Twenty-eight scholars, many of them well known in the sociology of religion, examine a variety of faith traditions and sociological topics that illustrate the connection between religion and society in many different countries at the dawn of the 21st century. The faith traditions include Judaism, Roman Catholicism, evangelical and mainstream Protestantism, Islam, Hinduism, Yuruba religion, Chinese religion, and several new religious movements, including a UFO cult in Quebec.

The book will be of interest to scholars in the sociology of religion, but a special feature is its utility as a reader in undergraduate and graduate courses. The topics represent the range usually presented in a course in the sociology of religion: individual religiosity, religious identity, conversion, plausibility structure, community, church and sect, religious leadership, organizational analysis, new religious movements, race, gender, religion and politics, and the relationship of religion to social order and social change.