CONTENTS
List ofTables
Preface to the English Edition
The Sociological Definition of Religion
PART I – THE ORIGINS
1. The Historical-Philosophical Background
2. The Universal Religion of Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
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’s (1858-1917) Religious Forms
2. Weber’s (1864-1920) Universal Religions
3. Religiosity and Religion in Simmel (1858-1918)
4. Freud (1856-1939): The Psychic Dimension of Religion
5- Religion in William James’s (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 Civil Religion in Robert Bellah (1927-)
4 North American Trends
5 The European Trends
6 Religion as Function in the Work of Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998)
7 The New Religious Movements
Afterword
Bibliography
Author lndex
GeneraI lndex