"January 2004" / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 296-333) / viii, 333 leaves ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / An interpretative examination of one aspect of Greco-Roman social history, namely activities involving the supernatural in Palestine and Syria in the fourth century. Highlights the role that the supernatural could play in people's daily lives, and the intricate association of the preternatural with the social environment that accomodated it. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, Centre for European Studies and General Linguistics, Discipline of Classics, 2004

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The problem of this research was to compare the ideas of Emile Durkheim and Max Weber concerning the relationship between society and religion. The primary sources for the study were The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Durkheim and The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and The Sociology of Religion by Weber. An effort was made to establish similarities and differences in the views of the two theorists concerning (1) religious influences on social life and, conversely, (2) social influences on religion.

The academic study of religion has for too long laboured under a flawed understanding of the relationship between modernity and religion. Any narrative of the displacement of religion by a universal and secularising modernity fails to recognise the complexity of the historical and cultural realities. While modernity has demonstrably contributed to the erosion of certain forms of religion, there is a growing body of evidence, and new interpretations of existing evidence, which suggest that the interconnections between modernity and religion are far more complex than any simple opposition could account for. Indeed, modernity appears, in certain circumstances, to be capable of producing its own religious effects. This thesis seeks to answer what then becomes a fundamental question: what does it mean for the study of religion if we accept that modernity can generate the religious? New conceptual tools are needed to deal critically with the far-reaching consequences of embracing the true density of modernity. The study of religion can be greatly enhanced by one such concept: reenchantment. However, reenchantment, as an interpretive framework, must be carefully formulated. Reenchantment cannot be properly understood as a reversal of disenchantment, a conception this thesis will be calling thin reenchantment, but as an ongoing dialectic of reenchantment and rationalisation, which this thesis will be calling thick reenchantment. The formulation of a credible and useful concept of reenchantment can in turn be aided by the work of the philosopher and cultural critic Jean Baudrillard. Baudrillard�s work is not itself an expression or example of reenchantment, but it demonstrates a remarkable congruence with the concept of thick reenchantment, as both interrogate dominant understandings of modernity in relationship to differing systems of value. The thesis is divided into two sections. The first, substantially longer, section presents in some detail thick reenchantment as an interpretive frame. Though it does not claim to offer any new evidence, the first chapter outlines the evidential background for the thesis, which adopts the concept of religious modernity, developed by sociologist Danièle Hervieu-Léger, as a way of framing this evidence. The second chapter develops the concept of reenchantment and the typology of thin and thick reenchantment in relation to the foundational work of Max Weber. The third chapter is an analysis and review of the extant multidisciplinary discourse on reenchantment. The fourth chapter, the theoretical core of the thesis, presents an innovative reading of Baudrillard�s considerable body of work. The second section elaborates on a further insight of the first - that text is a necessary element in the study of religious modernity - by offering detailed readings of the work of three contemporary authors - novelists Douglas Coupland and Chuck Palahniuk and filmmaker Tom Tykwer - as instantiations of the sorts of cultural artefacts that the conceptual framework of thick reenchantment means to explore. Though its claims remain conceptual and interpretive rather than evidential, normative, or explanatory, this thesis, interdisciplinary as it is, is intended as a contribution to a number of related fields, from the study of contemporary literature and film to the exploration of Baudrillard�s work, which the study of religion has to date largely neglected, to its detriment However, its primary purpose is to suggest new and fruitful ways to approach the study of religion in modernity.

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Thesis (Magisterarbeit)--Universität Freiburg (Breisgau), 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Part I. While births provide researchers with a natural dichotomy, fertility intentions are not inherently dichotomous. Intentions are predictions about the future and, as such, are couched in considerable uncertainty. Ignoring this uncertainty hides much of what could be learned from data on fertility intentions. This paper presents a model which allows analysis of the full range of intentions. After selecting a sample of women in the later stages of childbearing (women who intend less than two additional children) from the 1965 and 1970 National Fertility Studies, I show that: (1) substantial portions of women at this stage of the reproductive life cycle are indeed uncertain of their parity specific intention, (2) this uncertainty, like more firm intentions, varies by age and parity as my model predicts, and (3) there were significant shifts in the level of certainty between 1965 and 1970. Specifically, while intentions for third, fourth, and fifth births declined, more women "didn't know" if they intended to have another child or not. Among those not intending another child, more seemed uncertain of this intention in 1970 than did comparable women in 1965. In contrast, those intending another child seemed more certain in 1970. These changes in intentions and uncertainty suggest a need for caution in forecasting a decline in intended family size since this pool of uncertain women has the potential to increase the birth rate substantially. Part II. Adolescence brings into play forces which aid and hinder the intergenerational transmission of religious behavior. First, there is identification with parents and the inertia of childhood religious training. Secondly, a countervailing force is rebellious and assertive, and is aided by the American normative context of religious freedom. This analysis focuses on a net result of these forces--the correspondence between the prayerfulness of Catholic parents and their offspring in the period 1963 to 1974. Results indicate that parents strongly influence the frequency of their offspring's prayer. But the strength of the effect does vary significantly by the parent's sex, the adolescent's sex, and the nature of the parent's behavior (i.e. whether parents pray frequently, infrequently, or with moderate frequency). Over this period, however, there was great stability in the structure of religious socialization within the Catholic family. Observed marginal change indicates that the frequency of mothers' and daughters' prayer declined, and to a lesser extent, so did fathers' and sons' prayer. Importantly, the decline in adolescents' prayer does not indicate a lesser parental influence. Instead, parents seem less religious due, I argue, to the impact of the birth control encylical, Human Vitae. The adolescents' decline in prayer is evidence of an "echo" in the following generation. Part III. The modernization process and America's unique historical development caused changes in both the structure and function of American religion. The trend has been toward more individualized beliefs and "privatized" religious behaviors. The structure of this "privatized religion" seems capable of performing important functions in post-industrial society. Firm beliefs provide a sense of meaning and belonging in everyday life and allows answers to "ultimate questions". These beliefs can provide support in times of crisis. Finally, private religious behaviors can provide rewarding experiences in and of themselves. Using frequency of prayer as a measure of the intensity of "privatized" religious beliefs, I find that prayer is associated with greater happiness or psychological well-being. This effect is pervasive with respect to the respondent's sex and the Protestant-Catholic distinction. However, prayer most affects the happiness of those under 30 years of age and those over 50. This variation by age suggests that prayer is most important where institutional ties and support are weakest.

