World religions. Рахимбергенова М.Х. - 4 стр.

process by which Spirit comes to full consciousness of itself. Individual relig-        on the theory of the class struggle. Whereas sociological functionalists posited
ions thus represent stages in a process of evolution directed toward the great          the existence in a society of some religion or a substitute for it (Comte, inciden-
goal at which all history aims.                                                         tally, propounded a positivistic religion, somewhat in the spirit of the French
     Hegel classified religions according to the role that they have played in the      Revolution), the Marxists implied the disappearance of religion in a classless so-
self-realization of Spirit. The historical religions fall into three great divisions,   ciety. Thus, in their view religion in man’s primordial communist condition, at
corresponding with the stages of the dialectical progression. At the lowest level       the dawn of the historical dialectic, reflects ignorance of natural causes, which
of development, according to Hegel, are the religions of nature, or religions           are explained animistically. Religion, both consciously and unconsciously, be-
based principally upon the immediate consciousness deriving from sense ex-              comes an instrument of exploitation. In the words of the young Marx, religion is
perience. They include: immediate religion or magic at the lowest level; relig-         “generalized theory of the world…its logic in popular form”.
ions, such as those of China and India plus Buddhism, that represent a division               One of the most influential theoreticians of the sociology of religion was
of consciousness within itself; and others, such as the religions of ancient Per-       the German scholar Max Weber (1864–1920). He observed that there is an ap-
sia, Syria and Egypt, that form a transition to the next type. At an intermediate       parent connection between Protestantism and the rise of capitalism, and in The
level are the religions of spiritual individuality, among which Hegel placed Ju-        Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism he accounted for the connection in
daism (the religion of sublimity), ancient Greek religion (the religion of              terms of Calvinism’s inculcating a this-worldly asceticism, which created a ra-
beauty), and ancient Roman religion (the religion of utility). At the highest level     tional discipline and work ethic, together with a drive to accumulate savings
is absolute religion, or the religion of complete spirituality, which Hegel identi-     that could be used for further investment. Weber noted, however, that such a
fied with Christianity. The progression thus proceeds from man immersed in              thesis ought to be tested; and a major contribution of his thinking was his sys-
nature and functioning only at the level of sensual consciousness, to man be-           tematic exploration of other cultural traditions from a sociological point of
coming conscious of himself in his individuality as distinct from nature, and           view. He wrote influentially about Islam, Judaism, and Indian and Chinese re-
beyond that to a grand awareness in which the opposition of individuality and           ligions and, in so doing, elaborated a set of categories, such as types of proph-
nature is overcome in the realization of Absolute Spirit. Many criticisms have          ecy, the idea of charisma (spiritual power), routinization, and other categories,
been offered of Hegel’s classification. An immediately noticeable shortcoming           which became tools to deal with the comparative material; he was thus the real
is the failure to make a place for Islam, one of the major historical religious         founder of comparative sociology. Because of his special interest in religion, he
communities. The classification is also questionable for its assumption of con-         can also be reckoned a major figure in the comparative study of religion.
tinuous development in history. Nevertheless, Hegel’s scheme was influential                  In the study of religious psychology the most influential were the psycho-
and was adapted and modified by a generation of philosophers of religion in the         analysts. A considerable literature has developed around the relationship of psy-
Idealist tradition.                                                                     choanalysis and religion. Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, maintained that
     Sociological studies of religion were undertaken by Auguste Comte who is           inner conflicts-often the result of repression, particularly in relation to sex –
considered the founder of modern sociology. His general theory hinged sub-              become expressed in peculiarities of behavior and mood, especially in the vivid
stantially on a particular view of religion, and this view has somewhat influ-          imagery of dreams that erupt from the unconscious area of one’s personality.
enced the sociology of religion since that time. In The Positive Philosophy of          By comparing the symbolism of dreams and mythology, Freud held that belief
Auguste Comte he expounded a naturalistic Positivism and sketched out the fol-          in God – in particular, the father image – merely perpetuates in fantasy what the
lowing stages in the evolution of thought. First, there is what he called the theo-     individual must in actual fact overcome as part of his growth to maturity, thus
logical stage, in which events are explained by reference to supernatural beings;       giving religious belief a treatment that not only made belief in God unnecessary
next, there is the metaphysical stage, in which more abstract unseen forces are         but positively unhelpful.
invoked; finally, in the positivistic stage, men seek causes in a scientific and              The Swiss psychoanalyst C.G. Jung (1875–1961) adopted a very different
practical manner. To seek for scientific laws governing human morality and so-          posture, one that was more sympathetic to religion and more concerned with a
ciety is as necessary, in this view, as to search for those in physics and biology.     positive appreciation of religious symbolism. Jung considered the question of
     A rather separate tradition was created by the German economic theorist            the existence of God to be unanswerable by the psychologist and adopted a kind
Karl Marx (1818–1883). A number of Marxists, notably Lenin (1870–1924) and              of agnosticism. Yet he considered the spiritual realm to possess a psychological
K. Kautsky (1854–1938), have developed social interpretations of religion based         reality that cannot be explained away, and certainly not in the manner suggested

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