An exposition of Professor R. Stephen Warner's
theoretical position on new immigrant religion
Introduction and background
From the writings of Warner it is very clear
that he is a qualitative sociologist of religion who is involved in doing
research among various ethno religious immigrant communities, very especially
in the USA.
He is a professor of sociology at the Department
of Sociology, University of Illinois in
Chicago, USA. The bulk of his research has been done in multi religious and ethnic
context where different religious and ethnic immigrant groups meet in the same
place of the society in the USA.
It could be noticed that most of his researches have been done according to the
“participant observation” method and his personal extensive exposures in the
multi cultural, ethnic and religious contexts have enriched his academic
positions. He points out how certain identities of religions are fast changing
making ethno religious identities very complex and complicated. He elaborates
this by showing how different religions come in all colours and the traditional
association of religions are fast changing in the modern society in the USA.
Therefore according to him today in the USA Asians may be packed in a
traditional Christian church while white Westerners may fill a Buddhist temple
to get involved in meditation. In
analysing the new immigrant religion Warner cautious that it should not be
assumed that the new immigrants are entirely different or similar to their predecessors.
Although in many ways they are different from their predecessors yet they have
many similarities and share the common heritage of their predecessors.
As a sociologist of religion Warner has
acquired a wealth of knowledge form theological field to enrich his
sociological studies in order to broaden the boundaries of the sociological
understanding of religion. In his sociological analyses he has made the effort
to broaden the horizons of sociology by taking the repercussions of the
theological implications of the immigrants religions into consideration in the USA.
This characteristic of his research has brought a wealth of knowledge to the
sociological academic discipline and has enhanced the theologians to
contemplate on the importance of sociology for meaningful theological articulation
in the modern world. He argues that in many ethnographic researches the aspect
of religion has been neglected. It has been noticed that often in the studies
of "segmented assimilation" researchers mainly concentrate on race
and class-condition identities but not so much at religious ones. On this issue
he emphases that religion can not be neglected in ethnographic studies of
segmented assimilation as it plays a vital and a continuous active role in
identity making of immigrant communities. The following exposition is done on
his writings and personal contact with him through e-mails, giving special
attention to his thesis on five general principles on new immigrant religion.
Wherever it was appropriate, the theoretical positions of relevant sociologists
and theologians are used to interpret Warner’s theoretical positions in order
to clarify his positions in clear and coherent manner.
