Religion, Theology and the Human Sciences

Religion, Theology and the Human Sciences explores the religious consequences of the so-called 'end of history' and 'triumph of capitalism' as they have impinged upon key institutions of social reproduction in recent times. The book explores the imposition of managerial modernity upon successive sectors of society and shows why many people today feel themselves to be oppressed by systems of management that seem to leave them no option but to conform. This culture has spread through education, health and social services and has been welcomed by the churches. Richard Roberts seeks to challenge and outflank such seamless, oppressive modernity, through reconfiguration of the religious and spiritual field. This volume will be of use to a range of students in humanities and social sciences (particularly theology and the sociology of religion) and should become standard reading for those concerned with the practical application of contemporary theology in a postmodern world.

Introduction; Part I. Spirits of Capitalism and the Commodification of the Soul: 1. The closed circle: Marxism, Christianity and the 'end of history'; 2. Religion and the 'enterprise culture': the British experience from Thatcher to Blair (1979–99); 3. Power and empowerment: New Age managers and the dialects of modernity/postmodernity; 4. The end of the university and the last academic?; Part II. Theology and Power in the Matrix of Modernity/Postmodernity: 5. Lord, bondsman, and churchman: integrity, identity and power in Anglicanism; 6. Ruling the body: the care of souls in a managerial church; 7. Theology and the social sciences; Part III. Religion and Social Science: Identity, Globalisation and the Transmutations of the Religious Field: 8. The souls of Europe: identity, religion and theology; 9. Globalized religion: the Parliament of the World's Religions (Chicago 1993) in theoretical perspective; 10. Time, virtuality and the goddess: transmutations of the religious field; Conclusion: 11. Identity as vocation: the prospect for religion.

Religion, Theology and the Human Sciences explores the religious consequences of the so-called 'end of history' and 'triumph of capitalism' as they have impinged upon key institutions of social reproduction in recent times.

Richard Roberts is Professor of Religious Studies at Lancaster University. He has not shrunk from controversy and is known among senior British academic figures for his pursuit of a consistently critical line against the managerialisation and bureaucratisation of both universities and churches. His publications include Hope and its Hieroglyph: A Critical Decipherment of Ernst Bloch's 'Principle of Hope' (1990), A Theology on its Way: Essays on Karl Barth (1992), The Recovery of Rhetoric: Persuasive Discourse and Disciplinarity in the Human Sciences (co-edited with J. M. M. Good, 1993), Religion and the Transformations of Capitalism: Comparative Approaches (editor, 1995), Nature Religion Today: Paganism in the Modern World (co-edited with Jo Pearson and Geoffrey Samuel, 1998), and Time and Value (co-edited with Scott Lash and Andrew Quick, 1998).