Elisabeth Becker: “Why Sociologists of Religion Need Theological Training”

CCS Junior Fellow Elisabeth Becker writes in The Sociological Review, Why Sociologists of Religion Need Theological Training

“The future of sociology is one in which sociologists must take seriously not only the worldviews of the people we study, but ourselves accumulate this knowledge. It is a future in which we should not allow the gaps to widen between those whom we study and ourselves, but rather bridge these gaps through shared knowledge. The study of religion in sociology necessities this shift, in particular. Thus, theology as a discipline should be understood not as a humanistic discourse divorced from the social world, but rather as an interpretive tool for sociologists who seek to analyze the worlds of believers.”