Sociology of Religion

The liberation of the human mind has never been furthered by dunderheads; it has been furthered by gay fellows who heaved dead cats into sanctuaries and then went roistering down the highways of the world, proving to all men that doubt, after all, was safe - that the god in the sanctuary was finite in his power and hence a fraud. -Henry Louis Mencken	Decency is veiled from sight; indecency is exposed to view. Scenes of evil attract packed audiences; good words scaredly find any listeners. It is as if purity should provoke a blush, and corruption give ground for pride. But where else should this happen but in devils' temples, in the resorts of delusion? -St.Augustine	If we take in our hand any volume of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance, let us ask, does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames, for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion. -David Hume
I can understand the concept of God creating and sustaining everything: the rivers and the mountains; the plants and the trees; the birds and the animals. But I fail to understand that God's purpose of putting humans in their midst. - vpr

Since its inception, presumably dated in the classical period of Durkheim and Weber, the sociology of religion has been fascinated by the phenomenon of secularization. This term, of course, has been endlessly debated, modified and occasionally repudiated. But for most purposes it could be defined quite simply as a process in which religion diminishes in importance both in society and in the consciousness of individuals. And most sociologists looking at this phenomenon have shared the view that secularization is the direct result of modernization - Peter L. Berger

Religious groups enjoy an organizational and systemic link to other conduits of power in a society (government, education, mass media), and make observance a necessary component of prestige.

In this context it is understandable that every U.S. President since Eisenhower has attended church, and most have self-identified as born-again Christians.

If God really existed, it would be necessary to abolish him.- Mikhail Bakunin, God and the State (1882), in seeming response to Voltaire's "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."

The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity (disposition to believe on weak or insufficient grounds) is a cheap and dangerous quality. -George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) in Preface to Androcles and the Lion

The foundation for belief or religion is fear and hope, the fear of here and hereafter, not love or reason. The rich fear the prospect of losing what they have and the poor hope to gain. - VPR

The Council of Societies for the Study of Religion is a federation of learned societies in the field of religious studies. Individuals do not join the Council directly, but apply for membership in one of the Council's constituent societies. The societies seek to further scholarship, research, and teaching in their particular areas and concern themselves with the needs and interests of their members. - cssr.org/about.htm

American Religion Data Archive - free resource available to researchers interested in quantitative data on American religion. - arda.tm/

Center presents its projects in this area. Find an introduction to the field, lists of scientists, articles, research resources, and a bibliography.

General American Religion Resources (Northwest Missouri State Unversity) abacon.com/sociology/soclinks/religion.html

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences: Institute of Sociology - Department of Sociology of Religion and Everyday Life

The mechanisms by which religions propagate and maintain themselves within society

Sociology and Religion: Which theory would say... Religion dulls people to the reality of class conflict... Religion should be studied for the things it does for the cohesion of society... qvctc.commnet.edu/brian/soc/tsld042.htm

Sociological aspects of religion and the impact of religion on the individual and society, cohesion and control, commonly shared beliefs and rituals, the sacred, and the supernatural. sociology.about.com/cs/religion

Taoism Information Page (Including classic texts) - clas.ufl.edu/users/gthursby/taoism/

The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture is a web-based, peer-reviewed journal committed to the academic exploration, analysis and interpretation, from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, of the interrelations and interactions between religion and religious expression and popular culture, broadly defined as the products of contemporary mass culture. - usask.ca/relst/jrpc/index.html

Rationalist & Humanist - Serving New Zealand's non-religious community since 1927 - nzarh.org.nz/journal/winter01.htm

Skeptical Inquirer - For a fast-growing number of discriminating persons, the Skeptical Inquirer is a welcome breath of fresh air, separating fact from myth in the flood of occultism and pseudoscience on the scene today. This dynamic magazine, published by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, tells you what the scientific community knows about claims of the paranormal, as opposed to the sensationalism often presented by the press, television, and movies. - csicop.org/si/

The Journal of Religion & Society has been established to promote the cross-disciplinary study of religion and its diverse social dimensions through the publication of research articles, essays and opinions, review articles, and book reviews. - moses.creighton.edu/JRS/toc/About.html

The Journal of Religious Gerontology is an interdisciplinary, interfaith, professional journal in which the needs, aspirations, and resources of elder constituencies come clearly into focus. Combining practical innovation and scholarly insight, this journal offers timely information and probing articles on such subjects as spiritual insight, ethical issues, grief and death, long-term care for the elderly, support systems for families of the elderly, retirement, counseling, and more. - haworthpressinc.com/store/product.asp?sku=J078

