Religious Studies: Religion in Contemporary Society

Religion, Sensemaking and Spirituality: an approach from the Social Sciences
Introduction

In the 19th and 20th century, a cultural shift took place that is known as The Process of Modernization. This process had an enormous impact on religion.

Traditional, institutionalized religion partly gave way for all kinds of religiosity and spirituality.

In our program we study the impact and nature of religiosity and spirituality from both a sociological and a psychological point of view. The first seminar is focused on the social and cultural aspects:
What is sense making?
What is religion?
How does it function in modern society?

The second deals with psychological aspects: Why and how do people deal with existential issues such as death, freedom, meaninglessness, and what is the relationship with mental health and one’s spiritual development? How do human beings differ in the extent to which they feel connected with others, God, the universe or other unseen or sacred realities? How does religion influence (1) the acquirement of relational outcomes (belongingness, social identity) and (2) social interactions between people (e.g., empathy, moral behavior, ingroup-outgroup thinking).

Universiteit Leiden