Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures
Introduction
Part I: Theoretical Reflections
1: Reflections on the Concept of Modernity
2: Reflections on the Concept of Religion
3: Key Questions and Methodological Preliminaries
Part II: Religious Decline in Western Europe?
4: Between Dechurchification and Religious Persistence: West Germany
5: A Stronghold of Catholicism: Italy
6: Religion in Free Fall: The Netherlands
Part III: Religious Renaissance in Eastern Europe?
7: Russia: Return of Religion
8: East Germany: No Signs of a Turnaround
9: Poland: Unexpected Vitality after the Fall of Communism
Part IV: Religious Change outside Europe: Three Case Studies
10: Religion and Religiosity in the US: A Contrast Case to Europe?
11: South Korea: The Simultaneity of Modernization and Christianization
12: Charismatic, Pentecostal, and Evangelical Movements in Europe, the US and Brazil
Part V: Systematic Perspectives
13: Macro- and Microsociological Explanations for Differences between Countries
14: Patterns and Determinants of Religious Change in the Modern Period: Towards a Multi-Paradigmatic Theory
Bibliography

About the Author

Detlef Pollack is Professor of Sociology of Religion at Münster University. He is speaker of the Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics in Modern und Premodern Cultures" at Münster University. His research focuses on religious change in Western and Eastern Europe and in the US and political culture in Eastern and Central East Europe. His publications include The Role of Religion in Modern Societies (co-edited with Daniel V. A. Olson;
Routledge, 2011) and Handbuch Religionssoziologie (Springer, 2017). Gergely Rosta was Research Fellow at Münster University from 2009 to 2017. He is currently Associate Professor in Sociology at the Pázmány Péter Catholic
University in Budapest. His research interests include religious change in Central and Eastern Europe, youth religiosity, and quantitative research methods.

Reviews

this book is a jolting "must-read" for all students of religion, especially Religious Studies scholars. The broad lesson gleaned from Pollack and Rosta's multi-layered study is that while we can and should subject theories of secularization to critical examination, findings on the ground keep suggesting that modernity brings with it great challenges to the relevance and vitality of religious life.
*Shifa Amina Noor, Reading Religion*