combinations of forms. It is illuminating to frame spirituality as a project in global civi…
Acknowledging a Global Shift: A Primer for Thinking about Religion in Consumer Societies
The starting point of this article is the observation that the new form of cultural political economy, which has emerged in the last half of the twentieth century and become dominant since the 1980s, has had profound consequences for religious belief, practice and expression worldwide. The rise of consumerism in the post-Second World War years, accompanied by the ever-growing and globalizing media-sphere, as well as the growing influence of neo-l…
Peter Berger and the Study of Religion
Peter Berger is the most influential contemporary sociologist of religion. This collection of essays is the first in-depth study of his contribution to the field, providing a comprehensive introduction to his work and to current thought in the study of religion. Themes addressed include: * Berger on religion and theology * Religion, spirituality and the discontents of modernity * Secularization and de-secularization A postscript by Peter Berger, …
Omvärdering av offentliga religion
Under det innevarande århundradet har det också i de mest "sekulära" samhällen i Väst blivit allt tydligare att religion spelar en roll i det offentliga livet och att det inte bara kan beskrivas som något "privatiserat". Men hur skall denna offentliga roll förstås och analyseras? Denna artikel presenterar en ram för en sådan analys som tar de olika roller, som olika slags religioner spelar i de moderna samhällenas differentierade sfärer (utbildni…
Les différences de genre dans la pratique et la signification de la religion
Cet article s'intéresse à l'influence grandissante des études de genre dans la sociologie des religions et opère la synthèse des publications majeures sur ce thème dans la littérature de langue anglaise. L'article montre que l'introduction d'une perspective de genre a des conséquences majeures. Parmi celles-ci, on peut citer entre autres le fait de repenser le concept de « religion » et les formes de religiosité valorisée (souvent celles dans les…
Introduction: Religion et société de consummation/ Religion in Consumer Society
Five concepts of religion
In the face of continuing debate about the adequacy and definition of the concept of 'religion', this paper argues that it is necessary for the social sciences to become more self-critical about their various - and changing - uses of the term. As this paper shows, three main uses are currently dominant: religion as belief/meaning, religion as identity, and religion as structured social relations. By contrast, some uses which were once important a…
Spirituality, Gender, and Expressive Selfhood
This article discusses contemporary spiritualities, focusing in particular on the recent growth of practices attending to 'mind, body, and sprit' and centered on the goal of 'holistic well-being.' We argue that the growing popularity of such 'holistic spirituality' since the 1980s can be greatly illuminated by reference to Charles Taylor's account of the expressive mode of modern selfhood. Taylor's account is limited, however, by its inability to…
Five concepts of religion
In the face of continuing debate about the adequacy and definition of the concept of 'religion', this paper argues that it is necessary for the social sciences to become more self-critical about their various - and changing - uses of the term. As this paper shows, three main uses are currently dominant: religion as belief/meaning, religion as identity, and religion as structured social relations. By contrast, some uses which were once important a…
The Rise of 'No Religion: Towards an Explanation
The rise of “no religion” has been swift in many formerly Christian liberal democracies, from the USA to Australia. In few places has it happened more decisively than in Britain where there is now a “no religion” majority and Christianity finds itself for the first time in second place. I have documented the rise of “no religion” in more detail elsewhere (Woodhead 2016a), but will begin this article with a summary account, not least because I hav…
Intensified Religious Pluralism and De-differentiation: The British Example
Drawing on surveys of religion and values in Great Britain, this paper suggests that Peter Berger's paradigm of two pluralisms can be usefully supplemented by taking account of a third kind of intensified pluralism. This involves the breakdown of the boundaries between religions, and between the religious and the secular, and is therefore a pluralism of de-differentiation. It helps explain many features of contemporary religion and identity, incl…
Religion and Brexit: Populism and the Church of England
Drawing on our own recent surveys on beliefs and values in Great Britain (Woodhead) and evangelical Christians in the UK (Smith) this article explores the links between religion, views and votes on leaving or remaining in the EU in the UK’s 2016 referendum. Poll data gathered shortly after the 2016 referendum (n = 3,243) allows us to test associations between religious identity and behaviour and attitudes to voting Leave, while controlling for ot…
Les différences de genre dans la pratique et la signification de la religion
Cet article s'intéresse à l'influence grandissante des études de genre dans la sociologie des religions et opère la synthèse des publications majeures sur ce thème dans la littérature de langue anglaise. L'article montre que l'introduction d'une perspective de genre a des conséquences majeures. Parmi celles-ci, on peut citer entre autres le fait de repenser le concept de « religion » et les formes de religiosité valorisée (souvent celles dans les…
Gendering Secularisation Theory
