Theories of Religion: A Reader

The aim of this new book is to provide the student with an anthology of key texts on the broad range of social scientific theories of religion. The texts included come from a wide range of approaches to religion - unified both by the questions that they are addressing and the broadly social scientific perspective. The disciplines covered include: Anthropology, Phenomenology, Psychology and Sociology. We have also included some key texts relating to the Feminist approach to and critique of religion. The initial section of the book includes some of the foundational texts relating to the study of religion, for example material by Marx, Freud and Durkheim. The remaining sections look at more recent discussions of the issues from the different disciplinary perspectives. The book also includes introductory discussions that raise both the key issues developed in a particular discipline and also address the disciplinary approaches from a more critical stance. Each reading is introduced by a paragraph giving biographical details of the author. Theories of Religion: A Reader can be used either alongside James Thrower's Religion: The Classical Theories and Seth Kunin's Religion: The Modern Theories or as a stand alone reader for courses in theories of religion.