ABSTRACT
This chapter places the welfare and religion debate in a European perspective. The focus is specific rather than general: it addresses the European question by introducing a recently completed comparative project in which the author took part. ‘Welfare and Religion in a European Perspective’, or WREP for short, was based at the Uppsala Religion and Society Research Centre; the fieldwork took place between 2003 and 2006.1
The chapter has three sections. The first sets out the parameters of WREP, noting that it concentrates on the historic churches of Europe and their formative role in the creation of different welfare regimes; it does not include religious minorities. The second section develops the theoretical perspective adopted by the project. It does so by looking at the contributions of two key thinkers: Gøsta Esping-Andersen and David Martin. Esping-Andersen’s work provides a touchstone for the understanding of welfare regimes; Martin’s work is equally well known in the sociology of religion. Seldom, however, are the two bodies of thought brought together, a fact which impoverishes the debate in both fields.
