ABSTRACT
Sociology of Religion is a collection that seeks to explore the relationship between the structure and culture of religion and various elements of social life in the United States. This reader is an ideal standalone course text and can also serve as supplement to the text written by the same author team, Religion Matters (Routledge, 2010). Based on both classic and contemporary research in the sociology of religion, this new, third edition highlights a variety of research methods and theoretical approaches to studying the sociological elements of religion. It explores the ways in which religious values, beliefs and practices shape the world outside of church, synagogue, or mosque walls while simultaneously being shaped by the non-religious forces operating in that world.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
section Section I|134 pages
Changing Contexts
chapter Reading 2|10 pages
Changing American Congregations: Findings from the Third Wave of the National Congregations Study
chapter Reading 8|10 pages
Socioeconomic Inequality in the American Religious System: An Update and Assessment
chapter Reading 10|12 pages
The Impact of International Migration on Home Churches: The Mar Thoma Syrian Christian Church in India
chapter Reading 11|11 pages
Redefining the Boundaries of Belonging: The Institutional Character of Transnational Religious Life
section Section II|74 pages
Evolving Content
chapter Reading 13|13 pages
Spiritual but Not Religious?: Beyond Binary Choices in the Study of Religion
chapter Reading 18|13 pages
Sensing God: Bodily Manifestations and Their Interpretation in Pentecostal Rituals and Everyday Life
section Section III|133 pages
Patterning Diversity
chapter Reading 19|13 pages
At Ease with Our Own Kind: Worship Practices and Class Segregation in American Religion
chapter Reading 21|13 pages
Practical Divine Influence: Socioeconomic Status and Belief in the Prosperity Gospel
chapter Reading 22|18 pages
Religion, Race, and Discrimination: A Field Experiment of How American Churches Welcome Newcomers
chapter Reading 24|9 pages
The Gender Pray Gap: Wage Labor and the Religiosity of High-Earning Women and Men
chapter Reading 25|11 pages
Sexual Encounters and Manhood Acts: Evangelicals, Latter-Day Saints, and Religious Masculinities
chapter Reading 28|21 pages
“We Are God’s Children, Y’all”: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Lesbian- and Gay-Affirming Congregations
section Section IV|82 pages
Seeing Consequences