Key Thinkers in the Sociology of Religion

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Key Thinkers in the Sociology of Religion takes a focused look at the foremost figures in the development of the field. From the groundbreaking work of Max Weber, right up to that of contemporary writers such as Peter Berger and Niklas Luhmann, this volume is an essential companion for the student of sociology of religion.
Charting the development of theory in this area, each chapter looks at the life and work of an individual theorist, building to a picture of the field as it is today. Richard Fenn's book provides a route to a rounded understanding of the field, through the thought that defined it.

Reviews

"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
"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
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
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. -- Sociology of Religion

Author Bio

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).