THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON RELIGION
THE NATURE OF THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Because religion is so intensely personal and reverently held, some people have
difficulty grasping a sociological perspective on it. The sociological perspective
is a way of looking at religion that focuses on the human (especially social)
aspects of religious belief and practice. Religion is both individual and social.
Even the most intensively subjective mystical experience is given meaning
through socially available symbols and has value partly because of culturally
established interpretations of such experiences.