MODERNISATION AND RELIGION. ESRI Fourteenth Geary Lecture, 1981

Berger, P. L. (1981) MODERNISATION AND RELIGION. ESRI Fourteenth Geary Lecture, 1981. UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

Tile. terms "modern man," "modern age," "modern consciousness," and "modernity" in general, in recent Christian theology at any rate, have almost become a myth. Modern man seems to be a mythical creature who seems to be haunting the imagination of Christian theologians, and I think one could make a case, certainly in the case of Protestantism for the last ~oo years or so, fbr tile major mental partner of Christian theologians’ thinking as being this mythical figure of modern man. I think Catholics, for a long time, were not so much interested in talking to this mythical creature as keeping him Outside the house, but since Vatican II, Catholics, at least in the United States and in a number of other countries I know, seem to have been desperately trying to follow the Protestant experience as rapidly as they possibly can, with some interesting consequences that are not my subject this afternoon. In any case, modern man has been a very important figure in recent theological thought. What I find interesting is that so many people who are theologians or who are interested in religion do not seem to be aware at all of the enormous problem that even such a phrase as "modern man" raises. What a sociologist has to do by virtue of, I suppose, professional obligation is to look at to what extent this phenomenon of’ modern man - modern consciousness is the term I would prefer - is at all empirically accessible, and what more specifically one may be able to say about this creature, his alleged consciousness, and then his alleged relationship to religion.

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