Contents
List of Tables
About the Author
Introduction to the Transaction Edition: Ideology, Social Constructionism, and the Sociology of Religion by
Howard Schneiderman
Preface to the English Edition
The Sociological Definition of Religion
Part I The Origins
1 The Historical-Philosophical Background
2 August Comte (1798-1857): The Universal Religion
3 Tocqueville (1805-1859): Religion and Democracy
4 Bergson (1859-1941): Religion and “Élan Vital”
5 The Contribution of Anthropology
Part II The Classics
1 Durkheim (1858-1917): Religious Forms
2 Weber (1864-1920): Universal Religions
3 Simmel (1858-1918): Religiosity and Religion
4 Freud (1856-1939): The Psychic Dimension of Religion
5 William James (1842-1910): Psychosocial Perspective
Part III The Contemporaries
1 Religion as Universal
2 The Macrosociological Approach
3 The Historical-Cultural Dynamics
4 The Frankfurt School and Religion
5 The New European Perspectives
6 The Socioanthropological Perspectives
Part IV Recent Developments
1 Secularization
2 Religious Pluralism
3 Robert Bellah (1927-2013): Civil Religion
4 North American Trends
5 The European Trends
6 Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998): Religion as Function
7 The New Religious Movements
Afterword
Bibliography
Author Index
General Index