Journal of Religion and Health - Sponsored by Blanton-Peale Institute which joins the perspectus of psychology and religion, Journal of Religion and Health explores the most contemporary modes of religious thought with particular emphasis on their relevance to current medical and psychological research. Using an eclectic approach to the study of human values, health, and emotional welfare, this journal provides a scholarly forum for the discussion of topical themes on both a theoretical and practical level. - kluweronline.com/issn/0022-4197

Zygon - Journal of Religion & Science - focuses on the questions of meaning and values that challenge individual and social existence today. It brings together the best thinking of the day from the physical, biological, and social sciences with ideas from philosophy, theology, and religious studies. The journal's contributors seek to keep united what may often become disconnected: values with knowledge, goodness with truth, religion with science. - blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0591-2385&site=1

Religion - Provides a regular survey of current work in major and specific areas of enquiry. Its swift reviewing and crossing of traditional frontiers to encompass such related studies as psychology and archaeology combine to make it a valued point of reference for a growing readership. Already well known for its strong and established interest in comparative and pioneering work, the journal has expanded its coverage of the varied disciplines that together embrace the history, structure, and general theory of religions of the world. - Imprint: Academic Press - elsevier.com/locate/inca/622940/

Hibbert Journal
Journal for Feminist Studies in Religion
Journal of Dharma 1253-7222
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Journal of the Oriental Institute
Missiology
Missionalia
Philosophy East and West
Philosophy of Religion
Religion & Theology / Religie & Teologie
Religious Studies
Religious Studies Review
Review of Religious Research
Revue Biblique
Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa
Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses
Studies in World Christianity
Syzygy, Journal of Alternative Religion and Culture
The Bulletin of Christian Institutes of Islamic Studies
The Journal of Religious Thought
The Way
Wereld en Zending
Zeitschrift f�r Missionswissenschaft und Religionswissenschaft
Zeitschrift f�r Mission
Zeitschrift f�r Religions- und Geistesgeschichte
Zygon, Journal of Religion and Science
Buddhist-Christian Studies
Dialog der Religionen
Dialogue
Discernment (New Series) An Ecumenical Journal of Inter-Religious Encounter
Exchange
Hindu-Christian Studies Bulletin
Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations
Islamochristiana
Studies in Interreligious Dialogue
The Toronto Journal of Interfaith Dialogue
World Faiths Encounter
World Faiths Insight
Cahiers des Religions Africaines
Ching Feng
Japanese Religions
Journal of Prehistoric Religion
Kernos . Revue internationale et pluridisciplinaire de religion grecque antique
Religieuze Bewegingen in Nederland
Religion Today; A Journal of Contemporary Religions
Religiones Latinoamericanas
Studies in Central and East Asian Religions
Tribal Religions

(BUDDHISM)

Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies
Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies
The Buddhist
The Eastern Buddhist
The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies

(JUDAISM)

Hamizrah Hehadash
Jewish History
Journal for the Study of Judaism
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
Journal of Jewish Studies
Judaica
Revue de Qumran
Revue des �tudes Juives
Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament
Sefarad
Tarbiz
The Jewish Quarterly Review
Vetus Testamentum
Zeitschrift f�r die Alttestamentlliche Wissenschaft

(CHRISTIANITY)

Biblical Research
Biblische Zeitschrift
Bunyan Studies
Catholic Biblical Quarterly
International Review of Mission
Japan Christian Quarterly
Journal of Church and State
Journal of Ecumenical Studies
Journal of Empirical Theology
Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift
Neue Zeitschrift f�r Missionswissenschaft
New Testament Studies
Novum Testamentum
Saeculum
The Ecumenical Review
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History
Theologia Orthodoxa
Zeitschrift f�r die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft

(ISLAM)

Al-Mushir
Al-Qantara
Der Islam
Die Welt des Islam
Hamdard Islamicus
Iqbal Review
Islam and the Modern Age
Islamic Culture
Islamic Law and Society
Islamic Studies
Journal of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs
Muqarnas
Revue des �tudes Islamiques
Studia Islamica
Studies in Islam
The Islamic Quarterly
The Muslim World

(VARIOUS SPECIFIC RELIGIONS)

