The Sociology of Religion as a Sociology of Knowledge Trends and Challenges

Scientific Study from the year 2024 in the subject Sociology - Knowledge and Information course: Phd language: English abstract: In the study of the process of secularization functional differentiation which is a distinctive and even defining feature of modern societies is particularly important. In this sense different sectors of society (e.g. politics economy education) are becoming increasingly autonomous and no longer require religious legitimacy. According to Niklas Luhmann who approaches sociology from the perspective of systems theory social systems such as law politics and economics operate according to an autonomous logical mechanism. Two years after Luhmann's death in 1998 André Kieserling published his systems theory interpretation of the sociology of religion which was itself a theoretical milestone. Religion Kieserling suggests is a functional subsystem of modern society which like all other subsystems is shaped by autopoietic and meaning-rich communication. Religion purports to explain without contradiction the relationship between the transcendent and the immanent in everyday life. Faith becomes a personal end product the power of which rests in its uniqueness and intimacy. In modern society religion has become a social subsystem now so complex that a separate science theology has been built around it.The systems theory of religion addresses important issues ranging from meaning and development to secularization and it turns decades of sociological assumptions on their head. It offers a new vocabulary and a fresh philosophical and sociological approach to one of society's most fundamental phenomena.