ABSTRACT
A framework for analysing contemporary lived religion is developed in this chapter, suggesting its links with other social phenomena, delineating the social field in which religion and society are intertwined, specifying the levels at which analysis needs to be undertaken and identifying the links between them. The social field has personal, social and organisational dimensions, which need to be analysed at several levels: small scale and local, denominational, national and international. To understand the role of religion in society, four aspects of the religious domain need to be analysed: discourses and beliefs, practices relating to ritual and ethics, the characteristics of religious communities and the nature and dynamics of organisational arrangements, all of which vary between the religious traditions. Five dimensions of religious bodies’ internal organisation and external links are identified as potentially significant, informing the subsequent analysis: the degree of institutionalisation and bureaucratisation, patterns of authority and decision-making, the nature of leadership, the source and scale of resources (including land, property and revenue) and regulatory arrangements. Research on social movements informs the analysis of whether religion is an obstacle to social change or can promote it. A brief final section identifies some of the methodological implications of the framework.