The Journal of Bahai Studies
Tenri Journal of Religion

Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions
Chaos
DISKUS (on disk and on-line)
History of Religions
'Ilu. Revista de Ciencias de las Religiones
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion
Journal of Contemporary Religion
Journal of Religious History
Journal of Ritual Studies
Marburg Journal of Religion (on-line)
Religii Mira
Religion
Religionsvidenskabeligt Tidsskrift
Revue de l'Histoire des Religions
Shijie Zongjiao Ziliao
Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni
Studies in Comparative Religion
The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion
The Scottish Journal of Religious Studies
Visible Religion
Zongjiaoxue Yanjiu

Comparative Religion
Department: Department of Mathematics, Sciences and Humanities
http://www3.nu.edu/schools/SOAS/DOMSH/courses/PHL320syllabus.html

Course Description:
A survey of major world religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Also discusses contemporary religious movements and attitudes. May involve work in oral history.

Course Goals:
This course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of the different traditions of the major world religions and to address some of the major questions that concern humanity, such as, "Who am I?" "Where do I come from?" and "What am I here for?" Students explore their own religious traditions, and by doing so, better understand how their religious traditions differs from those of others. Students explore issues including, good and evil, faith, reason, intuition and experience, life death and afterlife, character, ethics, purpose.

Student Outcomes:
By the end of the course, students should be able to:

1. Understand the place of one's religious tradition in relation to the other religious traditions studied.

2. Understand how, in the Abrahamic tradition, personal identity is tied into beliefs about God.

3. Build tolerance for people of other religious traditions through understanding those traditions.

4. Understand how religious beliefs impact the different social systems of major cultures

5. Identify the different ways of understanding and experiencing the divine.

6. Evaluate theories and problems related to their historical, social, cultural perspective in the context of the society's particular religious tradition.

7. To understand how monotheism informs beliefs about individualism and free will.

8. Understand how the differences between a "personal" and an "impersonal" God inform understandings.

9. Understand how egoism (ensoulment) or conceiving of "no-soul" informs understandings of the world.

10. Understand the consequent emphasis of valuing the contributions of the members of societies as a whole in many of the eastern religions, in contrast to individualism in the west, because of varying religious perspectives.

Course Content:

1. Judaism and Monotheism, the nature of Yaweh, meaning, freedom, the chosen people, what it is to be Jewish.

2. Christianity and Jesus as revolutionary, exorcist, prophet, Son of God. The atonement and the resurrection.

3. Catholicism and theology, the trinity, the church as the body of Christ, the Sacraments.

4. Islam and the life of Mohammed, the five pillars, the nature of Allah, the problem of determinism.

5. Hinduism and The Bhagavad-Gita, The Vedas, The Upanishads, religion and the caste system, life as illusion, reincarnation, karma, the nature of Brahman.

6. Buddhism and Life of the Buddha Gotama, life as suffering, the Four Noble Truths, The Eightfold Path, nirvana, no soul, dependent origination, Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, Zen Buddhism.

7. Taoism and The Tao Te Ching, Philosophical Taoism, Religious Taoism, Meditative Taoism, wu wei (non-action), yin/yang, being, non-being.

Course Outline:
Material may be presented by region or theme. The following is an example of an outline based on theme

Unit 1: The Major Monotheistic Religions:
Module 1: Judaism
Module 2: Christianity
Module 3: Catholicism
Module 4: Islam

Unit Paper Due, Midterm

Unit 2: The Major Pantheistic and Non-theistic Religions
Module 1: Hinduism
Module 2: Buddhism
Module 3: Taoism
Module 4: Confucianism

Bibliography:

Ahmed, Akbar S. Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1988.

Blofeld, John. The Road to Immortality. Boston: Shambhala, 1985.

Bopp, Julie and Micheal Bopp, Twin Lakes, WI.: Lotus Light Publications, 1989.

Borg, Marcus. Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1994.

Buber, Martin. Meetings. La Salle: Open Court Publishing Company, 1973.

Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1949.

Chan, Wing-Tsit , Translater and Compiler. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1963.

Chuang Tsu: Inner Chapters. Trans. Gia-fu Feng and Jane English. New York: Vintage, 1974.

Comte, Fernand. Sacred Writings of World Religions. New York: Chambers Encyclopedia Guides, 1992.

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. The Evolving Self. New York: Harper Collins, 1993.

