The Role of Religious Ideas: Christian Interpretations of Social Inequalities

Abstract

According to Henri Desroche (1961), one could write an entire history of religion as ‘the mother of social resignation’ or, with equal justification, as ‘the mother of social protest’. Desroche’s apt observation summarizes the topic of this essay, which deals with the oppositional and the culturally adapted communities and movements in the recent history of the Christian churches, focusing particularly on their relationship with social inequalities. Taking a perspective strongly influenced by Max Weber’s sociology of religion, it discusses the ‘religious ideas’ that have guided, and continue to guide, the actions of various Christian churches and groups in societies marked by social inequality. Theoretically, this essay argues that the social positioning of church groups and movements is heavily dependent on the cognitive content of religious beliefs. The contrasting cases it cites show the fruitfulness of such an analytical approach.