Readings for Comprehensive Exam in Sociology of Religion – Department of Sociology, University of Notre Dame (2007)

à In addition to whatever specific readings graduate students engage for their own personal research interests, there is a core set of readings with which sociologists of religion should be familiar in order to claim professional competence and as background to eventually teaching in the sociology of religion. The purpose of doctoral exams is to provide occasions for students to master the essential literatures of their fields of interest and research. Scholars inevitably differ somewhat on exactly what literature belongs on such core lists of readings. Listed below, however, are the readings which Notre Dame graduate students will be expected to master for their doctoral comprehensive exams in the sociology of religion.

à Among the core questions in the sociology of religion—which the readings below address in various ways and about which doctoral exams in sociology of religion will ask—are the following:

1. Subject: What is religion? Why are people religious? How is religion expressed in social terms and forms?

2. Methods: How can religion be studied sociologically? What are the strengths and weaknesses of different methodological approaches? What are the important issues in measuring religion?

3. Modernity: How does the historical transition from “pre-modern” to modern and postmodern society affect the strength and character of religion? Is modernity secularizing? Are there multiple modernities? What might that mean?

4. Participation and Communities: What social factors and processes influence individuals’ religious beliefs, commitments, practices, conversions, switching, etc. and the strength and character of religious communities, traditions, and subcultures?

5. Reproduction and Change: What influence does religion exert in maintaining and/or challenging established social practices and institutions?

à Readers tackling this list as a whole are suggested to read those references marked with asterisks (**) first, followed by the remainder, taken in thematic groupings.

Ammerman, Nancy. 1997. Congregation and Community. Rutgers.

Ammerman, Nancy. 1997. “Golden Rule Christianity,” pp. 196-216 in David Hall (ed.), Lived Religion in America. Princeton.

Becker, Penny E. 1999. Congregations in Conflict. Cambridge.

**Bell, Daniel. 1980. “The Return of the Sacred?” The Winding Passage. Basic Books (Ch. 17).

**Bellah, Robert. 1967. “Civil Religion in America.” Daedalus. 96 (Winter). Pp. 1-21.

**Bellah, Robert. 1970. “Between Religion and Social Science” and “Appendix: the Systematic Study of Religion.” In Bellah, Beyond Belief. Harper and Row.

Bellah, Robert et al. 1985. Habits of the Heart. California. (Chapters 1-6, 9-10)

Benson, Peter, et al. 1993. “The Faith Maturity Scale.” Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion. Vol. 5. Pp. 1-26.

**Berger, Peter. 1969. The Sacred Canopy. Anchor.

**Berger, Peter L. 1996. “Secularism in Retreat.” The National Interest. (Winter).

**Bruce, Steve. 2002. God is Dead. New York: Blackwell.

Burdick, John. 1993. Looking for God in Brazil. California.

**Casanova, Jose. 1994. Public Religions in the Modern World. Chicago.

Chaves, Mark. 2003. Congregations in America. Harvard.

**Chaves, Mark. 1994. “Secularization as Declining Religious Authority.” Social Forces. March. 72(3): 749-775.

Chaves, Mark and Phil Gorski. 2001. “Religious Pluralism and Religious Participation.” Annual Review of Sociology. 27: 261‑281.

Chaves, Mark and Mary Ellen Konieczny, Kraig Beyerlein, and Emily Barman. 1999. “The National Congregations Study: Background, Methods, and Selected Findings.” JSSR. 38:4 (Dec): 458-476.

Davidman, Lynn. 1991. Tradition in a Rootless World. California.

**Davies, Grace. 1990. “Believing Without Belonging.” Social Compass. 37: 456-69.

**Durkheim, Emile. 1995 [1915]. Karen Fields, translator. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. Free Press.

Ebaugh, Helen Rose and Janet Chafetz. 2000. Religion and the New Immigrants. Walnut Creek: AltaMira. and/or R. Stephen Warner and Judith Wittner. 1998. Gatherings in Diaspora. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

**Eisenstadt, S.E. 2000. “Multiple Modernities.” Daedalus. Winter, 129(1): 1-29.

Ellison, Christopher and Jeffrey Levin. 1998. “The Religion-Health Connection.” Health Education and Behavior. 25(6): 700-720.

Emerson, Michael & Christian Smith. 2000. Divided by Faith. Oxford.

Epstein, Barbara. 1991. “The Religious Community: Mass Politics and Moral Witness.” In Epstein. Political Protest and Cultural Revolution. California. (Ch. 6).

Euben, Roxanne. 1999. Enemy in the Mirror: Islamic Fundamentalism and the Limits of Modern Rationalism: A Work of Comparative Political Theory. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Finke, Roger. 1989. “How the Upstart Sects Won America: 1776-1850.” JSSR. 28 (March): 27-44.

Finke, Roger. 1990. “Religious Deregulation: Origins and Consequences.” Journal of Church and State. 32 (Summer): 609-626.

