The Routledge International Handbook of Sociology and Christianity examines the intersection of the sociology of religion – a long-standing focus of sociology as a discipline – and Christianity – the world’s largest religion. An internationally representative and thematically comprehensive collection, it analyzes both the sociology of Christianity and Christian approaches to sociology, with attention to the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant branches of Christianity. An authoritative, state-of-the-art review of current research, it is organized into five inter-connected thematic sections, considering the overlapping emergence of both the Christian religion and the social science, the conceptualization of and engagement with Christianity by sociological theory, the ways in which Christianity shapes and is shaped by various social institutions, the manner in which Christianity resists and promotes various forms of social change, and the identification, diagnosis, and correction of social problems by sociology and Christianity. This volume is an invaluable collection for scholars and advanced students, with special appeal for those working in the fields of sociology and social theory, as well as religious studies and theology

Reappraises the work of Shailer Mathews, a leading but long-neglected theologian of the social gospel movement whose work prefigures contemporary liberation theologies.

"The Students' Lectures on Missions at Princeton Theological Seminary, which form the basis of the book now issued, were delivered by the author in the spring of 1896"--Preface.

Oxford, Berlin and Chicago were extraordinarily dynamic centres of theology during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, significant differences in the political climate and culture of each location bred strikingly divergent theological approaches in the universities of each city. Mark Chapman offers a highly original exploration of the subjection of their theologies to the changes and developments of educational policy and national and international politics, shedding light upon the constraints that such external factors have imposed upon the evolution of the discipline. Chapman highlights the efforts of theologians and churchmen to relate the true core of Christianity, a lived religion free of shibboleths, to their rapidly changing world. The opinions of conservative and liberal theologians are skilfully balanced to reveal the problems of critical history, of political authority, of increasing global awareness and of the need for social amelioration, which profoundly shaped the ways in which theology was conceived during the period. New ground has been broken in this inter-disciplinary study of the social, political and ecclesiastical contexts of Western theology. This book will be invaluable to any reader interested in the use of theology as part of the wider quest for social integration and meaning in an increasingly fragmented society.