Faith without Dogma: Place of Religion in Postmodern Societies

We live in a time of high Church membership, but low Church attendance. Franco Ferrarotti, arguably the most important sociologist of religion alive, captures the source of this paradox In the title of his new book, Faith without Dogma. For it is belief that propels membership, while the absence of dogma results in a reticence to accept hierarchical direction from above or beyond.

Basing much of his analysis on the postwar struggles within Roman Catholicism, Ferrarotti views the demand for r...