This handbook showcases current research and thinking in the sociology of religion. The contributors, all active writers and researchers in the area, provide original chapters focusing on select aspects of their own engagement with the field. Aimed at students and scholars who want to know more about the sociology of religion, this handbook also provides a resource for sociologists in general by integrating broader questions of sociology (e.g. demography, ethnicity, life course, inequality, political sociology) into the analysis of religion. Broadly inclusive of traditional research topics (modernity, secularization, politics) as well as newer interests (feminism, spirituality, faith based community action), this handbook illustrates the validity of diverse theoretical perspectives and research designs to understanding the multi-layered nature of religion as a sociological phenomenon.

Contributors
Michele Dillon, Robert Wuthnow, Robert Bellah, Peter Beyer, Grace Davies, Michael Hout, Mark Chaves, Laura Stephens, Roger Fink, Rodney Stark, Philip Gorski, Patricia M. Y. Chung, Wade Clark Roof, Darren Sherkat, Penny Edgell Becker, Michael McCullough, Timothy Smith, Paul Wink, Nancy Ammerman, Helen Rose Ebaugh, Arnold Dashefsky, Bernard Lazerwitz, Ephraim Tabory, Lynn Davidman, Mary Jo Neitz, Jeff Manza, Nathan Wright, Rhys Williams, Fred Kniss, N. J. Demerath III, John Hall, Richard Wood, Milagros Pena, Omar McRoberts