This study is centered on the social question as addressed and defined by Ernst Troeltsch (1865--1923) and by Max Weber (1864--1920); it pertains mainly to the rise of religious modernity and its conditions of possibility; based on a comparative analysis of the socio1ogy of religion of Troeltsch and Weber, it deals with the question how religious modernity has to be thought from a sociological perspective. / Along with modern historical science and scientific rationality in general, the social question challenged religion in the nineteenth century; this study brings out the originality of Troeltsch's vision of a modernity compatible with belief in the future of religion. / Motivated by the debate on the social question, Troeltsch's concern was the social foundations of the Christian doctrine in its relation to secular domains of activity, and this calls for a new outlook on the issue of the relation between religion and culture. / Eventually, the comparative approach of the sociological thought of Weber and Troeltsch pursued in the present work, while providing new insight into Weber's views on religion, brings about a better understanding of Troeltsch as a theologian and a philosopher of religion.

The academic study of religion has for too long laboured under a flawed understanding of the relationship between modernity and religion. Any narrative of the displacement of religion by a universal and secularising modernity fails to recognise the complexity of the historical and cultural realities. While modernity has demonstrably contributed to the erosion of certain forms of religion, there is a growing body of evidence, and new interpretations of existing evidence, which suggest that the interconnections between modernity and religion are far more complex than any simple opposition could account for. Indeed, modernity appears, in certain circumstances, to be capable of producing its own religious effects. This thesis seeks to answer what then becomes a fundamental question: what does it mean for the study of religion if we accept that modernity can generate the religious? New conceptual tools are needed to deal critically with the far-reaching consequences of embracing the true density of modernity. The study of religion can be greatly enhanced by one such concept: reenchantment. However, reenchantment, as an interpretive framework, must be carefully formulated. Reenchantment cannot be properly understood as a reversal of disenchantment, a conception this thesis will be calling thin reenchantment, but as an ongoing dialectic of reenchantment and rationalisation, which this thesis will be calling thick reenchantment. The formulation of a credible and useful concept of reenchantment can in turn be aided by the work of the philosopher and cultural critic Jean Baudrillard. Baudrillard�s work is not itself an expression or example of reenchantment, but it demonstrates a remarkable congruence with the concept of thick reenchantment, as both interrogate dominant understandings of modernity in relationship to differing systems of value. The thesis is divided into two sections. The first, substantially longer, section presents in some detail thick reenchantment as an interpretive frame. Though it does not claim to offer any new evidence, the first chapter outlines the evidential background for the thesis, which adopts the concept of religious modernity, developed by sociologist Danièle Hervieu-Léger, as a way of framing this evidence. The second chapter develops the concept of reenchantment and the typology of thin and thick reenchantment in relation to the foundational work of Max Weber. The third chapter is an analysis and review of the extant multidisciplinary discourse on reenchantment. The fourth chapter, the theoretical core of the thesis, presents an innovative reading of Baudrillard�s considerable body of work. The second section elaborates on a further insight of the first - that text is a necessary element in the study of religious modernity - by offering detailed readings of the work of three contemporary authors - novelists Douglas Coupland and Chuck Palahniuk and filmmaker Tom Tykwer - as instantiations of the sorts of cultural artefacts that the conceptual framework of thick reenchantment means to explore. Though its claims remain conceptual and interpretive rather than evidential, normative, or explanatory, this thesis, interdisciplinary as it is, is intended as a contribution to a number of related fields, from the study of contemporary literature and film to the exploration of Baudrillard�s work, which the study of religion has to date largely neglected, to its detriment However, its primary purpose is to suggest new and fruitful ways to approach the study of religion in modernity.