First published in 1902, "The Varieties of Religious Experience" is William James' philosophical and psychological examination of the nature of religion in human civilization. Based on James's own Gifford Lectures given at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland between 1901 and 1902, James argues that "Scientific theories are organically conditioned just as much as religious emotions are; and if we only knew the facts intimately enough, we should...

In this 1912 classic, a founder of modern sociology seeks the enduring source of human social identity. Émile Durkheim presents a remarkably accessible examination of animism, naturism, totemism, myth, and ritual. His intriguing views and ultimate conclusion-that the source of religion and morality lies in collective consciousness, rather than in individual minds-remains a topic of debate among sociologists, anthropologists, ethnographers, philosophers,...

What do you do when an entire civilization is crumbling around you? You do everything. This is a book about how to get started. The Left's culture war threatens America's foundation and its very civilization, warns Esolen in his brand new book, Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture. They will tell you that babies in the womb are fetuses, that gender is a social construct, and that the backbone of society is government not the community....

Many people these days regard religion as outdated and are unable to understand how believers can intellectually justify their faith. Nonbelievers have long assumed that progress in technology and the sciences renders religion irrelevant. Believers, in contrast, see religion as vital to society's spiritual and moral well-being. But does modernization lead to secularization? Does secularization lead to moral decay? Sociologist Hans Joas argues that...

Would it be so easy to successfully challenge our democracy and alter our value system? Imagine a wealthy American determined in his belief and practice of the cult of Scientology, landing in Great Britain with the intention of pursuing a wholesale conversion of the country to a very different economic and belief system... In this instance, two serious criminal events presage Stanley Groom's arrival in Britain and signify the start of a well-planned...

Religious faith is under assault. In books and movies and on television, militant secular critics attack religion with a renewed vigor. These 'new atheists' repeat a two-part mantra: that religious faith is hopelessly irrational and that those possessed of such faith are responsible for the hatred and bloodshed that has plagued humanity. Abandon religion, they urge us, and the world will at last live in peace. In Defense of Faith examines this proposition...

Nous vivons dans des sociétés largement laïques et sécularisées; pourtant, la présence des groupes religieux dans l'espace urbain dessine une géographie inédite et fait émerger, aussi bien chez les chercheurs que chez les élus et les fonctionnaires, de nouveaux questionnements. Comment une ville devient-elle inclusive et peut-elle favoriser les expressions des spiritualités diverses? Et que doivent faire ces groupes pour se mettre au service...

Essays in the field of comparative world religions and corresponding axial civilizations. The post—World War II idea of the Axial Age by Karl Jaspers, and as elaborated into the sociology of axial civilizations by S. N. Eisenstadt in the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, continues to be the subject of intense scholarly debate. Examples of this can be found in recent works of Hans Joas and Jürgen Habermas. In From World Religions...

How is Islam adapting to the rapid changes of the 21st century? Despite political unrest and terrorism, the author argues that many Muslim societies are successfully developing their own versions of modern life. In contrast to the secular liberal model that prevails in the West, Islam is demonstrating alternative ways to be modern while maintaining a distinctly Muslim worldview. Professor Edis, an American physicist with a secular viewpoint who was...

A noted author and activist brings his critical acumen and rhetorical skills to bear in this polemic against the dark side of religion. Unlike some popular works by stridently outspoken atheists, this is not a blanket condemnation of all believers. Rather the author's focus is the heartless exploitation of faithful followers by those in power, as well as sectarian intolerance, the violence against heretics and nonbelievers, and the reactionary political...