This is thinking in public, a program dedicated to intelligent conversation about front-line

theological and cultural issues with the people who are shaping them.

I'm Albert Mower, your host and president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville,

Kentucky.

What is the fate of belief in the modern world?

That is one of the most important questions

we can address, and we need thinkers who can help us

by means of their research and writing

to understand what is taking place all around us.

And for that matter, also to be able to look to the future.

Professor Grace Davy began her sociological career as she studied at the University of Exeter.

She followed that with a doctorate at the London School of Economics and since then she has become one of the most influential

researchers in the area of religion, modernity, and secularization.

She served as a professor in the Department of Sociology at Exeter, where she's also served as director of the University's Center for European Studies.

She is also now involved in a major research project concerning the future of religion in the Nordic countries.

Professor Grace Davy, welcome to thinking in public.

I'm very pleased to be with you.

Your work has been often cited, and anyone with a concern for the church not only in Great

Britain or Europe, but also in North America

is probably increasingly familiar with some of the categories that you have offered us

in order to think about these things even if not directly impacted by your

work.

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