Description:
Analyzes six major sociological approaches to religion's role in contemporary society
Sociologists have spent considerable effort analyzing religion's place in today's world, yet they have come to no consensus on what is happening to it. Depending on whom you consult, religion is either declining or becoming militantly conservative, is increasingly a matter of individual choice or is one of the few remaining sources of local community, is shaped by market forces or is increasingly international in scope. While there is evidence for each of these trends, no single story explains everything that is going on. Each presents a partial picture of an extremely complex reality. Rather than just presenting raw facts, What Is Happening to Religion? shows how each of these stories involves a leap of imagination that shapes sociologists' interpretations of those facts and thus shapes their theories about religions' future.
Brief description: James V. Spickard is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Redlands and author of Alternative Sociologies of Religion, among other books.
Review Quotes: "Spickard achieves something rare: comprehensiveness without sacrificing readability. Integrating canonical and recent scholarship, he evaluates each major approach with critical maturity, showing where each succeeds and where it falls short. An honest, well-grounded reckoning that rewards students, scholars, and serious readers alike. Highly recommended."--Gerardo Martí, co-author of The Church Must Grow or Perish: Robert H. Schuller and the Business of American Christianity