A Phenomenological Transformation of the Social Scientific Study of Religion

This book develops a theoretical methodology for the social scientific study of religion, from the principle of meaning adequacy. Religion is to be understood adequately when the character of its presence in the mind of the religious person is described. This methodology is used to address some major issues in the study of religion in new ways - defining religion, understanding ritual, the connection between religion and morality, religious social morality in the third world, pietism, the value problem in scientific accounts of religion, and types of religious mentalities. These discussions comprise a substantive phenomeno- logy of religion, and a distinctive sociology of religion.