The centrality of religion in social life : essays in honour of James A. Beckford

Contents: Introduction, Eileen Barker and James T. Richardson; Part I The French Connection: Thinking sociologically about religion: contexts, concepts and clarifications, Grace Davie; Religious individualism, modern individualism and self-fulfilment: a few reflections on the origins of contemporary religious individualism, Danièle Hervieu-Léger; The paradoxes of laïcité in France: French cult controversy at the turn of the new millennium, Jean-Paul Willaime; French cult controversy at the turn of the new millennium: escalation, dissensions and new forms of mobilisations across the battlefield, Véronique Altglas; 2 different types of manifest secularization: Belgium and France compared, Karel Dobbelaere. Part II Religious Insertions in Society: The inner-world mysticism and a successful social integration of the Sikh Panth, Enzo Pace; A movement without a crisis is a movement with a crisis: a paradox in search of a paradigm, N.J. Demerath III; The European Court of Human Rights, minority religions, and the social construction of religious freedom, James T. Richardson and Jennifer Shoemaker; The trumpet sounds retreat: learning from the Jehovah's Witnesses, David Voas; Theorising conversion: can we use conversion accounts as sources to actual past processes?, Margit Warburg; From 'visiting minister' to 'Muslim chaplain': the growth of Muslim chaplaincy in Britain, 1970-2007, Sophie Gilliat-Ray. Part III Religion, Power and Politics: The religious and the political, David Martin; Religion, human power and powerlessness, Thomas Luckmann. Part IV The Spiritual and /or the Religious?: The church without and the god within? Religiosity and/or spirituality?, Eileen Barker; Contemporary religions and the public arena: centring on the situation in Japan, Susumu Shimazono; Toward a sociology of spirituality: individual religion in social/historical context, Meredith B. McGuire; Appendix; Index.