Society and the Death of God

Sal Restivo

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000396744
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology of Religion
• Index: Social Sciences

This book advances the "strong" programme that sociology and anthropology provide a scientific foundation for arguing that God and the gods are human creations. Contending that religion is one – but not the only – way to systematize and institutionalize the moral order of a society, the author argues that religion reflects the fundamental human need for belonging and the social function of compassion. As such, our transcendental and supernatural ideas are really concerned with our everyday lives in communities and, faced with the severity and immediacy of the global problems with which the world is confronted – existential threats – it is increasingly important to abandon delusions and correct our mistake in reference, not by eradicating religion, but by grounding it more explicitly in earthly matters of community, social solidarity, belonging, and compassion. A wide-ranging study of the roots, nature, and purpose of religion and theistic belief, Society and the Death of God will appeal to sociologists, social theorists, and philosophers with interests in the scientific study of religion and the role of religion in the life of humankind.

Index

Abbott, E. 101; Flatland 87, 101

abstraction 57–58

Abu Bakr 22

Aczel, A.D. 119–120

Adams, D.: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe, The 39

“after God” movement 44–50

Age of Reason 164

Age of the Social (1840–1930) 88, 165

agni/fire 43–44, 152

agnosticism 11, 47, 59, 60

agnostics 5, 6, 36, 63, 73

Aisha 22

alchemists 16

Alexander 63

alienation 92, 125, 126, 130, 131, 133–135, 137, 143, 152

Allen, Woody 4

anarchism 73, 121, 138–140, 144, 145; epistemological 137, 140; scientific 139

ancestor worship 80, 116, 148

Anderson, R.D. 19

animists 44

Annie Hall (film) 4

Anselm 84, 111

anthropology 13, 14, 20, 22, 27, 29, 34, 40, 53, 54, 64, 69–71, 81, 84, 95, 97, 113, 125, 148, 158, 159, 174; Christian 71; scientific 71

apatheists 6

apophatic theology 101

Aquinas, T. 100, 123, 166

archaeology 29, 53, 64, 67, 126, 153

Archimedes 117, 141

Armstrong, J. 55

Armstrong, K. 54, 58, 60, 65, 177

Arnold, B. 88

Aron, R. 14

Asclepius 3

atheism 11, 30, 35, 36, 47, 54, 59, 60, 73, 154, 167, 168, 171, 172

atheistic capitalism 68

atheist leaners 6

atheists 6, 35–36, 59, 63

Augustine 117, 166

authoritarianism 31, 133, 178

Averroes 65, 67, 100

axiom of uniqueness 14

Bacon, R. 65

Bakunin, M. 125, 139, 159

Barker, D. 26

Barnes, B. 76–78

Barnes, H.E. 76

Battle of Yamama 22

Bayes, T. 108

Bayes’ Theorem 108–109

Beckford, J.A. 60

Beckwith B.P. 175

Beethoven, L. van 100

belongingness 42, 45, 64, 124, 126, 153–154

Bendegem, J.P. van 105, 110–111

Berger, P. 42, 82

Berlin School 75

Bertrand Russell Day (May 18) 30

Bible/Biblical 20–23, 25, 29–31, 33–35, 37, 40, 49, 50, 55, 61, 65–6...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments: Standing on the shoulders of social networks
• Introduction
• 1Some initial provocations in words and numbers
• 2Genesis: Introduction to the book of God
• 3To tell the truth
• 4Foundations for a critical sociology of religions and the Gods
• 5Assume the position: God proofs
• 6Evidence redux
• 7The end of God and the beginning of inquiry
• 8The last chapter of God
• 9Personal quest redux, summary, and review
• 10Reading Hans Küng: The last chapter of theology
• Bibliography
• Index