Eco-ethica

Volume 10, 2022

Ethics, Politics, and the Idea of Nature

Reappraising Weber’s Disenchantment Narrative
(Second) Thoughts about the Re-Sacralization of Nature and Matter

In this essay, I will reflect on Max Weber’s idea of disenchantment in relation to the material turn within contemporary religious studies. In the first part, I return to the two most famous texts in which Weber uses the concept, with particular attention to the historical context in which these texts were penned. In the following part, I discuss some of the contemporary efforts to engage critically with the disenchantment narrative, including the endeavor to recover the material dimensions purportedly marginalized by major strands of Western religiosity as well as the scholarly reflection on religion. Finally, I return to Weber and investigate the lasting value of his work while also raising some critical questions about the ways in which “nature” and “matter” are reinvited in some contemporary efforts to dismantle the disenchantment narrative.