**Finke, Roger and Rodney Stark. 1992. The Churching of America, 1776-1990. Rutgers.

**Fowler, Robert Booth. 1989. Unconventional Partners. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Gallagher, Sally K. and Christian Smith. 1999. “Symbolic Traditionalism and Pragmatic Egalitarianism.” Gender and Society. 13(2): 211-233.

**Geertz, Clifford. 1973. “Religion as a Cultural System.” in The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books.

Gorski, Phillip. 2000. “Historicizing the Secularization Debate.” ASR. 65:1 (February): 138-167.

Gorski, Phillip. 2003. The Disciplinary Revolution. Chicago: Chicago.

**Greeley, Andrew. 1972. Unsecular Man. Dell Publishing. Pp. 17-83.

Greeley, Andrew. 1989. Religious Change in America. Harvard.

Hadaway, Kirk, Penny Long Marler, and Mark Chaves. 1993. “What the Polls Don’t Show: A Closer Look at U.S. Church Attendance.” ASR. 58: 741-52. (Also see follow-up symposium in ASR, 63(1), Feb 1998).

Hatch, Nathan. 1989. The Democratization of American Christianity. New Haven: Yale. (Chs. 1-3, 8).

Hill, Peter & Ralph Wood (eds.). 1999. Measures of Religiosity. Birmingham: Religious Education Press (for general reference on measurement).

Hart, Stephen. 1996. What Does the Lord Require? Rutgers.

Hoge, Dean, Benton Johnson, and Donald A. Luidens. 1994. Vanishing Boundaries. W/JK Press.

Hunter, James. 1983. American Evangelicalism. Rutgers (pp. 3-19, 49-101).

Hunter, James. 1987. Evangelicalism—the Coming Generation. Chicago.

**Hunter, James. 1983. “The New Religions: Demoderization and the Protest Against Modernity.” In Bryan Wilson (ed.). The Social Impact of New Religious Movements. Rose of Sharon Press. Pp. 1-19.

Hunter, James. 1991. Culture Wars. Basic Books. (pp. 31-51).

**Iannaccone, Laurence. 1994. “Why Strict Churches are Strong.” AJS. 99(5): 1180-1211.

Iannaccone, Laurence. 1990. “Religious Practice: A Human Capital Approach.” JSSR. 29 (September): 297-314.

Jenkins, Philip. 2002. The Next Christendom. Oxford.

Kelley, Dean. 1972. Why Conservative Churches are Growing. Harper & Row.

Lechner, Frank. 1991. “The Case Against Secularization: A Rebuttal.” Social Forces 69 (June): 1103-19.

Lofland, John and Rodney Stark. 1965. “Becoming a World-Saver: a Theory of Conversion.” American Sociological Review. 30: 862‑875.

**Luckman, Thomas. 1967. The Invisible Religion. Macmillan.

Mahmood, Saba. 2005. Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. Princeton University Press.

Martin, David. 1978. A General Theory of Secularization. New York: Blackwell. Pp. 1-99.

Martin, David, 2005, On Secularization: Toward a Revised General Theory. Burlington (VT): Ashgate (Intro, Chapter 9).

Marwell, Gerald. 1996. “We Still Don’t Know if Strict Churches are Strong, Much Less Why.” AJS. 101(4). January: 1097-1104.

**Marx, Karl. “Theses on Feuerbach.” “Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right: Introduction.” “The German Ideology: Part I” (up to A2). In Robert Tucker (ed.). 1978. The Marx-Engels Reader. Norton.

McNamara, Patrick. 1992. Conscience First, Tradition Second. SUNY (pp. 1-47).

Nelson, Timothy. 1996. “Sacrifice of Praise: Emotion and Collective Participation in an African-American Worship Service.” Sociology of Religion. 57(4): 379-96.

**Norris, Pippa and Ronald Inglehart. 2004. Sacred and Secular. Cambridge: Cambridge.

Pattillo-McCoy, Mary. 1998. “Black Church Culture as a Community Strategy of Action,” ASR. 63:6 (December): 767-784.

Pope, Liston. 1942. Millhands and Preachers. Yale. (Chs. 5, 8-10, 14).

Putnam, Robert. 2000. Bowling Alone. Simon and Schuster. (Ch. 4).

Roof, Wade Clark. 1999. Spiritual Marketplace. Princeton.

Sherkat, Darren. 1999. “Tracking the ‘Other’: Dynamics and Composition of ‘Other’ Religions in the General Social Survey, 1973-1996.” JSSR. 38:4 (Dec): 551-560.

Sherkat, Darren and Christopher Ellison. 1999. “Recent Developments and Current Controversies in the Sociology of Religion.” Annual Review of Sociology. 25: 363-94.

Slade, Stanley. 1994. “Popular Spirituality as an Oppressive Reality.” In Guillermo Cook (ed.). New Face of the Church in Latin America. Orbis Books.

**Smith, Jonathan. 1998. “Religion, Religions, Religious.” In Mark C. Taylor (ed.), Critical Terms for Religious Studies. Chicago (pp. 269-84).

