Sociology and Salvation: Do We Need a Catholic Sociology?

Abstract

THIS ARTICLE wants to interpret 50 years of an intellectual current: 50 years of Catholic interest in sociology. It is not intended as a historical study, an account of the contributions to sociology made by American Catholics over the last 50 years, though this would have been a stimulating topic. Instead, the essay offers an interpretation. Looking at the past here serves a systematic interest. Examining this history from a particular perspective, I discern in the intellectual development three types of Catholic involvement in sociological studies, where each type corresponds to a particular phase of the American economy. In the 30s and 40s American Catholics promoted their own Catholic sociology; from the 50s on they welcomed the ascending functionalist sociology and dropped the idea of a Catholic sociology; in the 80s some of them, at odds with the current orientation of capitalism, moved beyond fimctionalism and looked upon society from the perspective of its victims. This article pursues a point of view. The statement I want to make is ultimately a theological one.