The SAGE Handbook of the Sociology of Religion

James A Beckford, Jay Demerath, James A Beckford, Jay Demerath

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9781412911955
• eBook ISBN: 9781446206522
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

"In their introduction to this Handbook, the editors affirm: ?Many sociologists have come to realise that it makes no sense now to omit religion from the repertoire of social scientific explanations of social life?. I wholeheartedly agree. I also suggest that this wide-ranging set of essays should become a starting-point for such enquiries. Each chapter is clear, comprehensive and well-structured - making the Handbook a real asset for all those engaged in the field."
- Grace Davie, University of Exeter

"Serious social scientists who care about making sense of the world can no longer ignore the fact that religious beliefs and practices are an important part of this world... This Handbook is a valuable resource for specialists and amateurs alike. The editors have done an exceptionally fine job of incorporating topics that illuminate the range and diversity of religion and its continuing significance throughout the world." 
- Robert Wuthnow, Princeton University

At a time when religions are increasingly affecting, and affected by, life beyond the narrowly sacred sphere, religion everywhere seems to be caught up in change and conflict. In the midst of this contention and confusion, the sociology of religion provides a rich source of understanding and explanation. This Handbook presents an unprecedentedly comprehensive assessment of the field, both where it has been and where it is headed. Like its many distinguished contributors, its topics and their coverage are truly global in their reach.

The Handbook?s 35 chapters are organized into eight sections: basic theories and debates; methods of studying religion; social forms and experiences of religion; issues of power and control in religious organizations; religion and politics; individual religious behaviour in social context; religion, self-identity and the life-course; and case studies of China, Eastern Europe, Israel, Japan, and Mexico.

Each chapter establishes benchmarks for the state of sociological thinking about religion in the 21st century and provides a rich bibliography for pursuing its subject further. Overall, the Handbook stretches the field conceptually, methodologically, comparatively, and historically. An indispensable source of guidance and insight for both students and scholars.

Choice ?Outstanding Academic Title? 2009

Table of contents

• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• About the Contributors
• Introduction
• PART I Theories and Concepts
• 1 The Classical Tradition in Sociology of Religion
• 2 Assessing Modernities: From ‘Pre-’ to ‘Post-’ to ‘Ultra-’
• 3 Secularization and Sacralization Deconstructed and Reconstructed
• 4 Rational Choice and Religious Economies
• 5 Globalization and Glocalization
• PART II Methods of Studying Religion
• 6 Micro Qualitative Approaches to the Sociology of Religion: Phenomenologies, Interviews, Narratives, and Ethnographies
• 7 Surveys of Behaviour, Beliefs and Affiliation: Micro-Quantitative
• 8 History, Methodologies, and the Study of Religion
• PART III Social Forms and Experiences of Religion
• 9 Congregations Resurgent
• 10 Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism: The Politics of Global Popular Protestantism
• 11 From ‘Cults’ to New Religious Movements: Coherence, Definition, and Conceptual Framing in the Study of New Religious Movements
• 12 New Age Religion and Irreligion
• 13 Civil Religion in America and in Global Context
• PART IV Issues of Power and Control in Religious Organisations
• 14 Keepers of the Tradition: Religious Professionals and their Careers
• 15 Orders and Schisms on the Sacred Periphery
• 16 Faith-Based Initiatives
• 17 Religion on the Internet
• PART V Religion and Politics
• 18 Religion and the State; Violence and Human Rights
• 19 Religion and Regulation
• 20 Religion in Rebellion, Resistance, and Social Movements
• 21 Religious Affiliations, Political Preferences, and Ideological Alignments
• PART VI Individual Religious Behaviour in Social Context
• 22 Cross-National Comparisons of Individual Religiosity
• 23 Rethinking the Relationship Between Ethnicity and Religion
• 24 Religious Socialization among American Youth: How Faith Shapes Parents, Children, and Adolescents
• 25 Age, Generation, and Cohort in American Religion and Spirituality
• PART VII Religion, Self-Identity and the Life-Course
• 26 Religion and Identity
• 27 Gender Differences in Religious Practice and Significance
• 28 Embodiment, Emotion and Religious Experience: Religion, Culture and the Charismatic Body
• 29 Religion as a Factor in Life and Death through the Life-Course
• PART VIII Case Studies from Around the World
• 30 Oligopoly Dynamics: Official Religions in China
• 31 The Religious Landscape of Central and Eastern Europe after Communism
• 32 Judaism in Israel: Public Religion, Neo-Traditionalism, Messianism, and Ethno-Religious Conflict
• 33 State Shinto and Religion in Post-War Japan
• 34 Mexico: A Mirror for the Sociology of Religion
• Index