The Science Canopy: Religion, Legitimacy, and the Charisma of Science

Authors

  • JAMES R. LEWIS University of Tromsø

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33356/temenos.6939

Abstract

Academics usually think of religion as legitimating other social

institutions. However, one often finds apologists appealing to the authority of science as a strategy for supporting the truths of their particular tradition. In a social environment where diverse religious claims compete with each other, it is probably inevitable that different groups seek alternate sources of legitimacy. Science is an attractive legitimator because of its prestige and because of the popular view of science as an objective arbiter of ‘truth’. After examining the notion of ‘legitimation strategies’ derived from Max Weber’s discussion of the legitimation of authority, the article analyzes the specific ways in which religious groups appeal to the authority of science.

Published

2010-01-01

How to Cite

LEWIS, J. R. (2010). The Science Canopy: Religion, Legitimacy, and the Charisma of Science. Temenos - Nordic Journal for the Study of Religion, 46(1). https://doi.org/10.33356/temenos.6939

Issue

Vol. 46 No. 1 (2010)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2010 Temenos - Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 Unported License.

Author's Guarantee

  • The Author acknowledges that the Work will be publicly accessible on the Internet and that such access will be free of charge for the readers.
  • The Author guarantees that the Work is her/his original work that has not been published before and cannot be construed as copying or plagiarism. Furthermore, the Author confirms that the Work contains no statement that is unlawful, defamatory or abusive or in any way infringes the rights of others.
  • The Author confirms that she/he has secured all written permissions needed for the reproduction in the Publication of any material created by a third party.

User Rights

Under the CC BY 4.0 license, the Author/s and users are free to:

  • Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially,
  • However, the Work must be attributed to the original Author and source of publication.

The license of the published metadata is Creative Commons CCO 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)

Author Rights

The Authors maintain the right to:

  • copyright, and other proprietary rights relating to the Work,
  • the right to use the substance of the Work in future own works,
  • the right to self-archiving/parallel publishing (publisher's PDF allowed).

Rights of Publisher

  • The Publisher reserves the right to make such editorial changes as may be necessary to make the Work suitable for publication in the publication, e.g. style of punctuation, spelling, headings and the like.
  • The Publisher will publish the Work if the editorial process is successfully completed and reserves the right not to proceed with publication for whatever reason.
  • The publication entitles the author to no royalties or other fees. This agreement will be governed by the laws of Finland.