Religion, Theology and the Human Sciences

Abstract

Religion, Theology and the Human Sciences explores the religious consequences of the so-called 'end of history' and 'triumph of capitalism' as they have impinged upon key institutions of social reproduction in recent times. The book explores the imposition of managerial modernity upon successive sectors of society and shows why many people today feel themselves to be oppressed by systems of management that seem to leave them no option but to conform. This culture has spread through education, health and social services and has been welcomed by the churches. Richard Roberts seeks to challenge and outflank such seamless, oppressive modernity, through reconfiguration of the religious and spiritual field. This volume will be of use to a range of students in humanities and social sciences (particularly theology and the sociology of religion) and should become standard reading for those concerned with the practical application of contemporary theology in a postmodern world.

“Fresh Expressions”

“…In this respect, theology needs to work with fields such as congregational studies, by helping the church to become exegetes of texts, of congregations, and of the local culture of a given context.^ And, as Yust reminds us, this requires engagement with "several social science disciplines [...] [so that they can] describe congregational life in its thickness" (Yust 2002, 241). This particular epiphany seems to lead us to agree with Roberts, who argues that theology itself, and most especially practical theology, is "a practical process of discerning God's will [...] a community activity requiring conversation and interaction" (Roberts 2002).…”

Religion and Politics: Nationalism, Globalisation and Empire

“…Much of the flow of religious ideas is producing a set of spiritual markets, especially in the United States, which acts as a new melting pot of cultures (Roof, 1993;. These spiritual markets are often connected with the business ethic of the new communications and cultural industries, and for example, both New Age and Buddhist beliefs have been associated with new management training strategies and ideas (Roberts, 2002). David Martin (2002) has also attempted to show how Pentecostalism produces a psychology of success that is relevant to achievement in the new flexible, global economy.…”

In Go(l)d We Trust: Literary and Economic Currency Exchange in the Debate over Caesar's Coin (Mark 12:13-17)

“…Here they become subject to "the corrupt, obfuscatory manipulation of others through the management of power at the most fundamental and insidious level, that is, in the construction of the self-consciousness of the other." 79 But their conformity to a commodity which through image and inscription bears witness to divine pretensions-or, in Marx's terms, being promoted by and recapitulating its fetish quality-has already been intimated. The readiness with which Pharisees and Herodians obtained, and could obtain a denarius gains its significance only by reference to the spatial setting within which the fetish can find a place: the temple.…”