ABSTRACT
It is readily apparent that it would be beyond the scope of a volume of this nature to develop a methodology for the study of religion even in its broadest outlines. An acquaintance with the historical development of the various religions and cults which are reviewed from the sociologist’s point of view must be presupposed. The increased sensitivity to the sociologically relevant implications of religion has given depth to philosophical, historical, and psychological studies. Scholars have begun to concentrate on the investigation of the social background of the various historical religions, on the social implications of their message, and on the social changes resulting from their activities. Indeed, the pendulum may be said to have swung too far. The concept of religion stresses the objective character of religious experience in contrast to psychological theories of its purely subjective nature which are so commonly held among anthropologists.
