PROBLEMATISING BERGER’S CONCEPT OF PLURALISM: of a critical study of dual religious belonging in the Science of Religion

Abstract

Pluralism, according to Berger, is a concept associated with social phenomena, modernity, individual choice, and diversity of and within religions. Our thesis is that the problematiszation of pluralism provides opportunities and limitations limits for a critical study of dual religious belonging that includes theoretical and empirical approaches. The main general aim is the epistemological study exam of pluralism. The specific aims are: [1] to understand Berger's concept of pluralism; [2] and to delineate the possibilities and limitations of Berger's the bergerian vision of pluralism for the critical study of dual belonging. In the text's methodology, the first part will deal with Berger's pluralism, while the second part will focus consist on the possibilities and limitations of Berger's approach to pluralism for the critical study of dual belonging. We have arrived at two results: [a] Berger's sociology of religion allows for the possibility of studying dual religious affiliation through an empirical approach, based on hypotheses derived from the critical analysis of pluralism, which can be confirmed or refuted through field observations. We conclude that, in the Sciece of Religion, the critical study of dual religious affiliation would reconcile the empirical and theoretical approaches.