Promotional Information

First book to offer a comparison of the popular, or folk, forms of religion around the world

About the Author

Stephen Sharot is Professor of Sociology at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and has been Visiting Associate Professor of Sociology at Chapel Hill, and at SUNY Stony Brook. He is the author of Judaism: A Sociology and Messianism, Mysticism, and Magic: A Sociological Analysis of Jewish Religious Movements (winner of the Kenneth B. Smilen/Present Tense Literary Award) and coauthor of Ethnicity, Religion, and Class in Israeli Society.

Reviews

"Sharot makes a substantial contribution to the maturation of the comparative sociology of religion. A distinctive feature of the book is its accent on popular religion, a much studied phenomenon these days." Martin Marty "The many books on the world's religions typically emphasize doctrine (religion "in the air"), while sociology of religion books typically emphasize behavior (religion "on the ground"). Stephen Sharot does both in this masterful study, the product of many years of research. His book should have great classroom potential as well as a prominent place on religion scholars' bookshelves."--Phillip Hammond, D. Mackenzie Brown Professor of Religious Studies, University of California Santa Barbara "This book belongs in libraries of all sorts. It strikes me as a paradigm of analytical comprehension that should set a standard for the field." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion "This is a commendably ambitious project...The coverage is excellent." Journal of Religion "In his fine study Sharot succeeds in discerning a specific trajectory of popular religions. He has assembled a tremendous amount of evidence and arguments in favor of the independent existence and development of popular religion, effective still in the secularized world." History of Religions "He is adept at articulating overarching patterns of similarity and differences, and furnishes a much-needed synthesis of recent scholarship concerning many of the major religious traditions." Contemporary Sociology