Martin, David (b. 1929)

David Alfred Martin is an emeritus professor of sociology at the London School of Economics and an adjunct professor at Liverpool Hope University. He is the author of about 20 books and 300 articles on a wide variety of subjects, including the relation between religion and politics and the rise of Pentecostalism, but is probably best known for his writings on secularization.

Martin was born in London in 1929. He attended Sheen Grammar School, spent his 2 years of compulsory National Service in the Non-Combatant Corps and obtained a diploma in education with distinction from the Methodist Westminster College of Education. He then earned his living as a primary school teacher from 1952 until 1959, when, having undertaken private study for an External London University degree, he gained a first-class honors in sociology. This led to his being awarded a postgraduate scholarship, which, together with a year's assistant lectureship at Sheffield University, followed by an appointment as a lecturer at the London School of Economics (LSE), enabled him to study the history and sociology of pacifism under the supervision of Donald MacRae at the LSE. The resulting PhD was published in 1965. Martin remained at the LSE, becoming a professor of sociology in 1971, until taking early retirement in 1989 and has since held various posts as visiting professor at universities in England and the United States.

Martin's questioning of the secularization thesis gained much attention in the mid-1960s, when he [Page 749]suggested that the concept of secularization was so laden with ideological distortions that it interfered with a proper examination of the complexities of religious reality and should, therefore, be erased from the sociological dictionary. However, rather than abandoning it, Martin spent much of the following decades employing the concept to illuminate those very complexities that lie in the different geographical, political, economic, cultural, and spiritual aspects of religious life. His work on the spread of Pentecostalism, especially in South America and Africa, has provided but one illustration of the ways in which contemporary religiosity continues to play a crucially significant role in the lives of both individuals and society.

Martin's strongly held belief in the importance of religious symbolism as an upholder of cultural tradition has led to accusations that his work is occasionally more theological than sociological. Others laud the richness of his distinctive and often poetic style. Born into a Methodist family, Martin practiced as a Methodist lay preacher for several years but became increasingly attracted to the Church of England and its heritage and stoutly defended the 1662 Book of Common Prayer in opposition to the introduction of modern liturgies. In 1984, he was ordained as a priest in the Church of England. He was elected a fellow of the British Academy in 2007.