ABSTRACT
Over recent decades, sociologists have taken interest in critical realism (CR) as an approach to sociological theorizing and research. This chapter explores the intersections of sociology, CR, and Christianity. It begins with a non-exhaustive introduction to CR, including some of the major associations, networks, journals, and sociologists commending it, followed by some of its most central and distinctive philosophical proposals. The chapter then moves on to reflect on CR's relationship to Christianity so far as it is pertinent to sociology and sociologists. In particular, this chapter outlines what CR has to do with Christianity by specifying multiple points of contact between CR and consensual Christian thought relating to ontology, epistemology, and normativity. The goal is not to offer anything like a Christian defense of CR. Rather, the goal of this chapter is to demonstrate some of the resonances between CR and Christian thought or, in other words, to show why a sociologist steeped in Christian thought would likely find CR an intuitive and compelling set of philosophical commitments with which to undergird their work. It, thereby, also provides some broad context for understanding ongoing debates about CR in sociology.
