by Tomas Lindblom, Study of Religion at Åbo Akademi
Sociology of religion is a sub-discipline within the field of sociology. While sociology is interested in human behavior in relation to society, sociology of religion studies the interplay between society and religion. In this blogpost I contemplate over the possible consequences of abandoning an anthropocentric worldview on society as a man-made structure and embracing a posthuman perspective on the world as a man-modified structure. By adopting ideas from both classical and contemporary sociologists’ understanding of religion and structure, I ponder upon the question whether religion is reenchanting the world through environmentalism.
It is understandable that blending sociology with posthumanism might be seen as a controversial task, especially if the focus is not the merging of man and machine. In the book What is posthumanism (2010) Cary Wolfe explains that the term posthumanism reemerged in the field of humanities in the 1990s but can be traced back to the 1960s and Foucault’s post-humanity speculations and even beyond. Nevertheless, posthumanism here is to be understood as a postmodern world where anthropocentricism gives way for a posthuman playing field where both human and animal agencies modify the world and each other.
One World, One Community. One religion? Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
One often recurring subject in contemporary sociology is the debate over structural agency versus individual agency. The British sociologist Anthony Giddens proposes that neither of them reign supreme. Both have according to him agency over each other. Few would disagree with that, but when trying to explain how the agency should be divided between them one is often met with criticism for overstating the individual agency or overemphasizing the structural agency.
Here I would like to pitch the idea of viewing the world as the only structure and animals (including humans) as the modifiers of that structure. Since the postmodern and posthuman world is global and shared by both animals and humans, we all share the same structure or society if you will. Neither create societies or animal kingdoms, but modify one world in their own way. The leap from anthropocentrism to posthumanism reshapes our understanding of structure and is in my opinion vital for battling climate change and the mistreatment of animals. That includes the human animal too.
Much like the classical sociologist Max Weber and his famous disenchantment of the world quote, Anthony Giddens too acknowledges the secularization and rationalization of society and rational thought as problematic to religious society. While Giddens linked religion with tradition, Weber thought about it as religious measures to give hope for a better life and since the goal is rational, a secular and rational world is inevitable. There is a nuance however, Giddens believe religion might make a comeback even within a modern society. The reason for this is that modern society creates new moral problems that cause anxiety within humanity especially in the face of death.
Climate is Changing! In what way are you? Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Climate change certainly can give rise to both anxiety and existential worries, even though going as far as portraying environmentalism as a religion would be quite drastic. As a matter of fact, it seems that environmentalism is becoming part of already existing religions. For example, the organization GreenFaith, that was founded in 1992, gathers religious people from all corners of the world to save the planet. According to their website their mission is portrayed in the following manner.
“Because the Earth and all people are sacred and at risk, GreenFaith is building a worldwide, multi-faith climate and environmental movement. Together our members create communities to transform ourselves, our spiritual institutions, and society to protect the planet and create a compassionate, loving and just world.”
Greenfaith aims to both transform their religious members, as well as their spiritual institutions. The United Nations environmental programme is also fond of the idea of using spirituality and religious concepts to fight climate change. On their website we find a list of quotes both from Abrahamitic religions and other world religions canonical texts highlighting the environmental ideology in the scriptures.
In conclusion, a posthuman global perspective has the potential to break down earlier imagined anthropocentric structures into a one world structure. Recognizing the agency of humans, animals and material things speak in favor of environmentalist views, causing the anthropocentric elements within religions to adapt. Does this mean that the world is being re-enchanted by religions through environmental means? – Not necessarily, but incorporating religious beliefs in environmentalism makes me wonder what the world might look like if climate-change takes a turn for the worse.
Further reading:
Furseth, I., Repstad, P. & Furseth, I. 2016. An introduction to the sociology of religion: Classical and contemporary perspectives. London: Routledge.
Wolfe, C. 2010. What is posthumanism? Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
GreenFaith (2025) About Us https://greenfaith.org/about-us/ (referred: 04.04.2025)
United Nations (2024) Religions and environmental protection Religions and environmental protection | UNEP – UN Environment Programme (referred: 04.04.2025)