Emile Durkheim
Caution. This article/definition is in draft form and at this time may constitute no more than rough notes, reminders for required content, or absolutely nothing at all. Content is subject to revision.
Who was he? What did he write about.
Notes
Was interested in finding the "essence of religiosity itself."[1]
Did not attack Religion and believed it played an essential role as projection of society.
"Religion is an eminently social thing. Religious representations are collective representations that express collective realities; rites are ways of acting that are born only in the midst of assembled groups and whose purpose is to evoke, maintain, or recreate certain mental states of those groups. But if the categories are of religious origin,Sociology of Religion then they must participate in what is common to all religion: They, too, must be social things, products of collective thought. At the very least—since with our present understanding of these matters, radical and exclusive theses are to be guarded against—it is legitimate to say that they are rich in social elements."[2]
Suggested religion consisted of two elements, beliefs and rites. "Religious phenomena fall into two basic categories: beliefs and rites. The first are states of opinion and consist of representations; the second are particular modes of action. Between these two categories of phenomena lies all that separates thinking from doing."[3]
For Durkheim, religion was synonymous with a church.[4]
Defined a Church as "“A society whose members are united because they imagine the sacred world and its relations with the profane world in the same way, and because they translate this common representation into identical practices”"[5]
Also "a moral community made up of all the faithful, both laity and priests." [6]
Definition: "A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbid- den-beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them." [7]
Footnotes
- ↑ Cipriani, Roberta. Sociology of Religion: An Historical Introduction. London: Transaction Publishers, 2000. p. 71.
- ↑ Durkheim, Emile. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. New York: Free Press, 1995. p. 9.
- ↑ Durkheim, Emile. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. New York: Free Press, 1995. p. 34.
- ↑ Cipriani, Roberta. Sociology of Religion: An Historical Introduction. London: Transaction Publishers, 2000.
- ↑ Durkheim, Emile. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. New York: Free Press, 1995. p. 41.
- ↑ Durkheim, Emile. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. New York: Free Press, 1995. p. 42.
- ↑ Durkheim, Emile. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. New York: Free Press, 1995. p. 44.
