Do We Need Religion?

Hans Joas is Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago, where he belongs to the influential Committee on Social Thought. He is also director of the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies in Erfurt, Germany. Among his recent English books are The Genesis of Values (University of Chicago Press 2000) and Social Theory (with W. Knoebl, Cambridge University Press 2008).

“At a time when public discussion of religion seems polarized between religious fundamentalists and hard secularists, who in their own way are equally fundamentalist, it is refreshing to have a book that reminds us that religion is not a kind of primitive and false scientific theory, but a kind of experience, the experience of self-transcendence. Joas’s reflections on religious experience and the ways it can be articulated are developed in dialogue with major contemporary thinkers such as Charles Taylor, Paul Ricoeur, and Jürgen Habermas. Open-minded and sensitive both to religious claims and to secular criticisms, Joas has made an enormous contribution to the serious discussion and understanding of religion.” —Robert Bellah, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of California–Berkeley and coauthor of Habits of the Heart and The Good Society. “Joas offers a prescient collection of essays on the contemporary relevance of religion. … [He] is a clear writer, and the appeal of the topics discussed should hold the interest of any reader interested in the phenomenon of religion. Joas’s work deserves a large audience.” —Anglican Theological Review

• Part 1 Religious Experience; Chapter 1 Do We Need Religion?; Chapter 2 Religion in the Age of Contingency; Chapter 3 On the Articulation of Experience; Part 2 Between Theology and Social Science; Chapter 4 Sociology and the Sacred: Key Texts in the Sociology of Religion; Chapter 5 Sophisticated Fundamentalism from the Left? On John Milbank; Chapter 6 A Catholic Modernity? Faith and Knowledge in the Work of Charles Taylor; Chapter 7 God in France: Paul Ricoeur As Theoretical Mediator; Chapter 8 Post-Secular Religion? On Jürgen Habermas; Part 3 Human Dignity; Chapter 9 Decency, Justice, Dignity: On Avishai Margalit; Chapter 10 Respect for Indisposability: A Contribution to the Bioethics Debate; Chapter 11 Human Dignity: The Religion of Modernity?;