ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I present how critical realism may contribute to the sociology of religion. I conceptualize religious identity in terms of reflexivity, transcendence and agency, demonstrating that such an ontological approach corresponds well with the work of some classical authors and well-known concepts in the sociology of religion. Moreover, a discussion of the structural aspects of religiosity, and the processual approach to cultural change proposed by Margaret Archer, is included. My central purpose is not to repeat the most general assumptions of critical realism and morphogenesis: primarily my work is devoted to the exploration of religion. I guide my investigation carefully, avoiding ontological failures and considering both the subjective and structural properties in the religious phenomena. Based on some ontological assumptions postulated by critical realists, I want to transcend the approach in which religious identity is seen as representing either subjective or structural aspects of social life. I am searching for a new approach to religious identity from the perspective of agency and hope also to elaborate a particular vision of religious identity which will allow me to study Polish Catholicism in a systematic and methodical way.