Major theories of secularisation have been gender blind, with the result that men's experience of modernisation has been made central to explanations of religious decline. This paper attempts to show how greater attention to women's distinctive experiences can help extend the explanatory power of secularisation theory. It begins by introducing two main 'stories' of secularisation, articulated by Weber and Marx, which have shaped much subsequent t…
Post-Christian spiritualities
This article examines the rise of post‐Christian spiritualities in the last three decades. Attention is first given to feminist versions of such spirituality (popular as well as academic), since these seem to be amongst the earliest and most influential forms of post‐Christian spirituality. It is then argued that very similar forms of spirituality are found within contemporary Christianity, and that all are forms of what is identified as 'the New…
Omvärdering av offentliga religion
Under det innevarande århundradet har det också i de mest "sekulära" samhällen i Väst blivit allt tydligare att religion spelar en roll i det offentliga livet och att det inte bara kan beskrivas som något "privatiserat". Men hur skall denna offentliga roll förstås och analyseras? Denna artikel presenterar en ram för en sådan analys som tar de olika roller, som olika slags religioner spelar i de moderna samhällenas differentierade sfärer (utbildni…
Magt og religion i religionsvidenskaben
Mange hidtidige forsøg på at definere religion og nå frem til en adækvat religionsforståelse har ikke i tilstrækkelig grad taget magtaspektet i betragtning. I artiklen udvikler jeg gennem problematisering af eksisterende teorier en ny religionsdefinition, der i højere grad tager magtaspektet i betragtning. Jeg påviser nogle af de vanskeligheder, som de eksisterende modeller støder på, når de skal få mening ud af den nyeste religiøse udvikling. En…
Simone Weil's Conversation with the Bhagavad Gītā
Post-Christian spiritualities
This article examines the rise of post‐Christian spiritualities in the last three decades. Attention is first given to feminist versions of such spirituality (popular as well as academic), since these seem to be amongst the earliest and most influential forms of post‐Christian spirituality. It is then argued that very similar forms of spirituality are found within contemporary Christianity, and that all are forms of what is identified as 'the New…
Spiritualising the Sacred: A Critique of Feminist Theology
This article submits feminist theology to a two‐pronged theological critique. First, the article notes the overwhelmingly critical nature of feminist theology, and suggests that this concentration on critique at the expense of construction is itself a weakness of feminist theology. Further, it argues that the feminist critique tends to construe Christianity in a way which distorts the more complex realities of the faith, placing too much emphasis…
Predicting Religion: Four Case Studies
An Introduction to Christianity
An Introduction to Christianity examines the key figures, events and ideas of two thousand years of Christian history and places them in context. It considers the religion in its material as well as its spiritual dimensions and explores its interactions with wider society such as money, politics, force, gender and the family, and non-Christian cultures and societies. This Introduction places particular focus on the ways in which Christianity has …
Gendering Secularisation Theory
Major theories of secularisation have been gender blind, with the result that men's experience of modernisation has been made central to explanations of religious decline. This paper attempts to show how greater attention to women's distinctive experiences can help extend the explanatory power of secularisation theory. It begins by introducing two main 'stories' of secularisation, articulated by Weber and Marx, which have shaped much subsequent t…
On The Incompatibility Between Christianity And Holistic Spirituality
Gender Differences in Religious Practice and Significance
This paper discusses the slowly-progressing influence of gender studies on the sociology of religion, and discusses key publications in the Anglophone tradition. It shows that the introduction of a gendered perspective has far-reaching consequences. These include rethinking the concept of ’religion’ and what counts as ’real religion’ (not just those forms in which men are most visible and powerful), adjusting methods, and reconsidering dominant t…
Gendering Secularization Theory
The author argues that our understanding of secularization can be greatly enhanced by taking gender differences seriously. Whilst existing theories of secularization do a good job of explaining why men disaffiliated from Christianity after the onset of industrialization, they ignore the experience of women-whose experience of modernization was significantly different. Whilst men have been responsible for paid work outside the home, women have bee…
Spirituality, Gender, and Expressive Selfhood
This article discusses contemporary spiritualities, focusing in particular on the recent growth of practices attending to 'mind, body, and sprit' and centered on the goal of 'holistic well-being.' We argue that the growing popularity of such 'holistic spirituality' since the 1980s can be greatly illuminated by reference to Charles Taylor's account of the expressive mode of modern selfhood. Taylor's account is limited, however, by its inability to…
Old, New, And Emerging Paradigms In The Sociological Study Of Religion
This article argues that a significant shift is taking place in the sociological study of religion, and seeks to outline its main features.In order to do so it returns to Stephen Warner's classic article of 1993 which drew a contrast between 'old' and 'new' paradigms in the sociology of religion.It develops Warner's analysis by setting these paradigms in their European and American contexts respectively, and argues that there are signs of a third…
