Religion for Realists: Why We All Need the Scientific Study of Religion

More than half a century ago, sociologist J. Milton Yinger remarked about religion, "There are few major subjects about which men know so little, yet feel so certain." Samuel L. Perry says that Yinger had it right. Americans—and Westerners more generally—neglect the scientific study of religion, and we do so at our peril.

In Religion for Realists, Perry argues that we need the scientific study of religion—the rational, data-driven analysis of religious life—now more than ever. Contrary to th...