Handbook of the Sociology of Religion

"Michele Dillon has done sociology of religion a great service by bringing together many of its most distinguished and promising practitioners to address the field at large according to their special competencies and interests. She also succeeded in getting many of them to take each other's papers into account, so that the whole book hangs together....I cannot resist the observation that Dillon's roster of contributors is an all-star cast....In view of the overall breadth and general excellence of the chapters and could serve as the main text for an upper division or graduate survey course in sociology of religion. It will certainly serve as a resource for the preparation of lectures, not to mention as a stimulus to research. Nonetheless, at $30, the book is a bargain. It should be in the library of everyone who reads this review." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

"Editor Michele Dillon has pulled off quite an impressive feat: soliciting, assembling, and publishing 28 original essays by some of the top sociologists of religion in the United States....The majority of chapters are plainly articulated, informed by sound theory, and bolstered by compelling data....the list of contributors is the closest thing to a 'who's who` of contemporary sociologists of religion to appear in one text that I am aware of. For sociologists of religion, this is easily the best single compendium of research and theory to come out in years, and a hearty testament to the vitality and dynamism of the state of our crucial discipline." Phil Zuckerman, Pitzer College, Contemporary Sociology

This Handbook showcases research and thinking in the sociology of religion. The contributors, all active writers and researchers in the area, provide original chapters focusing on select aspects of their own engagement with the field. Aimed at students and scholars who want to know more about the sociology of religion, this handbook also provides a resource for sociologists in general by integrating broader questions of sociology (e.g. demography, ethnicity, life course, inequality, political sociology) into the analysis of religion. Broadly inclusive of traditional research topics (modernity, secularization, politics) as well as newer interests (feminism, spirituality, faith based community action), this handbook illustrates the validity of diverse theoretical perspectives and research designs to understanding the multi-layered nature of religion as a sociological phenomenon.