Magt og religion i religionsvidenskaben
Mange hidtidige forsøg på at definere religion og nå frem til en adækvat religionsforståelse har ikke i tilstrækkelig grad taget magtaspektet i betragtning. I artiklen udvikler jeg gennem problematisering af eksisterende teorier en ny religionsdefinition, der i højere grad tager magtaspektet i betragtning. Jeg påviser nogle af de vanskeligheder, som de eksisterende modeller støder på, når de skal få mening ud af den nyeste religiøse udvikling. En…
A Sociology of Religious Emotion
This book aims to change the way we think about religion by putting emotion back onto the agenda. It challenges a tendency to over-emphasise rational aspects of religion, and rehabilitates its embodied, visceral, and affective dimensions. Against the view that religious emotion is a purely private matter, it offers a new framework which shows how religious emotions arise in the varied interactions between human agents and religious communities, h…
Introduction: Religion et société de consummation/ Religion in Consumer Society
Five concepts of religion
In the face of continuing debate about the adequacy and definition of the concept of 'religion', this paper argues that it is necessary for the social sciences to become more self-critical about their various - and changing - uses of the term. As this paper shows, three main uses are currently dominant: religion as belief/meaning, religion as identity, and religion as structured social relations. By contrast, some uses which were once important a…
Omvärdering av offentliga religion
Under det innevarande århundradet har det också i de mest "sekulära" samhällen i Väst blivit allt tydligare att religion spelar en roll i det offentliga livet och att det inte bara kan beskrivas som något "privatiserat". Men hur skall denna offentliga roll förstås och analyseras? Denna artikel presenterar en ram för en sådan analys som tar de olika roller, som olika slags religioner spelar i de moderna samhällenas differentierade sfärer (utbildni…
Les différences de genre dans la pratique et la signification de la religion
Cet article s'intéresse à l'influence grandissante des études de genre dans la sociologie des religions et opère la synthèse des publications majeures sur ce thème dans la littérature de langue anglaise. L'article montre que l'introduction d'une perspective de genre a des conséquences majeures. Parmi celles-ci, on peut citer entre autres le fait de repenser le concept de « religion » et les formes de religiosité valorisée (souvent celles dans les…
New Forms of Public Religion: Spirituality in Global Civil Society
This chapter clarifies the meaning of spirituality, and demonstrates the inadequacy of approaches which insists that it should be categorised as 'private'. It suggests that spirituality like some other forms of contemporary religion is better understood as a project in global civil society. Different forms of spirituality favour different social forms, and combinations of forms. It is illuminating to frame spirituality as a project in global civi…
Acknowledging a Global Shift: A Primer for Thinking about Religion in Consumer Societies
The starting point of this article is the observation that the new form of cultural political economy, which has emerged in the last half of the twentieth century and become dominant since the 1980s, has had profound consequences for religious belief, practice and expression worldwide. The rise of consumerism in the post-Second World War years, accompanied by the ever-growing and globalizing media-sphere, as well as the growing influence of neo-l…
Peter Berger and the Study of Religion
Peter Berger is the most influential contemporary sociologist of religion. This collection of essays is the first in-depth study of his contribution to the field, providing a comprehensive introduction to his work and to current thought in the study of religion. Themes addressed include: * Berger on religion and theology * Religion, spirituality and the discontents of modernity * Secularization and de-secularization A postscript by Peter Berger, …
Christianity: A Very Short Introduction
At a time when Christianity is flourishing in the Southern hemisphere but declining in much of the West, Christianity: A Very Short Introduction offers an important overview of the world's largest religion. Exploring the cultural and institutional dimensions of Christianity, and tracing its course over two millennia, it provides a candid portrait of Christianity's past and present. Addressing topics including the competition for power between dif…
Liberal Christianity
Mary Eberstadt, How the West Really Lost God
Intensified Religious Pluralism and De-differentiation: The British Example
Drawing on surveys of religion and values in Great Britain, this paper suggests that Peter Berger's paradigm of two pluralisms can be usefully supplemented by taking account of a third kind of intensified pluralism. This involves the breakdown of the boundaries between religions, and between the religious and the secular, and is therefore a pluralism of de-differentiation. It helps explain many features of contemporary religion and identity, incl…
Wie der Feminismus die Religionsforschung revolutioniert hat
Religion and Society Interactions (28 works) · Philosophy (26 works) · Sociology (25 works) · Political science (16 works) · Religion, Society, and Development (15 works) · Religious studies (14 works) · Law (12 works) · Epistemology (11 works) · Psychology (8 works) · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology (8 works)