Epilogue: Assessing the sociology of religion

Staf Hellemans

Chapter 6 in Understanding the Sociology of Religion, 2026, pp 146-155 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The chapter offers a closing assessment of the sociology of religion: it looks back to ask what the yields are, and looks forward to ask what major challenges and threats it faces. I think – but this is the view of someone who is involved in the discipline as a practitioner – that the sociology of religion has reached a much improved, if kaleidoscopic understanding of contemporary religion in all its variety. The coming globalization of the sociology of religion (the fact that it is now being practised across the world) could be seen as grounds for confidence. However, the future of the sociology of religion as an academic subdiscipline is not set in stone. Religion, its object of study, could lose relevance and identity, and the sociology of religion could fade away as a separate, institutionalized subdiscipline.

Keywords: Kaleidoscopic Understanding; Globalization Of The Sociology Of Religion; Alternative Sociologies; Future Of The Sociology Of Religion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035312009
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