Religion and Evolution

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the theoretical importance of the model of evolution for the sociology of religion. In order to avoid the charges of simplism, reductionism, and naive optimism that were brought against the earlier formulations of social evolution, the evolutionary model is treated as an ideal-type concept. This makes possible uniting in a single theoretical perspective human alienation and progress as well as the dilemma of religious ideals and process. Within this theoretical orientation the following historical and sociological studies are summarized to demonstrate the usefulness of the evolutionary model for the sociology of religion: Herberg (1955), Mead (1963), and Bellah (1964). An analysis of contemporary religious organization is presented differing from Bellah's to advance further the fruitfulness of the evolutionary model

Alienation · Dilemma · Epistemology · Ideal (ethics) · Ideal type · Order (exchange) · Perspective (graphical) · Political science · Reductionism · Social science · Sociology · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions