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After Autonomy. Relationships between Art and Religion in Nineteenth Century Germany and their Implications for Differentiation Theory

  • Uta Karstein
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Historicizing Secular-Religious Demarcations
This chapter is in the book Historicizing Secular-Religious Demarcations

Abstract

On the basis of recent findings for the German-speaking world of the nineteenth century, from the fields of sociology of religion and art history, the following article argues in favor of a cultural-sociological perspective, and of a clarification of the existing vocabulary of differentiation theory. In particular, Niklas Luhmann’s sociology (of art) will be (re‐)examined. The article supports a theoretical revaluation, emphasizing the program level of social systems, such that guiding ideas are to be considered both dynamizing and stabilizing factors for the question of what is to be understood as art in concrete terms. Three influential guiding ideas, and their empirical manifestations in the field of art, are then presented in more detail: “art as a commodity,” “art as an instrument,” and “autonomous art.” The influence these guiding ideas had on the relationship between art and religion in the nineteenth century, and on how religious actors positioned themselves in relation to them, is demonstrated empirically. This enables a clarification of where and how secularity was institutionalized in this context.

Abstract

On the basis of recent findings for the German-speaking world of the nineteenth century, from the fields of sociology of religion and art history, the following article argues in favor of a cultural-sociological perspective, and of a clarification of the existing vocabulary of differentiation theory. In particular, Niklas Luhmann’s sociology (of art) will be (re‐)examined. The article supports a theoretical revaluation, emphasizing the program level of social systems, such that guiding ideas are to be considered both dynamizing and stabilizing factors for the question of what is to be understood as art in concrete terms. Three influential guiding ideas, and their empirical manifestations in the field of art, are then presented in more detail: “art as a commodity,” “art as an instrument,” and “autonomous art.” The influence these guiding ideas had on the relationship between art and religion in the nineteenth century, and on how religious actors positioned themselves in relation to them, is demonstrated empirically. This enables a clarification of where and how secularity was institutionalized in this context.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I Premodern Boundary Negotiations: Self-Distinctions of the Religious Sphere
  5. Dynamics of Differentiation from Charlemagne to Dante. Medieval Christian Debates on Religion and Politics beyond the Model of a “Separation of Church and State” 15
  6. Secularity and Differentiation in Late Antiquity. The Case of Augustine of Hippo 51
  7. Monasticism, Differentiation and Secularization: Talcott Parsons and the Catholic ‘Monastic Movement’ in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries 79
  8. Negotiating the Boundaries between Religion and Science in the Abbasid Empire 105
  9. Religious and Secular in Premodern Islam and Christianity 125
  10. Part II Colonial Boundaries: Religion, Culture, and “Middle Things”
  11. King, Messiah, and Culture in the Making of Zulu Secularity 157
  12. The “Middle Things”. Differentiating between the Religious Spheres in Indian and African Mission Contexts in the Nineteenth Century 189
  13. Beyond Non-Catholic/Catholic (Luong/Giao) Separation: Missionary Expansion and Divergent Manifestations of Religious Differentiation in Colonial Vietnam 213
  14. Part III Competing Epistemes: Lessons Learned From Asia
  15. The Autonomy of Science vis-a-vis Religion: Amitav Ghosh’s The Calcutta Chromosome as a Theoretical Counter-Narrative to the Western Master Narrative of Functional Differentiation 239
  16. Global Translations: Conceptualizing Differentiations Between ‘Religion’ and ‘Science’ in Thailand and the Philippines in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 271
  17. Demarcating Religion: On the Varying Ways of Conceptualizing Social Differentiation in Japanese History 301
  18. Rethinking the Place of Religion and Worldviews in Differentiation Theory: A Historical Comparison between Chinese and European Societies 329
  19. Part IV Programmatic Proposals: Differentiation Theory and the Sociology of Religion and Secularity
  20. The Fragmentation of the Sacred: An Alternative Narrative of Western Modernity 359
  21. Rigid Differentiation Theory and Flexible Sociology of Religion? 379
  22. After Autonomy. Relationships between Art and Religion in Nineteenth Century Germany and their Implications for Differentiation Theory 407
  23. Beyond Normative Binaries: Neutral Zones as Precursors and Starting Points of Secularity 437
  24. The Authors 467
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111386645-016

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I Premodern Boundary Negotiations: Self-Distinctions of the Religious Sphere
  5. Dynamics of Differentiation from Charlemagne to Dante. Medieval Christian Debates on Religion and Politics beyond the Model of a “Separation of Church and State” 15
  6. Secularity and Differentiation in Late Antiquity. The Case of Augustine of Hippo 51
  7. Monasticism, Differentiation and Secularization: Talcott Parsons and the Catholic ‘Monastic Movement’ in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries 79
  8. Negotiating the Boundaries between Religion and Science in the Abbasid Empire 105
  9. Religious and Secular in Premodern Islam and Christianity 125
  10. Part II Colonial Boundaries: Religion, Culture, and “Middle Things”
  11. King, Messiah, and Culture in the Making of Zulu Secularity 157
  12. The “Middle Things”. Differentiating between the Religious Spheres in Indian and African Mission Contexts in the Nineteenth Century 189
  13. Beyond Non-Catholic/Catholic (Luong/Giao) Separation: Missionary Expansion and Divergent Manifestations of Religious Differentiation in Colonial Vietnam 213
  14. Part III Competing Epistemes: Lessons Learned From Asia
  15. The Autonomy of Science vis-a-vis Religion: Amitav Ghosh’s The Calcutta Chromosome as a Theoretical Counter-Narrative to the Western Master Narrative of Functional Differentiation 239
  16. Global Translations: Conceptualizing Differentiations Between ‘Religion’ and ‘Science’ in Thailand and the Philippines in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 271
  17. Demarcating Religion: On the Varying Ways of Conceptualizing Social Differentiation in Japanese History 301
  18. Rethinking the Place of Religion and Worldviews in Differentiation Theory: A Historical Comparison between Chinese and European Societies 329
  19. Part IV Programmatic Proposals: Differentiation Theory and the Sociology of Religion and Secularity
  20. The Fragmentation of the Sacred: An Alternative Narrative of Western Modernity 359
  21. Rigid Differentiation Theory and Flexible Sociology of Religion? 379
  22. After Autonomy. Relationships between Art and Religion in Nineteenth Century Germany and their Implications for Differentiation Theory 407
  23. Beyond Normative Binaries: Neutral Zones as Precursors and Starting Points of Secularity 437
  24. The Authors 467
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