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  • An Introduction to the Sociology of Religion: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives by I. Furseth and P. Repstad
  • Slavica Jakelić
An Introduction to the Sociology of Religion: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives. By I. Furseth and P. Repstad. Ashgate, 2006. 241pages. $29.95.

With a noble goal to be accessible to an average undergraduate student, the introductory volumes to any field often end up being too basic in content and bland in conceptual framework. Staying on the level of fundamentals, most authors of such volumes reveal precious little of their own views about the theories, methods, and debates of the field they discuss. As a result, the reading of “Introductions to…” is usually a rather painful task for anyone, but particularly for the more educated reader.

Inger Furseth and Pål Repstad’s Introduction to the Sociology of Religion saves us from all of the above. In addition to providing a clear overview of the sociological study of religion, past and present, this book also has a purpose of its own and brings a refreshingly brisk sense of where the authors stand in the midst of different voices in the field of the sociology of religion. These are noteworthy accomplishments, not least because Furseth and Repstad wrote the book with a modest goal in mind: to make it accessible for “anyone with an interest in religion or the social sciences” and useful “for upper-level undergraduate students within the social sciences, religious studies and theology” or graduate students in humanities who are just encountering the world of the sociology of religion (Foreword). [End Page 1003]

The book is indeed an excellent introduction to the sociology of religion for undergraduate sociology and religious studies majors, but it is also more than that. For example, its authors give a simple and readable overview of the relationship between the sociology of religion and theology, church history, psychology, social anthropology, history of religions, and religious studies. The authors, furthermore, manage to address some intricate questions of normativity in sociology and the sociology of religion in a straightforward and uncomplicated way. All of that will be appreciated by many undergraduate students. Yet, Furseth and Repstad also manage to speak to a different kind of audience. Their concluding chapter is a case in point: the authors here offer a look at the relationship between sociology, theology, and religious faith and suggest why normative aspects of sociological thinking are vital for both their possibilities and limitations. Such insights should be read by even some senior members of the sociological academic community.

For those in religious studies, students, and the nonsociologist scholars alike, the chapter on “Religion as a Phenomenon” will be particularly interesting as it deals with the problem of the very definition of religion. The chapter is certainly worth the attention of religious studies readers because it addresses an issue still contentious in their field. But, even more importantly, the chapter is interesting because the authors both observe and interpret the ideas of the usual suspects—Edward Tylor, R R. Marrett, Rudolf Otto, Emile Durkheim—and do so from an explicitly sociological point of view. The outcome is an intelligent and comprehensible discussion of the reasons why defining religion is difficult but nonetheless still important to do.

The most important contribution of the book, however, lies in its conceptual axis. The authors put forward quite diverse chapters on the classics and contemporary classics of sociological thought, and on the contemporary themes such as “Religion in public spheres,” “Individual religiosity,” “Religious organizations and movements,” “Religion, social unity, and conflict,” “Race, ethnicity, and religion,” and “Religion and gender.” Nevertheless, the book functions as a whole because it is organized around one point—the relationship between “individual” and “society,” or the manner in which the sociologists’ understanding of this relationship shapes their views of religion.

The categories of “individual” and “society” have been constitutive of sociology as a discipline from its beginnings and have formed the core of sociological thinking and debates articulated in the actor- and structure-oriented theories. Consequently, when Furseth and Repstad present the sociological treatment of religion within the individual-society framework, they provide a reader with two layers of information: about sociology in general...

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