Sociology of Religion

Catalog description

This course studies religion as a force of moral solidarity and social change. It reviews the history of the post-Enlightenment study of religion, major sociological theories, and their assumptions. Substantive topics include the history of struggles among religious organizations in the American South, contemporary debates about morality and the state nationwide, overlap and tensions between mass religion and our secular popular culture. This course focuses on the place of mainline Protestantism in these struggles.