Publication details

Sociologie, která počítá s bohy? Poznámky k aktérství (nejenom) Panny Marie

Title in English Sociology which counts on gods? Notes to acting of (not only) Virgin Mary
Authors

VRZAL Miroslav

Year of publication 2012
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Sacra
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Arts

Citation
Field Philosophy and religion
Keywords non-reductive sociology of religion; symmetrical approach; actor; Virgin Mary; apparition; supernatural entities; ontological status
Description The article follows the track of the discussion concerned with the use of the symmetrical approach in religion studies that occurred in the Czech qualitative research magazine called Biograf. The discussion was about the study by Jan Paleček (2010) titled "Virgin's Mary's sun miracle in the light of sociology, sociology in the light of the sun miracle". Some commentators of Paleček's text, which acknowledges the use of the symmetrical approach in terms of the program, discussed here that the author of the text seems to be justifying the existence of 'supernatural' entities such as Virgin Mary, and at the same time he requires them to be scientifically accepted, or that Catholic sociology of religion is directly suggested here. And in my opinion, this discussion illustrates some misunderstandings in connection to the use of symmetrical approach in the study of religions. The main aim of this text is to show that although there really is the need to take 'gods' into account in terms of the symmetrical approach (in case our data mention them), it does not mean that it is truly the theologically-oriented approach.

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