Roundtable Proposal – The Contradictions of Religion and Modernity in the 21st Century
Presider:
Anna Sun is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Sociology at Duke University.
List of Panelists:
Richard Madsen is distinguished research professor and director of the UC-Fudan Center for Research on Contemporary China at the University of California, San Diego.
Ann Swidler is a professor of the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley.
Jeffrey C. Alexander is Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor of Sociology at Yale University.
Carolyn Chen is Professor of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley.
Ahmet Kuru is Professor of Political Science at San Diego State University.
Abstract
This roundtable panel is inspired by the late work of Rebert Bellah, especially through engaging with the new edited volume Challenging Modernity (Columbia UP, 2024), in which social theorists and scholars of religion debate the question of religion in modernity, which has been central to Bellah’s work. The theme of the panel is the seeming contradictions between the transcendent aspirations of religion and the social and political perils we now face in the global 21st century. How to deal with the tension between the transcendental, universalizing ambitions of democracy and the restricting exigences of time, place, and function? What does transcendence mean when it is nurtured by for-profit capitalism? What is the relationship between political, religious, economic, and intellectual classes in the global Muslim communities? The panel includes two original members of the “Habits of the Heart” group as well as three leading sociologists of religion.
Panel Description:
This roundtable is inspired by the late work of Rebert Bellah, especially the new edited volume Challenging Modernity (Columbia UP, 2024), in which distinguished social theorists and scholars of religion debate the theme of religion in modernity. As the book states: “From the 1960s until his death in 2013, Robert N. Bellah was the preeminent figure in the study of religion and society. He broke new ground in mapping the religious dimensions of human experience, from the great breakthroughs of the first millennium BCE to the paradoxes of American civic life. In three final essays, published here for the first time, Bellah grapples with the contradictions of modernity, and seven leading thinkers respond with profound, exhilarating new perspectives on our present predicament.”
This roundtable focuses on the theme of the tensions between the transcendent aspirations of religion and the social and political perils we now face in the global 21st century. The panel includes two members of the original “Habits of the Heart” group, Professor Richard Madsen and Professor Ann Swidler. They will reflect on Bellah’s scholarship and extend Bellah’s insight that only “deep historical, cultural, and religious understanding can help us meet modernity’s harrowing challenges by sharing responsibility for the global interdependence of our common fate.”
Professor Jeff Alexander will engage with the theme from a cultural sociological perspective. A sociological theorist who has helped to create the “strong program” in cultural sociology, he has developed a theory of the civil sphere that emphasizes the tension between the transcendental, universalizing ambitions of democracy and the restricting exigences of time, place, and function. His theory of cultural trauma looks at the dark episodes of tragic modernity, which offer possibilities – not always taken – for social and cultural restructuring. In his theory social performance, he has reformulated the late-Durkheim theory of ritual and symbol in terms of aesthetic-dramatic social performances that are continuously interrupted and challenged by the contingencies and distantiations of modern life.
Professor Carolyn Chen will draw from her research on Silicon Valley work culture as well as race, ethnicity and religion in America to reflect on Robert Bellah’s contributions to the study of religion and modernity in the US. The author of Work Pray Code: When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley, Chen has been examining how contemporary tech firms offer spiritual care, blurring the boundaries between religious communities and workplaces. What does transcendence mean when it is nurtured by for-profit capitalism?
Professor Ahmet Kuru will discuss the connections between his work on Muslim societies and Robert Bellah’s writings on sociology of religion in global perspective. Kuru will focus on the relationship between political, religious, economic, and intellectual classes in both presenting his work and discussing Bellah’s scholarship. In addition to newly edited volume “Challenging Modernity,” Kuru will also refer to Bellah’s 1968 essay “Islamic tradition and the problems of modernization.”
This roundtable is inspired by the late work of Rebert Bellah, especially the new edited volume Challenging Modernity (Columbia UP, 2024), in which distinguished social theorists and scholars of religion debate the question of religion in modernity. As the book states: “From the 1960s until his death in 2013, Robert N. Bellah was the preeminent figure in the study of religion and society. He broke new ground in mapping the religious dimensions of human experience, from the great breakthroughs of the first millennium BCE to the paradoxes of American civic life. In three final essays, published here for the first time, Bellah grapples with the contradictions of modernity, and seven leading thinkers respond with profound, exhilarating new perspectives on our present predicament.”
This roundtable focuses on the theme of the tensions between the transcendent aspirations of religion and the social and political perils we now face in the global 21st century. The panel includes two members of the original “Habits of the Heart” group (Panelist One and Panelist Two). They will reflect on Bellah’s scholarship and extend Bellah’s insight that only “deep historical, cultural, and religious understanding can help us meet modernity’s harrowing challenges by sharing responsibility for the global interdependence of our common fate.”
Panelist Three will engage with the theme from a cultural sociological perspective. A sociological theorist who has helped to create the “strong program” in cultural sociology, he has developed a theory of the civil sphere that emphasizes the tension between the transcendental, universalizing ambitions of democracy and the restricting exigences of time, place, and function. His theory of cultural trauma looks at the dark episodes of tragic modernity, which offer possibilities – not always taken – for social and cultural restructuring. In his theory social performance, he has reformulated the late-Durkheim theory of ritual and symbol in terms of aesthetic-dramatic social performances that are continuously interrupted and challenged by the contingencies and distantiations of modern life.
Panelist Four will draw from her research on Silicon Valley work culture as well as race, ethnicity and religion in America to reflect on Robert Bellah’s contributions to the study of religion and modernity in the US. She has been examining how contemporary tech firms offer spiritual care, blurring the boundaries between religious communities and workplaces. What does transcendence mean when it is nurtured by for-profit capitalism?
Panelist Five will discuss the connections between his work on Muslim societies and Robert Bellah’s writings on sociology of religion in global perspective. He will focus on the relationship between political, religious, economic, and intellectual classes in both presenting his work and discussing Bellah’s scholarship. In addition to newly edited volume “Challenging Modernity,” He will also refer to Bellah’s 1968 essay “Islamic tradition and the problems of modernization.”