Rethinking Religion: Toward a Practice Approach

Over the last three decades, fruitful new lines of research and theorizing have revealed the inadequacy of secularization and rational choice explanations of religion. This article argues that sociological understandings of religion can best advance now by building on the empirical findings that have emerged under the banner of “lived religion,” but grounding that work in theories of social practice. Going beyond the Western, individualist focus of recent research, the approach explicated in this article details a multidimensional lens for the study of the practices themselves and an outline of the types of historical and legal cultural repertoires that shape practice around the world. Together these frameworks can facilitate sociological research on religion both inside and beyond religious institutions and across cultural contexts.