Venster op het buitenland. Godsdienstsociologisch onderzoek in Frankrijk

Samenvatting

A report on the development of religious sociology in France after the war. It received strong impulses from pastoral theology, itself the consequence of Catholic anxieties over the Church's evident loss of popularity. Its sci'fic foundations were laid down as early as 1931 by G. Le Bras; its pioneering work was done in wartime by A. Godin and Y. Daniel, as reported in their book La France, pays de mission? (France, A Missionary Territory?, Paris, Editions du Cerf, 1943). Religious sociology is now organized by the Centre Catholique de Sociologie, a roof organization which comprises Economie et Humanisme (economic studies in the tradition of F. Le Play); Centre Pastoral des Missions a 1'Interieur (pastoral action); and Action Populaire (social action). Research is still based on the theory of Le Bras: sociology cannot study the phenomenon of religion as such; it can, however, study the energetique religieuse (religious action of followers of religion) of various creeds. Le Bras himself summarized the results of his surveys in 'Carte Religieuse de la France Rurale' ('Religious Map of Rural France'), first published in 1947. Petit developed the method of recensement religieux (religious census) and applied it in 1949 to the parish of St. Laurent in Paris. About a dozen other books are reviewed briefly. I. Langnas.