Description

Although many people today assume that religion is merely the outward expression of an inner experience (as in the common distinction between being "religious" as opposed to "spiritual"), there is a long tradition of scholarship that examines the experiences, beliefs, behaviors, and institutions defined as "religious" as being the produces of prior social causes.

As an introduction to this field of inquiry, REL 213 surveys several of the more influential early theorists who, over the past one hundred years, have contributed to the effort to develop a thoroughly social theory of religion.

After orienting students to general issues in sociology, the course works through primary readings from "classic" scholars who have studied the social function of religion: Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Sigmund Freud. The course ends by examining three current topics in U.S. sociology of religion: civil religion, the secularization thesis, and theories to account for religious choice in a pluralistic society.

Syllabus

Spring 2007 (PDF)

About Online Readings

The readings below are posted in the "secrure" server as PDF documents--requiring your Bama ID/Password and Adobe Acrobat Reader to open these files; this is a free download, and it is already installed on campus computers. If you have forgotten your ID, but know your Campus Wide ID (CWID), go here.

Readings

All students who are new to the academic study of religion must begin the course by reading Studying Religion: An Introduction.

The following online readings appear in the order in which they will be read in the course.

William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, "Circumscription of the Topic" (PDF)

Class handout on James

Charles Taylor, Varieties of Religion Today, "James: Varieties" (PDF)

Class handout on Taylor

Raymond Williams, Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, "Experience" (PDF)

Joan Wallach Scott, "The Evidence of Experience"

Robert Sharf, "Experience"

Marx on Religion, "Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right" (PDF)

Marx on Religion, "The Social Principles of Christianity" (PDF)

Marx on Religion, "Concerning Feuerbach" (PDF)

Class handout on Marx

Bruce Lincoln "Reflections on Myth and Society" (PDF)

Sigmund Freud, "Obsessive Acts and Religious Practices" (PDF)

Class handout on Freud (PDF)

Emile Durkheim, Suicide: A Study in Sociology, Book 2, Chapter 2, "Egoistic Suicide" (PDF)

Emile Durkheim, Durkheim on Religion, "Religious Sentiment at the Present Time" (PDF)

Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, "Definition of Religious Phenomena and of Religion" (PDF)

Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, "Conclusion" (PDF)

Class handout on Durkheim (PDF)

From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, "The Social Psychology of the World Religions" (PDF)

Max Weber on Capitalism, Bureaucracy, and Religion: Hindu Religion, "The Nature of Modern Capitalism" (PDF)

From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, "The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism" (PDF)

Jean Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, Book IV Chapter 8, "The Civil Religion" (PDF)

Robert Bellah, Beyond Belief, "Civil Religion" (PDF)

Robert Bellah, Varieties of Civil Religion, "Religion and the Legitimation of the American Republic" (PDF)

Steve Bruce, "Choice: Origins and Consequences"

Rodney Stark, "Bringing Theory Back In"

Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge, "Networks of Faith: Interpersonal Bonds and Recruitment to Cults and Sects"

Laurence Iannaccone, "Rational Choice: Framework for the Scientific Study of Religion"

Steve Bruce, "Rational Choice Theory"