Religion in Sociology

Introduction

The article is mainly a review of existing research and not a report of new research. One of the reasons being, that there are no tables to show the results of new research. The article is structured in such a way that the findings from previous research are reviewed in paragraphs. The author of the article refers to it as a narrative and not a research paper (Beyer, 2012). In the conceptual context of the paper, Beyer (2012) also states that the purpose of the paper is not to defend his statements as he has already done that in other papers. This means that this paper is mainly a summary of what he has learnt from his research in the past. A research paper usually features proof to act as a defense for the findings of a research. In the paper, the author has included some of the research already carried out by other people. For example, he quotes Augustine’s distinction between the Earthly and the Heavenly City (Beyer, 2012). He then goes ahead and analyses the findings of this research which was carried out some time back. Beyer (2012), also states and explains what he feels about certain findings from researches carried out in the past. For example, he states that part of his purpose in this paper is to show why he finds it useful to cannibalize a social theory by Niklas Luhmann in his analysis presented in this paper (Beyer, 2012).

Summary of the Content of the Article

According to Beyer (2012), Religion, politics and many other systems share a number of characteristics. First, their rise is closely related to one another and they share a societal context (Beyer, 2012). Second, each one of them is an institutional domain and not a small division of the society. Third, their development with reference to one another requires a certain amount of mutual modeling.

The developments in Western Europe before and during the era of the Protestant and Catholic reformations can be described as system differentiation. The main aim of all the reformers who surfaced was to be able to reform the Christian religion by purifying it of the worldly contaminations (Beyer, 2012). This reform did not target the Christians only but the society as a whole. The results achieved would have not been as impressive if the other systems, such as the law, were also not busy carving their own functionalities (Beyer, 2012).

The Western Europe wars of religion were not only about religion but were also focused on other states. The mode in which the war was resolved proves this point (Beyer, 2012). The war was resolved in a highly consequential manner for both the state as well as the religion.

How the article fits into Sociology

This article fits into sociology since it features the human social behavior and institutions in its content (Giddens, 2006). The chapter which this article would go along with is the “Religion in Sociology” since it features a review of matters relating to religion and tries to explain how they came along (Giddens, 2006).

How the Article is different and similar from other Non-Scholarly Articles

The difference between scholarly articles and non-scholarly articles is that the latter are mainly pieces of news. Scholarly articles are mainly researches and reviews of researches just as Beyer’s article (Beyer, 2012). The scholarly articles are usually written by experts and students may use them to support their statements. Non scholarly articles are not written by experts. Beyer’s article is written by an expert in the field of sociology and his work may be used to support statements made in the entire field of sociology. The similarity is that they can all provide useful information when one is researching on a certain issue. The non-scholarly articles may act as the situation while the scholarly acts as the evidence to support the situation.

References

Beyer, P. (2012). 2011 Association for the Sociology of Religion Presidential AddressSocially Engaged Religion in a Post-Westphalian Global Context: Remodeling the Secular/Religious Distinction. Sociology Of Religion, 73(2), 109-129.

Giddens, A. (2006). Sociology. Social Science. Polity.