Schelsky's poging tot vernieuwing der godsdienstsociologie

Samenvatting

Schelsky’s endeavour after renewal of the sociology of religion. In this article the author discusses the famous paper of the German sociologist Helmut Schelsky on „Ist die Dauerreflektion institutionalisierbar?” (in Zeitschrift fur evangelische Ethik, 1957). The author assents to Schelsky’s opinion that the theme of the classical sociology of religion (Weber, Troeltsch, Sombart), namely the historical deduction of modern world from Christianity should be changed into the opposite theme: the adaptation of Christianity to modern society. The most important aspect of this process of adaptation concerns the transformation of the consciousness of faith. Schelsky calls this transformation „Dauerreflektion”, i.e. the permanent subjective reflection on the contents of faith. Finally the author investigates to what new researches the study of the sociology of religion is stimulated by Schelsky’s remarkable endeavour.