Objective Religion

Byron Johnson has done more for the social scientific study of religion than anyone else. He has committed to an evidence-based approach to answer the big question of what accounts for the persistence, pervasiveness, and persuasiveness of religion around the world. In this top-shelf volume he has assembled a stellar lineup of specialists that offer sophisticated answers to this perennial question. This comprehensive contribution is absolutely mandatory reading for academic scholars, graduate students, the educated public, and anyone else who recognizes that in order to understand the world in which we live, we must understand religion.

~Robert Emmons, Professor of Psychology, University of California, Davis

This volume offers a carefully curated set of chapters on the economics and persistence of religion, as well as the tensions caused by religion, drawn from some of the best articles published in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion. This is an essential resource on the myriad ways that faith, spirituality, and religion continue to matter to both individuals and societies. It is a wonderful resource for scholars in a wide variety of social science disciplines.

~Matthew T. Lee, Director of Empirical Research, Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University

Objective Religion is exceptional for presenting the social scientific facts about religion across the world. There is no anti-religion bias that interferes with objectivity, and none of the unfounded assertions that we see in academia these days that religion is on its last legs. This volume does a fabulous job of staying honest with the facts and interpreting them without the assumptions of neo-atheism or rampant secularism that are found in less scholarly works. Rodney Stark remains the premier sociologist of religion in the United States, and Byron Johnson deserves equal seating. Together at Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion, they have changed our thinking for the better.

~Stephen G. Post, Professor of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine, Stony Brook University

This is an intriguing set of papers from numerous scholars of religion with exceptional expertise, shedding light on the dynamics, practice, persistence, and societal effects of religion, both past and present. They together make a case for religion's enduring importance.

~Tyler J. VanderWeele, John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Epidemiology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and Director, Human Flourishing Program, Harvard University