Dermenghem, Emile. Muhammad and the Islamic Tradition. Woodstock, N.Y.: Overlook Press, 1981.

Easwran, Eknath God Makes the Rivers Flow. Tomales: Nilgiri Press, 1991.

Eliade, Mircea. A History of Religious Ideas. 3 vols. Trans. Willard R. Trask. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978.

Evans-Wentz, W. Y., ed. The Tibetan Book of the Dead. 3rd ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1957.

Fedotov, G. P. The Russian Religious Mind. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1960.
.
Finegan, Jack. The Archaeology of World Religions: The Background of Primitivism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto, Islam, and Sikhism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952.

Guillaumont, A., Trans. The Gospel of Thomas. New York: Harper & Row, 1959.

Hall, Manly P. The Mystical Christ. Los Angeles: Philosophical Research Society, 1993.

Hanh, Thich Nhat. Living Buddha, Living Christ. New York: G.P. Putman, 1995.

Harner, Michael. The Way of the Shaman. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1990.

Hildegard of Bingen. Mystical Writings. New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1992.

James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature. 1902; New York: Modern Library, 1936.

Lingerman, Hal A. Life Streams - Meditation and Music, Wheaton, Micheal Lindfield, the Dance of Change (Ecoscience And Spirituality). New York: Arkana Press, 1986.

McDannell, Colleen & Bernhard Lang. Heaven: A History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988.

Moody, Raymond. Coming Back. New York: Bantam Books, 1992.

Newhouse, Flower A. The Drama of Incarnation. Escondido: The Christward Ministry, 1948.

Nigosian, Solomon. Islam: The Way of Submission. Great Britain: Crucible, 1987.

Osmen, Sarah Ann. Sacred Places. New York: St. Martin''s Press, 1990.

Palmquist, Stephan Biblical Theocracy. Hong Kong: China Philosophy Press, 1993.

Payne, Robert. The History of Islam. New York: Dorset Press, 1990.

Picard, Max. The World of Silence. South Bend: Gateway Editions, 1952.

Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli and Charles A Moore, Editors. A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1957.

Reps, Paul, and Nyogen Senzaki. Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings. New York: Anchor Books, 1961.

Robinson, James, Ed. Nag Hammadi Library. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1978.

Sparrow, G. Scott. I Am With You Always. New York: Bantam Books, 1995.

Stassinopoulos, Arianna. The Gods of Greece. New York: Harry Abrams Publishers, 1983.

Strong, James. Strong''s Concordance. New York: Abingdon Press, 1973.

Suzuki, Shunryu. Zen Mind, Beginner�€™s Mind. Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1970.

The Diamond Sutra and the Sutra of Hui-Neng. Trans. A. F. Price and Wong Mou-lam. Boston: Shambhala, 1990.

Tao Te Ching. Trans. Stephen Mitchell. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.

The Koran. Trans. N.J. Dawood. 5th rev. ed. New York: Penguin, 1990.

The Rig Veda: An Anthology. Trans. Wendy O�€™Flaherty. New York: Penguin, 1981.

The I Ching or Book of Changes. Trans. Richard Wilhelm and Cary F Baynes. New York: Princeton University Press, 1980.

Tzu, Lao. Tao Te Ching. Translated by Archie Bahm. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1971.

Soc. 2600-Sociology of Religion Dr. Lawrence McGarry

As a sociology course, unlike religion courses, no assumption can (or will) be made, or any conclusions drawn, concerning the validity of any religion, or of religion in general. However, we do investigate the reasonableness of religious belief. This is done in accord with a sociological approach, i.e., an analysis of the relationship between the beliefs (motivations for behavior)-secular and religious-coexisting in societal life, and how these can affect one another. Following this, we explore the affect of societal secular ideas on the ideas of religions, and vice-versa. We concentrate on the former since this affect is little, if at all, generally known or considered.

GHIS 6806 Seminar on Globalization and Religion - Spring 2005. New School University. Jos� Casanova
The first part of the seminar will serve as a forum for the critical reading of theories of globalization and for a discussion of the main contemporary debates. Particular attention will be given to the role of religion in processes of globalization and antiglobalization. Topics critically examined will include fundamentalism; the world religions and the clash of civilizations; and universal human rights, cosmopolitanism, and the constitution of global imagined communities. The second and greater part of the seminar will be dedicated to the presentation and discussion of student papers and research projects on topics related to the seminar.