| Peter L. Berger |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT PETER L. BERGER | |
| 1929 births | |
| living people | |
| american sociologists | |
| american lutheran theologians | |
| sociologists of religion | |
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BIOGRAPHY Berger was born in Vienna , Austria and later emigrated to the United States shortly after World War II . In 1949 he graduated from Wagner College with a Bachelor Of Arts . He continued his studies at the New School For Social Research in New York (M.A. in 1950 , Ph.D. in 1952 ). In 1955 and 1956 he worked at the Evangelische Akademie in Bad Boll , Germany . From 1956 to 1958 Berger was an assistant professor at the University Of North Carolina ; from 1958 to 1963 he was an associate professor at Hartford Theological Seminary . The next stations in his career were professorships at the New School for Social Research, Rutgers University , and Boston College . Since 1981 Berger has been University Professor of Sociology and Theology at Boston University , and since 1985 also director of the Institute For The Study Of Economic Culture , which transformed, a few years ago, into the Institute On Culture, Religion And World Affairs {Link without Title} . THOUGHT Berger is perhaps best known for his view that ) {Link without Title} . His conception of 's conception of Geist . {Link without Title} . Like most other sociologists of religion of his day, he mistakenly predicted the all-encompassing Secularization of the world. This he has quite humorously admitted on a number of occasions, concluding that the data in fact proves otherwise. By the late 1980s, Berger publicly recognized that Religion (both old and new) was not only still about, but in many cases was more vibrantly practiced than in periods in the past. While recognizing that religion is still going strong, he points to the fact that Pluralism and the Globalized world fundamentally change how the individual experiences faith, with the taken-for-granted character of religion often being replaced by an individual's search for a personal religious preference. Despite the rise of a "new paradigm" in the Sociology Of Religion , which draws upon insights from Rational Choice Theory in explaining the behavior of religious firms (churches) and consumers (individuals), Berger's thought has also shaped many influential figures in the field of sociology of religion today, including his colleague at Boston University Robert Hefner, former students Michael Plekhon and Nancy Ammerman, and protege Christopher Marsh, director of the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor University . WORKS The influential sociological works of Berger include:
Today he writes on the sociology of religion and capitalism:
HONOURS Berger is doctor ''honoris causa'' of Loyola University , Wagner College , the University Of Notre Dame , the University Of Geneva , and Munich University . He is an honorary member of many scientific associations. SEE ALSO REFERENCES
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