Peter B. Clarke has edited a massive handbook for the sociology of religion. In total 54 articles have been written by 56 contributors. The authors include both internationally well known scholars as well as more junior researchers. Two thirds of authors are stationed either in the US or the UK, and most of the others are from other Western countries. The collection entails a wide variety of perspectives, of which some fall into a very traditionalist understanding of the subject, while others offer new insights. The texts are fairly short, and they are not intended to create a larger narrative, so the general sense of volume in is impressionistic.

Book review: Peter B. Clarke (eds.). 2009. The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1046 pages.