亚力克希·托克维尔(Alexis de Tocqueville)在1830-1831年游历美国时,也发出了同样的感想:“基督教所维系的对于人们灵魂的影响,世界上没有哪个国家比美国更大”。[9]19世纪中叶,瑞士神学家飞利浦·沙佛(Philip Schaff)观察到,出席纽约路德会教堂的人数比柏林高得多。[10]
第一,在宗教与个人的关系上,宗教是精神健康甚至身体健康的一个可靠根源。斯达克引用了很多实证研究说明,宗教对于健康有正面作用,而且不论其年龄、性别、种族、民族和时间。在老年学领域,关于宗教和老龄化关系的研究急速增加,以至出现了《宗教老年学期刊》(Journal of Religious Gerontology)。有很多研究表明,“宗教参与性较强的老年人比不太参与宗教的老年人倾向于享受更好的身体和精神健康”。[16]
[1] Berger, Peter The Sacred Canopy. New York: Doubleday.1969: 107-108.
[2] Berger, Peter. “ A Bleak Outlook Is Seen for Religion”, New York Times, April 25,1968:3.
[3] Berger, Peter.“ Epistemological Modesty: An Interview with Peter Berger”. Christian Century 114(Octob er 29.) 1997:974.
[4] Warner, R. Stephen:“Work in Progress towards a New Paradigm for the Sociological Study of Religion in the United States.” American Journal of Sociology 98, 1993:1044
[6]此书原名为Acts of Faith——Explaining the Human Side of Religion,由加州大学出版社2000年出版。
[7]Crawley, A. E. The Tree of Life: A Study of Religion. London: Hutchinson. 1905:8.
[8]Cobbett, William. Journal of a Year’s Residence in the United States of America. 1818:229 Reprint. London: Centaur, 1964.
[9] Tocqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America. 2 vols. New York: Vintage Books. [1835-1839] 1956:314.
[10] Schaff, Philip. America: A Sketch of Its Political, Social, and Religious Character. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.1961 [1855]:91.
[11] Finke, Roger, and Rodney Stark. The Churching of America, 1776-1990: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. 1992
[12] Greeley, Andrew M. Religion as Poetry. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers. 1995: 93.
[14] Wallace, Anthony F. C. Religion: An Anthropological View. New York: Random House. 1966:265.
[15]Bruce, Steve. Religion and Modernization. Oxford: Clarendon Press.1992:170.
[16]Krause, Neal. “Religion, Aging, and Health: Current Status and Future Prospects.” Journal of Gerontology 52B(6)1997:S291
[17] Wuthnow, Robert. “Science and the Sacred”. In. The Sacred in a Secular Age, edited by Phillip E. Hammond, 1985:197. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
[18] Torrey, Charles C. The Commercial-Theological Terms in the Koran. Leyden: E.J. Brill. 1892:8,12
[19] Powell,Milton B., ed., The Voluntary Church: Religious Life, 1740-1860,Seen Though the Eyes of European Visitors. New York: Macmillan. 1967: 77-80.