ABSTRACT
The most outstanding ‘sociological’ theorist and one who has exercised an enormous influence on the sociology of religion is Emile Durkheim. Some of his ideas and aspects of his approach were influenced by those of the earlier but rather less well-known W. Robertson Smith in his study of ancient Semitic religion in Lectures on the Religion of the Semites published in 1889. Before examining the views of Durkheim himself, a brief exposition of those of Robertson Smith will serve to set the background to Durkheim’s contribution.
