Full Description
Religion Matters: How Sociology Helps Us Understand Religion in Our World focuses on religion's interplay with broader society, introducing students to the basic questions, ideas, and methods with which sociologists have analyzed the relationship between religion and society.
Since the first edition, religion as a social force has changed dramatically in its content and consequences for the world. In this new edition, the authors update the foundational lenses used to understand religion's multiple roles in society, assess the impact of technology and social media on religion and faith, draw further reflection from contemporary studies of religion and gender, and add a new chapter examining the increasing amount of religious polarization in the United States and throughout the world.
With new illustrations and connections that make this readable textbook more accessible and relevant for today's student, the second edition of Religion Matters remains a perfect counterpart for introductory courses concerned with the sociological study of religion.
Contents
1. Why religion? 2. "You Believe What?" 3. Downloading God, "Big-Box" Churches, and the Crystal Shop Around the Corner 4. Can't We All Just Get Along? 5. News Flash: God's Not Dead (an Neither is the Goddess!) 6. God is on Our Side and They are Idiots 7. Giving Divine Right to Kings While Also Casting Down the Mighty 8. What are God's Pronouns? 9. Adam, Eve, and Steve 10. Blessed are the Meek, Woe to the Rich, but What about those Classes In-between? 11. The (Not So Great) Color Wall of the United States (Isaiah G. Jeong and Tryce D. Prince) 12. Who Brought the Enchiladas to my Bat Mitzvah? 13. End of days? Religion Meets Climate Change 14. Do we need god to do good?
