Key Thinkers in the Sociology of Religion

by Richard K. Fenn

Overview

Key Thinkers in the Sociology of Religion takes a focused look at the foremost figures in the development of the field.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826499417
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/09/2009
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Richard K. Fenn is Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Christianity and Society, Princeton Theological Seminary, USA, and editor of the Blackwell Companion to Sociology of Religion (2001).

Table of Contents

Introduction Key Thinkers: Emile DurkheimSigmund FreudMax WeberTalcott ParsonsDavid MartinBrian WilsonPeter BergerNiklas LuhmannClifford GertzMaurice BlochCatherine BellBibliography

Editorial Reviews

"I doubt if there is another text on key thinkers in the sociology of religion which offers anything remotely like Richard Fenn's truly remarkable text. Of course he tells you what his chosen exemplars actually say but he organises his and their thoughts around a rich and profound exploration of a key concept: the sacred. He brings to bear on the theme of the sacred a lifetime's original reflection and an amazing range of reference in the history of religion. This is a major work of interpretation by a master written with grace and with clarity." - David Martin, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics, UK, and Fellow of the British Academy

"Much more than the sum of its parts, this book weaves together the work of the founding fathers of the sociology of religion with selected contemporary thinkers to offer the best descriptive analysis of 'the sacred' to have appeared in decades. Fenn has written not only a reliable textbook but a unified essay on the self approached through the elusive bond between individual and society" - Professor Douglas Davies, Durham University, UK

The book's strength is its sense of intellectual engagement, as Fenn showed me something about each of these thinkers that had not been seen before. In treating each of them seriously, in all their depth and relevance, he showed me both the limits and the possibilities of sociology as a way of engaging with both the sacred and the religious in late-modern life.--Sanford Lakoff

The book's strengthis its sense of intellectual engagement, as Fenn showed me something about eachof these thinkers that had not been seen before. In treating each of themseriously, in all their depth and relevance, he showed me both the limits andthe possibilities of sociology as a way of engaging with both the sacred andthe religious in late-modern life.--,

Reading this book is like attending a lecture course, in which the professor- deeply wise- engaged the thinkers he reviews in ways that stretch them beyond their accustomed bounds... Fern's chapter on Peter Berger is masterful... the book's strength is its sense of intellectual engagement.--Sociology of Religion, volume 72, no. 2

From the Publisher