God is Dead: Secularization in the West

by Steve Bruce

Drawing on an international range of examples, Steve Bruce offers a comprehensive and up-to-date defence of the secularisation debate.

Genres: Sociology, Religion, Nonfiction, Spirituality

288 pages, Paperback

First published April 29, 2002

About the author

Steve Bruce (born 1951), Professor of Sociology at the University of Aberdeen since 1991, elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2003 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2005, he has written extensively on the nature of religion in the modern world and on the links between religion and politics.

Reviews

[C. Varn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a powerful book, and one that seems more accurate now than it did even in the decade since it was written: the secularization of US on which Bruce devotes the a whole chapter of the book is much more clear in 2014 when Protestantism is no longer the majority religion and even evangelicals have seen real declines in church attendance. The arguments of Rodney Stark and late Peter L. Berger are more explicitly and obviously not mapping unto the US reality. Decline in belief in post-modernism has happened since then as well. The excitement about alternative religious movements, who benefited from exposure on the internet in the late 1990s and early 2000s, seem to be declining as well

Bruce clarifies a lot about secularization: 1) It's not about an explicit increase in atheism, rationality, or science. Science literacy is not tied to it. Studies by people like Dan Kahan have made this clearer in general: there is little relationship between belief in science and non-specialist knowledge of science. Bruce's paradigm actually a knowledged this. 2) The "normalization" and "liberalization" of fundamentalist and evangelical sects are not signs of vitality, but concessions to the secular morality. The prosperity gospel is a concession to the secular world as much as any cogent theodicy and eschatology.

A lot of this book is a polemic defending the secularization paradigm and can be rooted in some knowledge of other sociologists such as Rodney Stark, Andrew Greeley, and Peter Berger. This can feel very didactic; however, once you get past the opening chapter laying out the paradigm, the arguments are clear even if you are not hyper-familiar with Bruce's opponents.

An excellent and quite useful book.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is well written and an empirically rich defence of the secularisation thesis, arguing that modernisation erodes religion’s social power in Western Europe. It is written from the point of view of a sociologist and stands against Callum Brown's historical work and counter thesis. Bruce synthesises classic theory with demographic and institutional data, and engages with the criticism of secularisation. Yet I felt that the the argument is tightly anchored in the British and wider European experience, underplaying U.S. and global‑South cases that complicate his narrative of linear decline. Some of what he codes as decline could be interpreted as transformation and diversification. His treatment of "re‑sacralisation" and new spiritualities seems brusque.

Despite that, the book is a provocative benchmark in the debate, and it is quite interesting to see how the disciplines of sociology and history line up, somewhat overlap, but differentiate themselves here.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-written and profoundly significant study of the process of secularization. As secularist ideology becomes deeply ingrained in the modern western psyche, its nature becomes increasingly difficult for us to recognize and examine. Many of us tend to think of the process of secularization in positive terms as "progress," rarely considering the possibility that it might be more clearly identified as a decline into spiritual apathy. In this book Steve Bruce shows how this happens, arguing that secularism is not a positive belief system or a set of values, making it distinct from rationality and even from atheism. Instead, he argues, it is best understood simply as indifference.

One of the most interesting themes drawn out throughout this work is the relationship between conservative churches and liberal denominations. The author shows very convincingly how liberal denominations cannot hold up across generations because of their diffuse and pluralistic nature. Their appeal is limited to people who were thoroughly socialized in the values of a conservative tradition. They embrace liberalism to escape the oppressive aspects of orthodoxy. Consequently the next generation of the liberal denomination, raised with no strong sense of religious tradition, embraces individualism and egalitarianism without tradition. There is no sense of an impetus for the religious tradition to be passed down and carried on. They thus embrace the wider culture of indifference toward religion. This process of spiritual decadence is rigorously examined and defended with many examples throughout this work.

I want to recommend this book to people who have only a tangential interest in the sociology of religion. The patterns described here are relevant to many aspects of modern life. While reading this book I found myself drawing connections to politics, art, individual psychology, and a variety of other subjects. A stimulating and provocative read.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bruce argues for the secularization thesis: less and less people believe in God, and those that do are more and more tepid in their belief. Fundamentalism is a rearguard action, sparked by the increasing indifference that religion encounters.

He has the figures that back up his story and makes it quite convincingly. For my part I'd be happy to see the monotheisms fizzle out - which in many ways they do seem to be doing, slipping back into syncretic "spiritualities" that might, hopefully, reduce humanity to its rightful place among other forms of life.

[Stephen Cranney · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent defense of a relatively unpopular idea; he did at times fail to mention evidence to the contrary (such as the increase in belief in life after death in the US), but on the whole a fair, strong argument.

[Josh Alfred · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bold, empowering work, big mind wrote it. I'd say it went off topic, and didn't say focused with the main topic of secularism and the decrease in the popularity of God, but still a decent read.

[Kristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, good for Sunday reading and bad for a PhD reading!