The Spread of Religions and Macrosocial Relations

Bibliographic Data

ID4264646
AuthorsRobert L Montgomery (corresponding author)
Year1991
Volume52
Issue1
Pages37
Publication date1991-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociological Analysis (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0210 • E-ISSN: 2325-7873
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/3710714
OpenAlexW2340215918
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited11

The spread of religions and quasi religions over the last two millennia has been part of the process by which groups and societies have beenrequired to define themselves in response to outside pressures. Acceptance, rejection, or mix~d acceptance of religions introduced from the outside are highly dependent on intersocietal relations in which receiving societies perceive themselves to be threatened by the society from which the religion comes or by othersocieties. Religions have been important resources for societal definitions that help to maintain societies in opposition to threator in uncertain conditions. Religions from unthreatening societies have aided threatened or unstable societies to assert their distinctive identities, but religions from threatening societies have been resisted in various ways. A historical review of the spread of three major world religions supports this theoretical perspective. The fact that religions become part of social identities and thus appear to be "natural, " or they become identified as "foreign " and remain marginal for long periods, creates a sense of fixity in the distribution of religions in the world. Actually, in the last two thousand years, at least three religions, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, have spread widely to a variety of societies and broad cultural areas. These three religions

Sociology · Religion and Society Interactions

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