Social Forms of Religion

Book excerpt: Social forms of religion - the ways in which individuals and groups coordinate religious practice - produce community at the same time as they enable individual religious experiences. A mix of group, organization, market exchange, network, event, and/or other forms characterizes different traditions. Shifts in dominant social forms within a religious tradition are catalysts and expressions of religious transformation alike. The contributions to the volume test this argument by presenting Catholic, Protestant, Charismatic/Pentecostal, Orthodox, and Mormon case studies from Europe and the Americas.