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This book explores key themes and issues confronting modern Catholicism. Bringing together cutting-edge research in the field of religious studies and the sociology of religion, it offers a systematic overview of the global Church in its contemporary context. It examines Catholicism from a social scientific perspective, and provides an analysis of a major global social institution from the point of view of its presence in a range of diverse social settings. Topics covered include Catholicism and post-secularism; digital Catholicism; Catholic practice in the context of modernity; global Catholicism in a multi-faith world; Catholicism and world politics; the tensions between Catholic thought and social action; the Church's relations with major faiths such as Judaism and Islam; and religion and social change driven by modernity.
List of contents
Introduction: Catholicism and the Sociology of Religion.- Catholicism, Secularism, and Modernity in the Twenty-first Century.- Digital Catholicism: The Internet and the Vatican.- Social Theory, Theology, Secularization, and World Youth Day.- Catholicism and Capitalism: Ideology, Faith, and Power.- Women and the Catholic Church.- Catholicism and Judaism after Vatican II: The Church's Response to the Shoah.- Islamic-Catholic Relations in an Age of Terror.- The Church in the Americas: Religion and Two Divided Continents.- Conclusion: The Catholic Church in a Changing World.
