The Christian sociological imagination : dominant-subordinate magisteria in sociological ambivalence

• Main Author: Lee, Tommy Kevin Ke Wei
• Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/55817
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Using a phenomenological sociology approach and sociological ambivalence as theoretical framework, Christian undergraduates, graduate students and alumni in disciplines in the natural and social sciences in which there is a degree of perceived incongruence between academic knowledge and religious beliefs are examined to develop a Dominant-Subordinate Magisteria (DOSMA) model, which accounts for the possible scenarios social actors undertake to resolve the apparent tensions between religious and academic identities, so as to find coherence to the Self. The research illustrates the varying intellectual and emotional coping mechanisms of the subjects and found the degree of personal clarity of religious beliefs (i.e. the ability to distinguish among core beliefs, secondary beliefs and church teachings) and the degree of academic knowledge to be two likely indicators for response selection on the DOSMA.