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Redeeming Laughter: The Comic Dimension of Human Experience 3 reviews
Peter L. Berger
Walter de Gruyter, 1997
perhaps the finest treatment of the comic presently available
If one were limited to reading just one book on exploring how and why the comic dimension of human existence functions, this should be the choice. Berger treats the comic dimension with breadth -- from the standpoint of sociology, ethnic and cultural studies, and theology. He seasons the text with many (good) jokes that contribute well to the development of his argument that the comic is a ...
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Between Relativism and Fundamentalism: Religious Resources for a Middle Position
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009
Our contemporary culture is dominated by two extremes ? relativism and fundamentalism. Neither is desirable: relativism claims that all questions of truth are irrelevant, whereas fundamentalism insists on sole possession of absolute truth. Internationally renowned sociologist of religion Peter Berger has gathered a group of scholars to consider how, from out of different traditions, one can define a middle position between both extremes. / After ...
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The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion 9 reviews
Peter L. Berger
Anchor, 1990
One of the basic texts
There are few books that lift the veil surrounding religion--Berger's book is one of them. Religion is not simply a spiritual phenomenon, it is a social one as well. Berger zeros in on this social aspect and allows us to see one of the reasons that every society has, and undoubtedly will continue to have, religion. Berger argues that human beings live in a peculiar world; it is a cultural ...
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The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics3 reviews
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999
Pseudo or Real Desecularization?
Second submittal (revised) Sociologist Peter L. Berger's 1974 book Pyramids of Sacrifice: Political Ethics and Social Change foresaw what we now call "globalization." His 1983 book with sociologist Brigitte Berger The War Over The Family anticipated what has been dubbed as the "cultural wars." And his 1966 classic The Social Construction of Reality was way ahead of its time with regard to what ...
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Invitation to Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective14 reviews
Peter L. Berger
Anchor, 1963
Inspiring Book
What an awe-inspiring book! Peter Berger presents a detailed description of what it means to study sociology, to be a sociologists, and how sociology can change the world. As an college student majoring in sociology, I found Berger's book to be phenomenal in its analysis of a world requiring sociological thought. After reading the book, I was once again reminded why I chose to study sociology in ...
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Many Globalizations: Cultural Diversity in the Contemporary World 3 reviews
Oxford University Press, USA, 2003
The joke is on your conception of globalization
Imagine a field report from ten countries of the many ways that globalization is occurring, one of which explains globalization in Hungary in the form of the following common joke, as would the average person in the street: "...I feel sorry for the enthusiasts of globalization too, especially since I have been told the following joke in Budapest, which ridicules the time/space ...
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A Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural4 reviews
Peter L. Berger
Anchor, 1970
Signals of Transcendence
Perhaps one of the reasons that this little book is only a minor classic is its title: "A Rumor of Angels." The book is not about angels or the disembodiment of humans. Neither is it a study of rumor networks or gossip. Nor should the book be taken whimsically or trivially as if it had something to do with fairy tales, ghost stories, or apparitions. Concerned that his earlier book - The ...
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The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge 25 reviews
Peter L. Berger, Thomas Luckmann
Anchor, 1967
An illustration of commomplace social construction
I use this extremely interesting book in a sociology of education course for master's degree students from a broad range of disciplines. Most have never taken a course in sociology or a closely related discipline, and to many the material seems alien, contrived, and contrary to the world as they know it. Making Berger and Luckmann accessible and persuasive to those who find it dense and unreal ...
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Homeless Mind: Modernization and Consciousness2 reviews
Peter L. Berger
Vintage, 1974
How Consciousness is shaped by social institutions
One of many great books by Chairman Berger which tells us how social institutions from the middle ages into modern bureaucracy has a profound effect on consciousness and ways of knowing. Berger describes how the modern world is befret of an overarching soci-political-religious framework such as existed in the middle ages. Instead of religious and moral ideals guiding our lives, we are ...
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To Empower People: From State to Civil Society1 review
Peter L. Berger, Richard John Neuhaus
American Enterprise Institute Press, 1995
Trading Time For Money
"To Empower People" by Berger and Newhaus I found useful in my quest as a conservative to understand the basics of what it takes to slow and eventually turn back the ever growing government.
This book goes to the heart of the matter. Yes they say it is possible, then they show how we do it. We need to make it personal; we need to put in place alternatives to government handouts.
They ...
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The Capitalist Spirit: Toward a Religious Ethic of Wealth Creation
ICS Press, 1990
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A Far Glory
Peter L. Berger
Anchor, 1993
A guide to balancing faith with secular commitments offers a lifetime of personal and professional reflections on the theme of faith in the age of credulity, arguing that faith requires a constant will.
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The Capitalist Revolution: Fifty Propositions About Prosperity, Equality, and Liberty
Peter L. Berger
Basic Books, 1986
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Pyramids of Sacrifice 1 review
Peter L Berger
Basic Books, 1975
Interesting but misguided
I'm not a Peter Berger fan, I only bought this book to use in a paper for my sociology of religion seminar. It was somewhat interesting to read but I used Peter Berger as the negative side of my argument in defining a just economic system. If your going to read him also read Robert Bellah to get both sides of the issue.
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Heretical Imperative: Contemporary Possibilities of Religious Affirmation2 reviews
Peter L. Berger
DoubleDay, 1980
Heretical Imperative
I have not yet begun to read the book but it was the fastest delivery I have ever seen.
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Aspiring to freedom: Commentaries on John Paul II's encyclical The Social concerns of the Church1 review
W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co, 1988
NO STARS FOR THE DATED COMMERCIAL POLITICAL COMMENTARIES WHICH BLOAT THIS SLENDER VOLUME
Two excellent elements of this slender volume which make it eminently worthwhile for historical and spiritual reflection: The encyclical Social Concerns itself signed by Pope John Paul II belatedly in memory of the twentieth anniversary of Pope Paul IV's monumental exhortation Populorum Progressio, and the final insightful and objective article written by veteran Vatican journalist Roberto Suro ...
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