La religion comme système de sens. Introduction à la sociologie de la religion de Niklas Luhmann

Abstract

Niklas Luhmann's principal contribution to German sociology of religion, a book entitled Funktion der Religion (1977), has yet to be translated into French. Its precise but abstract language is not easily accessible without a preliminary introduction. In this article, the author attempts to provide just such an introduction. As an entry into Luhmann's sociology of religion, he has chosen the notion of meaning. In evaluating Luhmann's sociology of religion, the author limits himself to characterizing it relative to his underlying image of humankind.