Mission Studies: Both Mine and Minefield for the Social Sciences
Mission studies offer a mine for social scientists to uncover useful information, especially because of the current importance of globalization studies. However, mission studies also offer a minefield because of their introduction of religious concepts that are not appropriate for social scientific...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2003
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| In: |
Research in the social scientific study of religion
Year: 2003, Volume: 14, Pages: 189-210 |
| Further subjects: | B
Social sciences
B Religion & Gesellschaft |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Mission studies offer a mine for social scientists to uncover useful information, especially because of the current importance of globalization studies. However, mission studies also offer a minefield because of their introduction of religious concepts that are not appropriate for social scientific theory. I propose a multi-focal approach in mining mission studies. First, mission studies can be seen as an indicator of an important religious phenomenon. Secondly, mission studies, because of their use of the social sciences, can contribute directly to social scientific knowledge. Thirdly, mission studies point beyond themselves to important religious and social changes taking place in the globalization process. These various levels of contributions of mission studies to the social sciences are reviewed, with some attention to how mission studies differ from strictly social scientific research. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Research in the social scientific study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/9789004496576_013 |