Explaining how religion and society transform each other, this book explores such movements as Holiness, Adventism, religious communes, Satanism, New Age and democratization. The Sociology of Religious Movements is the culmination of work begun in The Future of Religion (the 1986 award winner of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion) and A Theory of Religion (1993 award winner of the Pacific Sociological Association). Explaining religious schism, innovation, and conversion to show how religion and society transform each other, this book explores such movements as: Holiness, Adventism, religious communes, Children of God, Satanism, New York City Mission Society, New Age, Asian imports, and democratization.

William Sims Bainbridge

1. The Religious Impulse The Dynamics Of Schism 2. Tension with the Socio-Cultural Environment 3. The Holiness Movement 4. Adventism 5. American Religious Communes The Dynamics Of Innovation 6. Cultural Diffusion 7. Asian Imports 8. The Family (Children of God) 9. The Process Church of the Final Judgement The Dynamics Of Transformation 10. Morality 11. The New York City Mission Society 12. Democratization Movements 13. The New Age Conclusion 14. The Perpetual System Tables.