Conceptualizing Religion and Globalization in the Sociology of Religion

Abstract

What is new and specific to contemporary global forms is the extent to which religions globalize, the way in which they adapt to global conditions or the new morphologies they adopt. The global, however, does not only represent a range of social, political, economic or technological conditions, but also symbolizes a theoretical paradigm that requires a shift in focus and urges the sociology of religion to think beyond national contexts and in a comparative manner. Consequently, by adopting a global point of view, the deepening of religion has changed nowadays where the world thinks globally rather than nationally or regionally. The article explores how world religions have shaped civilizational transformations and their interaction with globalization, and analyzes how they contribute to the global landscape from both a historical and contemporary perspective.