Table of Contents

PART ONE: THEORIES AND CONCEPTS
The Classical Tradition in Sociology of Religion - Randall Collins
Assessing Modernities - Kevin J. Christiano
From ′Pre-′ to ′Post-′ to ′Ultra-′
Secularisation and Sacralisation Deconstructed and Reconstructed - N. J. Demerath III
Rational Choice and Religious Economies - Frank J. Lechner
Globalization and Localization - Peter Beyer
PART TWO: METHODS OF STUDYING RELIGION
Micro Qualitative Approaches to the Sociology of Religion - James V. Spickard
Phenomenologies, Interviews, Narratives, and Ethnographies
Surveys of Behaviour, Beliefs and Affiliation - David Voas
Micro-quantitative
History, Methodologies and the Study of Religion - John R. Hall
PART THREE: SOCIAL FORMS AND EXPERIENCES OF RELIGION
Congregations Resurgent - N. J. Demerath III & Arthur E Farnsley II
Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism - Paul Freston
The Politics of Global Popular Protestantism
From ′Cults′ to New Religious Movements - Thomas Robbins & Phillip Charles Lucas
Coherence, Definition and Conceptual Framing in the Study of New Religious Movements
New Age Religion and Irreligion - William Sims Bainbridge
Civil Religion in America and in Global Context - Marcela Cristi & Lorne L. Dawson
PART FOUR: ISSUES OF POWER AND CONTROL IN RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS
Keepers of the Tradition - Paula Nesbitt
Religious Professionals and their Careers
Orders and Schisms on the Sacred Periphery - Patricia Wittberg
Faith-based Initiatives - Arthur E. Farnsley II
Religion on the Internet - Douglas E. Cowan
PART FIVE: RELIGION AND POLITICS
Religion and the State - N. J. Demerath III
Violence and Human Rights
Religion and Regulation - J A Beckford & J T Richardson
Religion in Rebellion, Resistance and Social Movements - S E Nepstad and R H Williams
Religious Affiliations, Political Preferences, and Ideological Alignments - Laura R. Olson
PART SIX: INDIVIDUAL RELIGIOUS BEHAVIOUR IN SOCIAL CONTEXT
Cross-national Comparisons of Individual Religiosity - Pierre Bréchon
Rethinking the Relationship Between Ethnicity and Religion - Peter Kivisto
Religious Socialization among American Youth - John P. Bartkowski
How Faith Shapes Parents, Children, and Adolescents
Age, Generation and Cohort in American Religion and Spirituality - Michele Dillon
PART SEVEN: RELIGION, SELF-IDENTITY AND THE LIFE-COURSE
Religion and Identity - Arthur L. Greil & Lynn Davidman
Gender Differences in Religious Practice and Significance - Linda Woodhead
Embodiment, Emotion and Religious Experience - Phillip A. Mellor
Religion, Culture and the Charismatic Body
Religion as a Factor in Life and Death Through the Life-course - Stephen J. Hunt
PART EIGHT: CASE STUDIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Oligopoly Dynamics - Fenggang Yang
Official Religions in China
The Religious Landscape of Central and Eastern Europe After Communism - Irena Borowik
Judaism in Israel - Stephen Sharot
Public Religion, Neo-traditionalism, Messianism and Ethno-Religious Conflict
State Shinto and Religion in Post-war Japan - Susumu Shimazono
Mexico - Roberto J. Blancarte
A Mirror For the Sociology of Religion

Reviews

"The handbook achieves an admirable synthesis of important efforts and will be particularly helpful as a means to orient beginning students in the sociology of religion."
*CHOICE*