ABSTRACT
Like R. N. Bellah, Guy E. Swanson considered ultimate values as key concepts for the sociological interpretation of religious facts. He elaborated on this topic especially in his book on primitive religiosity The Birth of Gods, following a trend of studies that had a long anthropological and also sociological tradition. On the basis of Durkheim's ideas, especially the concept of society as a producer of religious systems, Swanson assimilated structures to beliefs as if they were mirroring each other. Andrew M. Greeley insists especially on the experiential dimension of religion, and laments the excesses of theorization in sociology of religion, preferring empirical research, which he conducts himself with refined methodological instruments. He contests the use and abuse of the concept of secularization, which he calls a myth and defends the thesis of a persistence of religion. In Robertson's view, religion is actually an integral part of the process of globalization.
