Scholars will,\u00a0undoubtedly, be discussing this historic day in Catholicism for years to come. While there is not a great deal of scholarship on the papacy by sociologists of religion, we’d be remiss as bloggers to not mention this historic moment.<\/p>\n
One of the most clear and insightful accounts I have seen thus far is “Can a Pope Resign?”<\/a> by Fr. Thomas J. Reese, SJ in The National Catholic Reporter.<\/p>\n I did quickly do some research to see if there had been any social scientific analysis of this papacy, and found just one recent piece “Benedict the Bifurcated: Secular and Sacred Framing of the Pope and Turkey”<\/a>\u00a0authored by Valenzano and Menegatos and published by the Journal of Media and Religion in 2008.<\/p>\n Feel free to react to the resignation or to note other insightful accounts in the comments.<\/p>\n Scholars will,\u00a0undoubtedly, be discussing this historic day in Catholicism for years to come. While there is not a great deal of scholarship on the papacy by sociologists of religion, we’d be remiss as bloggers to not mention this historic moment. … Continue reading <\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"