Smith, Christian. 1991. The Emergence of Liberation Theology. Chicago.

Smith, Christian. 1996. Resisting Reagan. Chicago. (pp. xv-86, skim 87-132, read 133-208).

Smith, Christian (ed.). 1996. Disruptive Religion. Routledge. (Introduction and assorted chapters)

**Smith, Christian et al. 1998. American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Thriving. Chicago.

**Smith, Christian. 2003. Moral Believing Animals. Oxford.

Smith, Christian (ed.). 2003. The Secular Revolution. California. (Introduction and select chapters)

Smith, Christian. 2005. Soul Searching. New York: Oxford.

Smith, Christian. 2003. “Theorizing Religious Effects among American Adolescents.” JSSR. 42(1): 17-30.

Snow, David A., and Richard Machalek. 1982. “On the Presumed Fragility of Unconventional Beliefs.” JSSR. 21 (March): 15-26.

Stark, Rodney. 1997. The Rise of Christianity. Harper San Francisco.

Stark, Rodney. 2003. For the Glory of God. Princeton.

**Stark, Rodney & Roger Finke. 2000. Acts of Faith. California.

Stark, Rodney and Laurence Iannaccone. 1994. “A Supply-side Reinterpretation of the ‘Secularization’ of Europe.” JSSR. 33:3 (Sept): 230-253.

Steensland, Brian, et al. 2000. “The Measure of American Religion: Toward Improving the State of the Art.” Social Forces. 79. (September): 291-318.

Thompson, E.P. 1966. The Making of the English Working Class. Vintage (Esp. Chs. 11, 12).

**Tocqueville, Alexis de. 1969. Democracy in America. Doubleday (Pp. 277-301, 441-454).

Walzer, Michael. 1965. The Revolution of the Saints. Harvard. (Pp. 1-65).

**Warner, Stephen. 1993. “Work in Progress Toward a New Paradigm for the Sociological Study of Religion in the United States.” AJS. 98:5 (March): 1044-93.

**Weber, Max. [1958]. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Scribners.

Weber, Max. [1978]. Economy and Society. California (pp. 3-33, 399-602).

Weber, Max. “The Social Psychology of the World Religions,” “The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism,” and “Religious Rejections of the World and Their Direction.” In Gerth and Mills (eds.). 1946. From Max Weber. Oxford. Pp. 267-359.

**Wilson, Bryan. 1979. Contemporary Transformations of Religion. Oxford. (Ch 1)

Wolfe, Alan. 2003. The Transformation of American Religion. New York: Free Press.

Wood, Richard. 2002. Faith in Action. Chicago.

Woodberry, Robert and Christian Smith. 1998. “Fundamentalists, et al.” Annual Review of Sociology—1998. Vol. 24. Annual Reviews. pp. 25-56.

Wuthnow, Robert. 1994. Producing the Sacred. Illinois.

Wuthnow, Robert. 1998. After Heaven. California.

Wuthnow, Robert. 1988. The Restructuring of American Religion. Princeton.

Young, Michael. 2006. Bearing Witness Against Sin. Chicago: Chicago.

à In addition, Notre Dame Sociology graduate students may also propose other readings that reflect their specific research interests in sub-fields (e.g., religion and gender; peace, violence, and terrorism; religion and politics; religious conversion; new religious movements; etc.) and about which they might be questioned on their doctoral comprehensive exams.

à Finally, Note these Minimal Related Theory-of-Culture Readings that Sociologists of Religion Ideally Should Know But are Not Formally Required to Know for the ND Doctoral Exam:

Alexander, Jeffrey. 1990. “Analytic Debates.” Pp. 1-27 in Alexander and Seidman (eds.), Culture and Society: Contemporary Debates. Cambridge: Cambridge.

Bourdieu, Pierre. 1977. “Structure, Habitus and Power: Basis for a Theory of Symbolic Power.” Ch 4, Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge.

Geertz, Clifford. 1973. “Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture.” In Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books (pp. 3-30).

Hechter, Michael. 1993. “Should Norms be Written out of the Sociological Lexicon?” Sociological Theory. 10:2 (Fall): 214-230.

Sahlins, Marshal. 1976. Culture and Practical Reason. Chicago Press (pp. vii-x, 166-204).

Sewell, William. 1992. “A Theory of Structure.” American Journal of Sociology. 98:1 (July).

Bonnell, Victyoria and Lynn Hunt (eds.), Beyond the Cultural Turn. Berkeley: University of California Press (pp. 35-61).

Smith, Philip. 2001. Cultural Theory: An Introduction. Blackwell. [best introductory overview of culture theory available]

Swartz, David. 1997. Culture and Power. Chicago: Chicago. (Chs. 1-6, 9).

Swidler, Ann. 1986. “Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies.” American Sociological Review. 51: 273-286.

Williams, Raymond. 1983. “Culture.” Keywords. Oxford: Oxford. (pp. 87-93).

Wuthnow, Robert. 1987. Meaning and Moral Order. Berkeley: California. (Chs. 1-3, 5, 9-10)