ABSTRACT
Durkheim’s sociology of religion can hardly be considered a ‘neglected area’ in the study of his thought. It is a concern of sections or chapters in every major study of Durkheim’s life and work (LaCapra 1972:245-91; Lukes 1972:237-44, 450-84), a favorite topic in the journalistic literature on the history of the social sciences (Isambert 1976; Jones 1977; 1981; 1986), and a central focus for edited volumes and monographs on Durkheimian sociology (Pickering 1975; 1984). Moreover, while these discussions frequently disagree on the precise nature, origin and/or significance of Durkheim’s ideas on religion, there is virtual unanimity on one specific point-that is, that Durkheim was profoundly influenced by La Cité Antique (1864), the classic work on the religion of GrecoRoman antiquity written by Fustel de Coulanges, under whom Durkheim had studied at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in the early 1880s (Jones 1986: 621; LaCapra 1972:30, 197; Lukes 1972:60-3; Pickering 1984:56-8). The ironic parallel to this unanimity is the relative absence, within the same literature, of any detailed discussion of their intellectual relationship.
