This new Routledge Major Work is a five-volume collection of seminal and influential articles, chapters, and extracts in the sociology of religion and related disciplines. The collection uniquely brings together material ranging widely from conceptual and theoretical discussions through substantive areas, including historical religious systems, the great world religious traditions, and religion in the contemporary world. No other collection of this kind has this breadth of coverage or historical and comparative dimension. The best work of classic writers and scholars, major contributors to the discipline over its period of development, and of contemporary theorists and specialists in substantive topics has been included to give a comprehensive picture of the subdiscipline.