Talcott Parsons’s Analysis of Christianity: the Formation of Secular Religion in America

Talcott Parsons’s sociology of Christianity contitutes the main point of this article as one of the most important functionalist sosiologists. This article includes partial information about his general theory of religion. According to Parsons principles of West and American modernization arise from Christianity from an evolutionarist perspective which is formed by historical and empirical data. There are five chapters in the article. In the first part there are Parsons’s point of view about religion and Christianity, general information about his studies on Christianity, also his ideas about the first period of Christianity. In the second part information on Parsons’s comparisons of East and West Church can be seen. His ideas about the effects of Protestantism especially Calvinism on modernization have been descriptively explained in the third part. The next part is about his views on American Christianity and the pioneering role of America on economical and political modernization. In the fifth and result seciton what Parsons think about religion in modern society is being criticaly considered. The aim of this work is reminding how can be contibutory the Parsons’s functionalist and Durkheimian paradigm. Otherwise emphasising the hesitation of using “civil religion” and “secular religion” terms when he identify holiness and spirituality is another aim of this study. Lastly, the idea of Parsons’s sociology of Christianity has a subjective role on legitimating American modernization or 20th century American society is another crucial point.

Keywords

Relation between Modernization and Religion, Puritanism, Civil Religion, Secular Religion, American