23rd June, 2008

Peter L. Berger, professor of College of Arts and Sciences and School of Theology in Boston University and Director of Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs was conferred honorary professor by Renmin University of China on 29^th May, 2008.

Prof. Feng Jun, Vice President of Renmin and Dean of School of Philosophy, the renowned philosopher Prof. Fang Litian,Director of Institute of Buddhism and Religious Theory Research, Prof. Zhang Fenglei, Deputy Dean of School of Philosophy attended the ceremony.

Then Prof. Berger gave a lecture entitled “the sociology of religion: methods and issues” to about 400 students and faculties from the most notable higher education institutes in China.

Born in Austria, Berger later immigrated to the United States shortly after World War II. He previously taught at Rutgers University, and at Boston College and Since 1981 Berger has been University Professor of Sociology and Theology at Boston University. Prof. Berger has written numerous books on sociological theory, the sociology of religion, and Third World development, which have been translated into dozens of foreign languages. In 1992, Professor Berger was awarded the Mannes Sperber Prize, presented by the Austrian government for significant contributions to culture. Since 1985, Professor Berger has been Director of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs. The institute is a research center committed to systematic study of relationships between economic development and sociocultural change in different parts of the world.

Berger develops a sociological theory: 'Society as Objective Reality and as Subjective Reality'. His analysis of society as subjective reality describes the process by which an individual's conception of reality is produced by his or her interaction with social structures. His books The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion (1967), A Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural (1970) and Many Globalizations: Cultural Diversity in the Contemporary World (1974) (with Samuel P. Huntington) are considered serving as the fundamental initiation for the developemt of the Chinese sociology of religion.