The wide religiosity of the Romanian students

• Author: Daniela Sorea
• Position: Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 105-114

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 9 (58) No. 2 - 2016

THE WIDE RELIGIOSITY OF THE

ROMANIAN STUDENTS

Daniela SOREA1

Abstract: The contemporary Western religiosity is marked by the effects of

secularization. The results of a qualitative research having as subjects

sociology students from Brasov indicate their explicit statements of belonging

to Christianity and their acceptance of the effectiveness of pagan practices in

evil eye treatment. Conjugation of these positionings requires a broader

understanding of religiosity than in the case of dogmatic Christianity. The

faith options for the students are tributary to the pre-Christian representation

of the world, perennial in the Romanian cultural space.

Key words: religiosity, Christianity, pagan practices, students.

1. Introduction

From sociology, approaching the contemporary religiousness associates references to

secularisation and atheism, to the multiple facets of spirituality (from perennial occultism,

to new spiritual movements), as well as to reinvigoration of Christianity. In researching

them, the Weberian exigency for objectivity, inherent to any sociological approach,

requires further dealing with some sensitivities. These are the sensitivities afferent to the

entire field of the sociology of religion, and mainly target the research subjects’ reticence

to let themselves studied, in terms of their religious beliefs and behaviours, the control

upon the interferences between the researchers’ personal belief options and the research

object, as well as the awareness of the Christian origin of the main concepts wielded by

sociologists, in the concerned field.

Under the sign of these exigencies, this work highlights the dimensions of

contemporary religiosity, as outlined in a few significant, recent theoretical stand-takings.

This work discusses the adequacy of the theoretical model configured by these stand-

takings, to the Romanian students’ profile of religiosity. This attempt enhances the results

of a qualitative research conducted at Transilvania University of Braşov, in October 2014.

2. Connotations of contemporary Western religiosity

2.1. Western process of secularisation

K. Dobbeleare (2011) regards secularisation as a process whereby the prevalent

religions systems come to be functionally perceived as equally ranked subsystems to

some others, whom they no longer dominate. Secularisation is supported by the

1 Transilvania University of Braşov, sorea.daniela@unitbv.ro