Theology and Sociology

Abstract

IN THIS PAPER I propose to outline my efforts to find empirical validation for David Tracy's theory of the Analogical Imagination and then to engage in some speculation on the nature of the religious enterprise and its relationship to theological classics. To summarize my findings, I was indeed able to find that hypotheses derived from the Tracy theory were sustained by social science data in two multi-nation studies involving ten countries (UK, BRD, Australia, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Canada, Hungary, the Netherlands, and the United States). On the basis of these findings I will suggest that religious sensibilities generate theological classics and not vice versa and that theology, even the theology of the classics, is merely part of the superstructure of a religious heritage.' I must outline as a prelude my sociological theory of religion as imagination, which parallels Tracy's theological theory. Religion, I am convinced, is imaginative before it is propositional. It begins in (1) experiences which renew hope, is encoded in (2) images or symbols which become templates for action, is shared with others through (3) stories which are told in (4) communities and celebrated in (5) rituals. This model is a circle, not a straight line, and hence permits stories, communities and rituals in their turn to influence hope renewal experiences. Because we are reflective creatures we must reflect on our imaginative religion. Because we are creatures who belong to communities that