ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the actuality of his magnum opus as well as Durkheim himself as an inspiring figure for those beginning to study sociology. It suggests to couple Durkheim’s seminal study with another great ‘classic’ of Western civilization. The Forms was the first work of Durkheim to be translated into English, only three years after its original publication; ironically, it suffered a period of relative benign neglect by the American sociological profession which lasted until well after the Second World War. As a last prefatory observation, within a year of publication of The Forms, Freud published an equally radical interpretation of religion with his Totem and Taboo. Social scientists who reviewed The Forms shortly after its publication were not sociologists working on contemporary society but rather anthropologists dealing with pre-industrial society. Certainly part of the repeated appeal of Revelation has been endeavors to decipher its symbolism in the light of one’s contemporary situation.
