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The purpose of the Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion (ARSR) is to investigate the “new” role of religion in the contemporary world, which is characterized by cultural pluralism and religious individualism.
Religion is changing in present society, and social research is more attentive to its complexity. Simultaneously, new methods are developed in social research. This volume points to the potentials of methodological innovation in the social scientific study of religion, as a source of inspiration for future research.
The interest of the book lies in the diversity of the geographical areas, religions, and online religious presence which nevertheless have a lot of points in common. Non-interactive websites, social networks, chat lines, and so on come together to provide a good panorama of the online opportunities to religions nowadays.
Atheism is increasing, but as a phenomenon continues to be at the fringe of current research. Atheist groups and ideologies represent a wide range of attitudes, behaviour and ways of acting towards religion. The lack of a clear definition of what being atheist (or an unbeliever) means today invites us to study the issue in greater depth. This volume represents a first attempt at understanding and scrutinizing atheism, offering both a global perspective as well as specific case studies.
This volume explores Chinese religions on a global stage so as to challenge the traditional dichotomy of the western global and the Chinese local, and to add a new perspective for understanding religious modernity globally. Contributors from four different continents aim at applying a social scientific approach to systematically researching the globalization of Chinese religions.
What is the future of religion given the responses of young people? What impact do existing religious forms have on youth? What kind of spirituality and religion are young people creating for themselves? Religion and Youth presents an accessible guide to the key issues in the study of youth and religion, including methodological perspectives. It provides a key teaching text in these areas for undergraduates, and a book of rigorous scholarship for postgraduates, academics and practitioners. Offering the first comprehensive international perspective on the sociology of youth and religion, this book reveals key geographical and organisational variables as well as the complexities of the engagement between youth and religion. The book is divided into six parts organised around central themes: Generation X and their legacy; The Big Picture - surveys of belief and practice in the USA, UK and Australia; Expression - how young people construct and live out their religion and spirituality; Identity - the role of religion in shaping young people's sense of self and social belonging; Transmission - passing on the faith (or not); Researching Youth Religion - debates, issues and techniques in researching young people's religion and spirituality. James A. Beckford writes the Foreword and Linda Woodhead the Epilogue.
In Pentecostals and the Body researchers examine the role of religious experience, ritual, emotion, and embodiment among Pentecostals with a wide range of cross cultural examples.
Dealing with a single theme in each volume, the ARSR intends to tackle the relationship between the practices and the dynamics of everyday life and the different religions and spiritualities, within the framework of the post-secular society.
The main goal of the second issue of the Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion, devoted entirely to religion and politics, is precisely to question the sense of a reconstruction of the mutual and simultaneous relations between these two spheres of social life. What does this process mean and where is it taking us?
Prayer is a valuable focus for understanding how people interpret themselves, others and the world in which they live. It is a phenomenon which seems to be characteristic not only of participants in every religion, but also men and women who do not identify with traditional religions.
