Sociology of Religion

A Rodney Stark Reader

by Rodney Stark

Edited by Dedong Wei and Zhifeng Zhong

Foreword by Paul Froese

Published by: Baylor University Press

Imprint: Baylor University Press

Sales Date: 2015-07-31

Paperback
ISBN 9781602589728
648 Pages

$74.99

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ISBN 9781481304597
648 Pages

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Description
Contents
Authors
Praise

For the last five decades, Rodney Stark has been one of sociology’s most prolific and important scholars of religion. The theoretical depth, the scientific rigor, and the clarity of style manifested in Stark’s oeuvre--over 30 books and 140 articles--have made his work the standard texts. Stark’s research career encompasses a wide spectrum of the necessary topics in sociology of religion. He has applied groundbreaking theory and method to issues of secularization, religion and society, religious movements, social theory, and the history of religion.

Sociology of Religion: A Rodney Stark Reader mirrors Stark’s influential career by highlighting these very topics. In this anthology, Stark’s significant articles are not only, for the first time, collected together but also clearly organized according to the thematic trajectory of Stark’s carefully developed theory of religion. This volume is the essential reader for any scholar, teacher, or student encountering the work of one of this century’s most compelling sociologists.

Introduction

Section I: THEORY AND METHODOLOGY
1. A Taxonomy of Religious Experience
2. A Theory of Revelations
3. Micro Foundations of Religion
4. Religious Effects
5. Putting an End to Ancestor Worship
6. Discovering Data on Religion

Section II: SECULARIZATION
7. Secularization, Revival, and Cult Formation
8. Secularization, Revival, and Experimentation
9. A Supply-Side Reinterpretation of the "Secularization" of Europe
10. Secularization, R.I.P.

Section III: RELIGION AND SOCIETY
11. Religion and Conformity
12. Religion and the Moral Order
13. Physiology and Faith
14. Upper Class Asceticism
15. Conversion to Latin American Protestantism and the Case for Religious Motivation

Section IV: RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT
16. Church and Sect
17. Cult Formation
18. Networks of Faith
19. Rebellion, Repressive Regimes, and Religious Movements
20. Why Religious Movements Succeed or Fail

Section V: SOCIAL THEORY AND HISTORY
21. Why "Mainline" Denominations Decline
22. One True God
23. Extracting Social Scientific Models from Mormon History
24. God, Ritual, and Social Science
25. Cities of God
26. Revelation, Cultural Evolution, and Discovering God
27. God’s Battalions
28. The Triumph of Christianity

Rodney Stark is Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University and Co-Director of the Institute of Studies of Religion.

Dedong Wei is Professor of Religious Studies, Deputy Dean of the School of Philosophy, and Director of International Center for Buddhist Studies at Renmin University of China.

Zhifeng Zhong is Research Fellow at the National Survey and Research Center and Advanced Institute for the Studies of Religion at Renmin University of China.

This reader wonderfully displays both the breadth and brilliance of Rodney Stark's research. For new scholars, it offers an engaging introduction to Stark's vast trove of research; for research veterans, it is a fun, awe inspiring tour of a remarkable research career.
~Roger Finke, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies, the Pennsylvania State University and Director, the Association of Religion Data Archives

Rodney Stark is a major force to be reckoned with in the sociology of religion. In this book, a wide variety of Stark’s key intellectual contributions are brought together between two covers for readers interested in an introduction to his theory and analysis. These selections provide readers with a very good exposure to Stark’s oeuvre.
~Christian Smith, Wm. R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology, University of Notre Dame

A Rodney Stark Reader is perhaps the definitive collection of sociology’s well-known contrarian. Here is a thorough anthology of Stark’s most influential and seminal essays, articles, and book chapters.
~Benjamin Crace, Nova Religio