The Power of the Sacred

Abstract Hans Joas’s 2017 book, translated into English in 2021 as The Power of the Sacred: An Alternative to the History of Disenchantment, presents a powerful critique of Max Weber’s famous notion of the “disenchantment of the world” and its legacy for the sociology of religion. By subjecting the narratives and concepts in Weber’s theorizing to rigorous analysis, Joas seeks to emancipate sociology from “dangerous nouns of process.” The editors of Max Weber at 100 engaged Joas in a wide-ranging dialogue about the book’s argument; the utility of concepts such as disenchantment, rationalization, and value-sphere differentiation; the role of ideal types in social science research; charisma and polytheism; and the enduring value of Weber’s comparative-historical scholarship. The conversation elucidates the challenges that confront Weberian sociology as well as the resources that continue to make Weber’s scholarship relevant in the twenty-first century.