The purpose of this course, taught by Jerome Baggett at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, is to introduce students to the much-discussed (but less often understood) concept of culture and its implications for the study of contemporary religion. After attending to more theoretical concerns, we will investigate the manner in which a nuanced construal of culture is essential for better understanding such things as secularization, ideological subcultures, religious change, and the salience of religiosity in forging ethnic and racial identities. By attending to these (and other) topics, students should acquire the theoretical and methodological tools necessary for becoming more sophisticated observers of religion as it is actually lived out in the United States and elsewhere.

Seminary: Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University
Keywords: Sociology of religion, science and religion, history and philosophy of science