Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Tables -- About the Author -- Introduction to the Transaction Edition: Ideology, Social Constructionism, and the Sociology of Religion by Howard Schneiderman -- Preface to the English Edition -- The Sociological Definition of Religion -- Part I The Origins -- 1 The Historical-Philosophical Background -- 2 August Comte (1798-1857): The Universal Religion -- 3 Tocqueville (1805-1859): Religion and Democracy -- 4 Bergson (1859-1941): Religion and "Élan Vital"--5 The Contribution of Anthropology -- Part II The Classics -- 1 Durkheim (1858-1917): Religious Forms -- 2 Weber (1864-1920): Universal Religions -- 3 Simmel (1858-1918): Religiosity and Religion -- 4 Freud (1856-1939): The Psychic Dimension of Religion -- 5 William James (1842-1910): Psychosocial Perspective -- Part III The Contemporaries -- 1 Religion as Universal -- 2 The Macrosociological Approach -- 3 The Historical-Cultural Dynamics -- 4 The Frankfurt School and Religion -- 5 The New European Perspectives -- 6 The Socioanthropological Perspectives -- Part IV Recent Developments -- 1 Secularization -- 2 Religious Pluralism -- 3 Robert Bellah (1927-2013): Civil Religion -- 4 North American Trends -- 5 The European Trends -- 6 Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998): Religion as Function -- 7 The New Religious Movements -- Afterword -- Bibliography -- Author Index -- General Index