Steve Bruce: God is Dead: Secularization in the West

Abstract

Is God really dead, or is he/she just periodically ailing? To understand the background of this question is to know about the transatlantic feud which is being fought over predictions on the future development of religion. While Steve Bruce, professor of sociology at the University of Aberdeen, is one of the main protagonists defending the secularization paradigm, he and his party have come under harsh attack by a group of American sociologists who deny the process of secularization, most notably Rodney Stark. In a debate which is not always led in fairness it is a relief to read Bruce's well-balanced, well-informed and clear account of what sociologists since Max Weber have meant by secularization.