Lee's book should be studied by theologians, seminary professors, those engaged in the sociological study of religion, secularization, and by the secular and non-religious.

Lois Lee, Reading Religion

Lois Lee offers a nuanced account of how secular society sits in relation to religion ... The book is well written and carefully argued ... The book contributes to the vocabulary, theory and methodology of studying and understanding religion and secularity and will be of interest to anyone versed in these sociological debates ... However, there is value too for non-specialists; for anyone interested in engaging with society around them, it expands how we might think about people's relation to religion.

Fran Porter, Anvil

This is, in many ways, an important book. Lee's work is part of a new wave of anthropological and sociological studies of secular, atheist, irreligious and non-religious formations. These new studies have asked whether questions that have been asked about religion questions of embodiment, materiality or performance might be productive when applied to humanists, atheists (new or old) or agnostics. Lee herself has been an important catalyst for much of this new work: she set up the NRSN (the Nonreligion and Secularity Network) that, through its journal and events, has provided an important platform for new research and experiments. On that basis alone, this book should be on the reading lists of students interested both in theoretical innovations in religious studies as well as new research on secular and non-religious formations.

Paul-François Tremlett, Religion

Se alle

For those of us working directly within non-religion and secularity studies, Lee has provided a very valuable service, laying the groundwork for a common language for a still nascent but rapidly developing field, as well as expanding the horizons of research possibilities.

Stephen LeDrew, Journal of the American Academy of Religion

This is simply the most analytically sophisticated discussion of non-religion/secularity written to date. Ambitious, thorough, commanding, and piercing, this book takes our understanding of--and theorising about-- non-religion to a whole new, and thoroughly satisfying, level. This book is a veritable scholarly feast.

Phil Zuckerman, Professor of Sociology, Pitzer College

This book is both innovative and insightful. In it, Lois Lee recognises non-religious experience as a lived and above all social reality, rather than a reasoned and individualized epistemology. The shift in emphasis from the hollowly secular to the substantively non-religious will, I have no doubt, provoke a lively debate.

Grace Davie, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of Exeter

In recent years, the extent to which contemporary societies are secular has come under scrutiny. At the same time, many countries, especially in Europe, have increasingly large nonaffiliate, 'subjectively secular' populations, whilst nonreligious cultural movements like the New Atheism and the Sunday Assembly have come to prominence. Making sense of secularity, irreligion, and the relationship between them has therefore emerged as a crucial task for those seeking to understand contemporary societies and the nature of modern life. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in southeast England, Recognizing the Non-religious develops a new vocabulary, theory and methodology for thinking about the secular. It distinguishes between separate and incommensurable aspects of so-called secularity as insubstantial - involving merely the absence of religion - and substantial - involving beliefs, ritual practice, and identities that are alternative to religious ones. Recognizing the cultural forms that present themselves as non-religious therefore opens up new, more egalitarian and more theoretically coherent ways of thinking about people who are 'not religious'. It is also argued that recognizing the nonreligious allows us to reimagine the secular itself in new and productive ways. This book is part of a fast-growing area of research that builds upon and contributes to theoretical debates concerning secularization, 'desecularization', religious change, postsecularity and postcolonial approaches to religion and secularism. As well as presenting new research, this book gathers insights from the wider studies of nonreligion, atheism, and secularism in order to consolidate a theoretical framework, conceptual foundation and agenda for future research.
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This book is an investigation of what it's like to be 'not religious' in secular Britain today. It draws attention to the ways in which the 'not religious' engage with 'religious' matters i.e. what it means to live and die, weddings and funerals, and identifying with or against people according to their religious or non-religious views and cultures
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INTRODUCTION; CONCLUSION; APPENDICES
The first book of its kind, examining the role of non-religious cultures in the world today Provides overview of concepts and theories relating to atheism, non-religion, secularity, and secularization Provides the first glossary and detailed discussion of core terms Provides methodological guidance for this new field of research Combines accessible empirical research with theoretical analysis
Les mer
Lois Lee is a Research Fellow in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Kent. She is a sociologist whose work focuses on the empirical study of nonreligion and atheism and, more widely, on the theory and study of culturally diverse and differentiated societies. Lois is founding director of the Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network (NSRN) and co-edits the journal Secularism and Nonreligion. As well as work in academic journals and the media, Lois' publication include the edited volumes Secularity and Non-religion (Routledge) and Negotiating Religion (Ashgate). She is co-editor of the book series, Religion and Its Others: Studies in Religion, Nonreligion and Secularity (De Gruyter).
Les mer
The first book of its kind, examining the role of non-religious cultures in the world today Provides overview of concepts and theories relating to atheism, non-religion, secularity, and secularization Provides the first glossary and detailed discussion of core terms Provides methodological guidance for this new field of research Combines accessible empirical research with theoretical analysis
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780198736844
Publisert
2015
Utgiver
Oxford University Press
Vekt
440 gr
Høyde
222 mm
Bredde
148 mm
Dybde
21 mm
Aldersnivå
UU, UP, 05
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
248

Forfatter

Biografisk notat

Lois Lee is a Research Fellow in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Kent. She is a sociologist whose work focuses on the empirical study of nonreligion and atheism and, more widely, on the theory and study of culturally diverse and differentiated societies. Lois is founding director of the Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network (NSRN) and co-edits the journal Secularism and Nonreligion. As well as work in academic journals and the media, Lois' publication include the edited volumes Secularity and Non-religion (Routledge) and Negotiating Religion (Ashgate). She is co-editor of the book series, Religion and Its Others: Studies in Religion, Nonreligion and Secularity (De Gruyter).