ABSTRACT

In this final chapter we propose to test some empirical hypotheses derived from theories of religious behaviour against the evidence which has been presented in previous chapters. Before we proceed, however, we should point out some of the limitations and constraints under which the tests will be conducted. One problem encountering all workers in this area is that some of the most provocative and insightful statements about religious behaviour are not actually taken from systematic theoretical presentations. There are very few systematic theories of religious behaviour, and many of those that exist are merely descriptive. As a result some interesting theoretical insights are hard to test empirically.