Objective Religion: Competition, Tension, Perseverance

by Byron R. Johnson (Editor), Rodney Stark (Foreword by)

Overview

Though many scholars and commentators have predicted the death of religion, the world is more religious today than ever before. And yet, despite the persistence of religion, it remains a woefully understudied phenomenon. With Objective Religion, Baylor University Press and Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion have combined forces to gather select articles from the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion that not only highlight the journal’s wide-ranging and diverse scope, but also advance the field through a careful arrangement of topics with ongoing relevance, all treated with scientific objectivity and the respect warranted by matters of faith. This multivolume project seeks to advance our understanding of religion and spirituality in general as well as particular religious beliefs and practices. The volume thereby serves as a catalyst for future studies of religion from diverse disciplines and fields of inquiry including sociology, psychology, political science, demography, economics, philosophy, ethics, history, medicine, population health, epidemiology, and theology. The articles in this volume, Competition, Tension, and Perseverance, document the pervasiveness of religion and demonstrate the complex ways faith, spirituality, and religious matters are consequential for individuals as well as societies across the world. Together these essays demonstrate the resilience of religion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481313643
Publisher:	Baylor University Press
Publication date:	06/15/2021
Pages:	392
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.12(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Byron R. Johnson Is Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University and the founding director of the Institute for Studies of Religion.

Table of Contents

Foreword (Rodney Stark)

I The Economics of Religion
1 Conversion to Latin American Protestantism and the Case for Religious Motivation (Rodney Stark and Buster G. Smith)
2 Religious Competition and Revival in Italy: Exploring European Exceptionalism (Massimo Introvigne and Rodney Stark)
3 Religious Monopolies, Religious Pluralism, and Secularization: The Relationship between Religious Pluralism and Religious Participation in Sweden (Eva M. Hamberg)
4 Folk Temples and the Chinese Religious Economy (Graeme Lang, Selina Ching Chan, and Lars Ragvald)
5 The Effect of Religious Affiliation and Religious Markets on Islamophobia in Four European Nations (Linda A. Lockett and Ted G. Jelen)

II Religion and Tension
6 Retention Strategies and Religious Success: A Regional Comparison of American Jews (Michael K. Abel)
7 Explaining Atheism: Testing the Secondary Compensator Model and Proposing an Alternative (Laura A. Hunter)
8 Consensus and Conflict: Abortion, Mainline Protestants, and Religious Restructuring Since 1960 (Sabrina Danielsen)
9 Whom Do People Dislike More: Atheists or Cultists? (Ryan T. Cragun, Patrick Henry, Casey P. Homan, and Joseph Hammer)

III The Persistence of Religion
10 Neighbors in the Pews: Social Status Diversity in Religious Congregations (Philip Schwadel)
11 Estimating the Global Muslim Population: Size and Distribution of the World’s Muslim Population (Brian J. Grim and Becky Hsu)
12 The Collapse of Secular Social Capital and Religious Revival in Rural China: An Empirical Study (Xiuhua Wang)
13 Family Networks and the Growth of The Church of Almighty God (Massimo Introvigne)
14 Heads Down, Hearts Up: How Ukrainian Baptists Make Meaning from Their Memories of Soviet State-Sanctioned Religious Persecution (Gregory S. Morrow and Mary E. Grigsby)

What People are Saying About This

Objective Religion is exceptional for presenting the social scientific facts about religion across the world. There is no anti-religion bias that interferes with objectivity, and none of the unfounded assertions that we see in academia these days that religion is on its last legs. This volume does a fabulous job of staying honest with the facts and interpreting them without the assumptions of neo-atheism or rampant secularism that are found in less scholarly works. Rodney Stark remains the premier sociologist of religion in the United States, and Byron Johnson deserves equal seating. Together at Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion, they have changed our thinking for the better.

Tyler J. VanderWeele

This is an intriguing set of papers from numerous scholars of religion with exceptional expertise, shedding light on the dynamics, practice, persistence, and societal effects of religion, both past and present. They together make a case for religion's enduring importance.

Stephen G. Post

Objective Religion is exceptional for presenting the social scientific facts about religion across the world. There is no anti-religion bias that interferes with objectivity, and none of the unfounded assertions that we see in academia these days that religion is on its last legs. This volume does a fabulous job of staying honest with the facts and interpreting them without the assumptions of neo-atheism or rampant secularism that are found in less scholarly works. Rodney Stark remains the premier sociologist of religion in the United States, and Byron Johnson deserves equal seating. Together at Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion, they have changed our thinking for the better.

Matthew T. Lee

This volume offers a carefully curated set of chapters on the economics and persistence of religion, as well as the tensions caused by religion, drawn from some of the best articles published in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion. This is an essential resource on the myriad ways that faith, spirituality, and religion continue to matter to both individuals and societies. It is a wonderful resource for scholars in a wide variety of social science disciplines.

Robert Emmons

Byron Johnson has done more for the social scientific study of religion than anyone else. He has committed to an evidence-based approach to answer the big question of what accounts for the persistence, pervasiveness, and persuasiveness of religion around the world. In this top-shelf volume he has assembled a stellar lineup of specialists that offer sophisticated answers to this perennial question. This comprehensive contribution is absolutely mandatory reading for academic scholars, graduate students, the educated public, and anyone else who recognizes that in order to understand the world in which we live, we must understand religion.