in sociology of religion. The goal of this edited volume is to make the case
for a critical theory of religion – a paradigm in opposition to the market-
driven neoconservative paradigm of rational choice.
The first generation of the Frankfurt School had the relationship to religion
as its subtext. This was the result of the work of Walter Benjamin (1968) who
became increasingly interested in the contradictory relationship between his-
torical materialism and theology. In the Dialectic of Enlightenment (1991),
Horkheimer and Adorno have a dialectic between myth and enlightenment,
faith and reason, and reason and understanding, where Enlightenment becomes
a new myth. In Negative Dialectics(1973), Adorno attempted to purge the
dialectic of its theological elements. In contrast, Horkheimer, in his later years,
became increasingly interested in religion.
The critical theory of religion, taking Habermas (1984/1987) as its model,
is highly integrative of other theoretical perspectives in sociology and is able
to selectively incorporate elements of these competing paradigms within it.
Rather than being value free, the critical theory of religion sides with the
forces of Enlightenment and modernity against the rear guard of traditionalism
and fundamentalism. It takes the Frankfurt analysis of the authoritarian person-
ality and applies it to clerico-fascism (Protestant and Islamic Fundamentalism).
The methodology of the critical theory of religion is the use of critique as
a form of self-correction. In doing so, it engages in a critique of itself, either
by becoming self consciously aware of the theological elements within it, or
purging itself of them, thereby moving more in a social scientific direction.
The critical theory of religion is not just a conflict approach but more
specifically analyzes religion from a dialectical perspective. It looks at the
relationship between religious differences and class differences. It views the
ideological divide between denominations in a religiously pluralist society
as an expression of class, cultural and ethnic differences. It sees a dialectical
interplay between ideology (religion) and material interests (economics).
Religious conflict occurs along multiple lines, some of which are the ideo-
logical expression of regional, ethnic or cultural conflict (which themselves
often have a class/economic base).
At the heart of a critical theory of religion is a dialectical theory of secu-
larization. Rather than seeing secularization occurring in a unilinear process,
a critical theory of religion sees secularization and, more specifically, religious
rationalization, as occurring in a dialectical manner. It views the ongoing
conflict between fundamentalism and modernity as part of this dialectic.
2 • Warren S. Goldstein