Skip to main content
University of California Press

Acts of Faith

Explaining the Human Side of Religion
by Rodney Stark (Author), Roger Finke (Author)
Paperback eBook
Price: $31.95 / £27.00
Publication Date: Aug 2000
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 343
ISBN: 9780520222021
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Illustrations: 6 line illustrations, 28 tables
Request an Exam or Desk Copy(opens in new window)RightsLink(opens in new window)Read an Excerpt(opens in new window)
Recommend to your Library (PDF)(opens in new window)Rights and Permissions

About the Book

Finally, social scientists have begun to attempt to understand religious behavior rather than to discredit it as irrational, ignorant, or foolish—and Rodney Stark and Roger Finke have played a major role in this new approach. Acknowledging that science cannot assess the supernatural side of religion (and therefore should not claim to do so), Stark and Finke analyze the observable, human side of faith. In clear and engaging prose, the authors combine explicit theorizing with animated discussions as they move from considering the religiousness of individuals to the dynamics of religious groups and then to the religious workings of entire societies as religious groups contend for support. The result is a comprehensive new paradigm for the social-scientific study of religion.

About the Author

Rodney Stark is Professor of Sociology and Comparative Religion at the University of Washington. Among his many books are The Rise of Christianity (1996), The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival, and Cult Formation (California, 1985), and, with Roger Finke, The Churching of America, 1776-1990: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy (1992). Roger Finke is Professor of Sociology at Pennsylvania State University.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Atheism, Faith, and the Social Scientific Study of Religion

PART ONE • PARADIGMS IN CONFLICT
1. A New Look at Old Issues
2. Rationality and the “Religious Mind”
3. Secularization, R.I.P.

PART TWO • THE RELIGIOUS INDIVIDUAL
4. The Micro Foundations of Religion
5. Religious Choices: Conversion and Reaffiliation

PART THREE • THE RELIGIOUS GROUP
6. Religious Group Dynamics
7. Catholic Religious Vocations: Decline and Revival

PART FOUR • THE RELIGIOUS ECONOMY
8. A Theoretical Model of Religious Economies
9. Religious Competition and Commitment: An International Assessment
10. Church-to-Sect Movements

Appendix: Propositions and Definitions
Notes
References
Index

Reviews

"Acts of Faith is the single 'big book' in the sociology of religion in the past decade, a monumental effort that both demolishes old theories and creates brilliant new ones. Stark and Finke have mastered the literature in the field, gathered ingenious data analysis to sustain their positions, and presented their work with flair, imagination, and brilliance. Though it is quite impossible to turn around the social science profession completely with a single book, or indeed within a single decade, these two authors have achieved a powerful beginning in this task. This landmark publication marks a turning point."—Andrew M. Greeley, University of Chicago

"This book is a major next step in developing the sociology of religion's 'new paradigm'--an important summary of the evolving 'religious economies' theory. Stark and Finke's spirited deconstruction of antireligious secularization theories and other theories of 'irrational' religion is simply delightful. And its own constructive theory offers a valuable resource for those friendly to the rational choice approach to religion, as well as a continuing challenge to its critics."—Christian Smith, University of North Carolina