"This anthology is a welcome addition to the academic study of religion. The editors take great care to elucidate both sides of important theoretical dichotomies about which students, especially those new to the discipline, should be aware."-Carl Olson, Theory and Method in the Study of Religion

This book provides a comprehensive selection of readings that relate to and explore the definition of religion. The texts come from a wide range of approaches, unified both by the questions they address and their broadly social scientific perspective. The disciplines covered include anthropology, phenomenology, psychology and sociology. The editors have also included some key texts relating to the feminist approach to and critique of religion.

The initial section of the book includes some of the foundational texts, such as materials by Marx, Freud, and Durkheim. The remaining sections look at more recent discussions of the issues from the different disciplinary perspectives. Each reading is introduced by a biographical sketch of the author. The book also includes introductory discussions to each section that both raise the key issues developed in a particular discipline and address the disciplinary approaches from a more critical stance.

Theories of Religion: A Reader is an invaluable critical resource, accessible to a broad audience as well as students of theology and religious studies.

Key readings include:
Toward a Social Psychology of Religion, C. Daniel Batson and W. Larry Ventis
Religious Evolution, Robert N. Bellah
Definition of Religious Phenomena and of Religion, Emile Durkheim
The Return of Totemism in Childhood, Sigmund Freud
Religion as a Cultural System, Clifford Geertz
Religion as a Chain of Memory, Danile Hervieu-Lger
Gender and the Study of Religion, Ursula King
Religions, Values, and Peak-Experiences, Abraham Maslow
Religion and Society, A. R. Radcliffe-Brown
A Prototype Approach, Benson Saler
Towards a Theory of Religion: Religious Commitment, Rodney Stark and W. S. Bainbridge
Reduction without Tears, Ivan Strenski
Religion in Essence and Manifestation, Gerardus van der Leeuw

Seth D. Kunin, dean of Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Durham, is author of Religion: the Modern Theories, coeditor of A Companion to Religious Studies and Theology, and editor of Themes and Issues in Judaism. Jonathan Miles-Watson is lecturer in anthropology at the University of Wales Swansea.