The Restoration of Power to the Sociology of Religion *

In the past few years the notion of power in the sociology of religion has shown signs of emerging from an eclipse which had begun to take place in the 1960s. More precisely, a variety of notions of power is becoming apparent both in the everyday practice of religion in the Western world and in sociologists’ interpretations of that practice. The first part of this chapter will chart the eclipse of power; the second will scan the signs of its emergence from obscurity; and the conclusions will discuss the broad implications of this trajectory for the sociology of religion.