Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Tables
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Note
- Introduction: Xers and Yers as Cohorts of the Post-1970s Generation
- Chapter 1 Religious Diversity and the Politics of Definition
- Chapter 2 Religion and Popular Culture
- Chapter 3 Religion and Modernity: Marx, Durkheim and Weber
- Chapter 4 Religion, Spirituality and the Post-Secularisation Approach
- Chapter 5 Religion and Postmodernity (Part A): Consumer Religions
- Chapter 6 Religion and Postmodernity (Part B): Hyper-reality and the Internet
- Chapter 7 Esotericism, Its McDonaldisation, and Its Re-enchantment Process
- Chapter 8 Monotheistic Fundamentalism(s) as an Outcome of Consumer Culture
- Chapter 9 Buddhism, Its Westernisation and the Easternisation of the West
- Chapter 10 Christianity: Churches and Sects in a Post-Christian World
- Chapter 11 The Multiple-Modernities of Islam?
- Chapter 12 New Religious Movements and the Death of the New Age
- Chapter 13 Witchcraft, the Internet, and Consumerism
- Conclusion: What Do Sociologists of Religion in Academia Do Apart from Teaching and Marking? Their Work as Intellectuals
- References
- Index
Chapter 4 - Religion, Spirituality and the Post-Secularisation Approach
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Tables
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Note
- Introduction: Xers and Yers as Cohorts of the Post-1970s Generation
- Chapter 1 Religious Diversity and the Politics of Definition
- Chapter 2 Religion and Popular Culture
- Chapter 3 Religion and Modernity: Marx, Durkheim and Weber
- Chapter 4 Religion, Spirituality and the Post-Secularisation Approach
- Chapter 5 Religion and Postmodernity (Part A): Consumer Religions
- Chapter 6 Religion and Postmodernity (Part B): Hyper-reality and the Internet
- Chapter 7 Esotericism, Its McDonaldisation, and Its Re-enchantment Process
- Chapter 8 Monotheistic Fundamentalism(s) as an Outcome of Consumer Culture
- Chapter 9 Buddhism, Its Westernisation and the Easternisation of the West
- Chapter 10 Christianity: Churches and Sects in a Post-Christian World
- Chapter 11 The Multiple-Modernities of Islam?
- Chapter 12 New Religious Movements and the Death of the New Age
- Chapter 13 Witchcraft, the Internet, and Consumerism
- Conclusion: What Do Sociologists of Religion in Academia Do Apart from Teaching and Marking? Their Work as Intellectuals
- References
- Index
Summary
Introduction
The Seventh Seal (1957) by Ingmar Bergman is one of the must-see movies. It is the story of a knight who comes back to Europe after 10 years on the Crusades. After surviving many battles, the ship that brought him back sank and the movie starts by showing him and his companion dead on the beach. The embodiment of death, wearing a long black coat and hood, and with a face so white that one would believe that there is no blood left in his body, comes to take them to his realm.
In a moment of magical realism, the knight speaks from beyond death and manages to bargain some extra life time; the time of a chess game that will last the whole movie. During this game, which they play bit by bit at night, the knight wanders in his homeland that is ravaged by bubonic plague and wonders about life, death, and God. In a very important scene, the knight who has lost faith in God after having fought in his name during the Crusades, enters a church and starts speaking to a person whom he thinks is a priest. The dialogue is here transcribed verbatim:
Knight: I want to confess as honestly as I can, but my heart is empty. And emptiness is a mirror turned to my own face. I see myself… and am seized by disgust and fear. Through my indifference for people, I've been placed outside of their society. Now I live in a ghost world, enclosed in my dreams and imaginings.
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- Information
- Sociology of Religion for Generations X and Y , pp. 52 - 66Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2009