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4/5 AbeBooks Language English Publication date 1969 | 4/5 Goodreads Country United States Publisher Doubleday Originally published 1969 Subject Sociology | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural is a book on sociology by Peter L. Berger, published in 1969. The book is one of Berger's most important works on the topic of the sociology of religion. A Rumor of Angels had a profound influence within the American religious establishment as well; his work is frequently cited in church sources.
Marginalization of religion
In Berger's studies, religion was found to be increasingly marginalized by the increased influence of the trend of secularization. Berger identified secularization as happening not so much to social institutions, such as churches, due to the increase of the separation of church and state, but applying to "processes inside the human mind" producing "a secularization of consciousness."
Theoretically, Berger questioned the then current secularization/modernization scheme, suggesting important modifications to the secularization theory and pointed to the exceptional status of Europe in this regard.