Modernities, Memory and Mutations: Grace Davie and the Study of Religion

Grace Davie, one of the world’s most influential scholars in contemporary sociology of religion, has furthered a tradition developed by David Martin and others in comparative sociology of religion and modernity in European and international perspective. Davie’s writings on belief and belonging, particularly in a context outside active Church participation, have contributed important understandings of the cultural role of religion as memory and practice in contemporary European societies. Through her most recent work on new roles of religion in relation to the political, legal and welfare sectors of society, she has addressed debates on the resurgence of religion and the ’post-secular condition’. Modernities, Memory and Mutations presents an overview and critical engagement with contemporary themes in the sociology of religion which will inform current and forthcoming generations of scholars. Reflecting on how Grace Davie’s contributions have influenced their own work and wider debates in the field, leading international scholars engage with themes Davie has critically explored across religious studies and mainstream sociology evolving a new research agenda for sociology of religion.

Table of Contents:
Foreword, Linda Woodhead; Introduction, Abby Day and Mia Lövheim. Section 1 Themes: Foreword, James A. Beckford; Religion as a grammar of memory: reflections on a comparison between Britain and France, Danièle Hervieu-Léger; A memory that mutates, Tuula Sakaranaho; Grace Davie and religious literacy: undoing a lamentable quality of conversation, Adam Dinham; Students’ perspective: the role of mentor and supervisor, Matthew Francis. Section 2 Theories: Foreword, Nancy T. Ammerman; Discrete constellations, occluded foundations and implicit contestations in the sociology of religion, David Martin; Believing, belonging and beyond, Abby Day; Valuing emotion in tragedy, Douglas J. Davies; The gracelands of multiple modernities, Adam Possamai. Section 3 Trends: Foreword, Rebecca Catto; Welfare, society and secularization, Anders Bäckström; The secular court? Trends in the United States Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights compared, Effie Fokas; Young people and residual Christian culture, Sylvia Collins-Mayo; Authentic and vicarious - exploring the manifold privatized meanings of a religious community, Anne Birgitta Pessi. Afterword, Grace Davie; Composite bibliography; Index.

About the Author :
Dr Abby Day is Reader in Race, Faith and Culture in the Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths and Senior Research Fellow, Department of Religious Studies, University of Kent. She is Chair of the British Sociological Association's Sociology of Religion study group, and her most recent books are Believing in Belonging: Belief and Social Identity in the Modern World (2011) and Social Identities between the Sacred and Secular with Giselle Vincett and Christopher R. Cotter (2013). Dr Mia Lövheim is Professor in Sociology of Religion, University of Uppsala. Her research focuses on performances of religious and gender identity among youth, particularly on the Internet, and on representations of religion in Swedish daily press. Her work has appeared in the journals Nordicom Review; Information, Communication and Society; Feminist Media Studies; Culture and Religion and Nordic Journal of Society and Religion. She is the editor of Media, Religion and Gender: Key Issues and New Challenges (2013) and Mediatization and Religion: Nordic Perspectives with Stig Hjarvard (2012).

Review :
’...an holistic, critical appreciation of Grace Davie’s achievement as a remarkable sociologist of religion and academic, [this book] helps us to see how and why Grace has played such an important part in the emergence of a new sociology of religion.’ From the foreword by Linda Woodhead, University of Lancaster, UK ’This book reviews many of the most important discussions in the sociology of religion in recent decades, and offers valuable new perspectives. Through the text you can hear Grace Davie’s quiet, non-polemical but distinct voice.’ PÃ¥l Repstad, University of Agder, Norway