Sociologija religije Hansa Mola: dosezi identitetske teorije religije / Hans Mol’s Sociology of Religion: The Scope of the Identity Theory of Religion

Abstract

The subject of this paper is the Hans Mol’s sociology of religion, which is also known as the “identity theory of religion”. The aim of the paper is to show Hans Mol’s contributions based on the analysis and critical assumptions of the identity theory of religion. In order to shed light on contemporary social constellations that necessarily imply the presence of religion in the “public sphere”, the paper proves the plausibility and scientific usability of the identity theory of religion in the analysis of religion and its connection with identity, politics and culture. In accordance with the saying, the paper shows that the sociology of religion by Hans Mol in toto should be observed and understood in its own interpretative range. In this sense, identity theory of religion does not represent just one innovative platform for understanding religion as “sacralization of identity”; it must be understood in the context of its methodological and paradigmatic significance for the sociology of religion as a whole. For this reason, the paper highlights the theoretical coordinates of Hans Mol’s sociology of religion, which is found at the intersection of sociological, anthropological and secularization theories of religion.