Predicting Religion : Christian, Secular and Alternative Futures

In "Predicting Religion", 20 experts in the study of religion present their predictions about the future of religion in the 21st century - predictions based on careful analysis of the contemporary religious scene from traditional forms of Christianity to new spiritualities.

The range of predictions is broad. A number predict further secularization - with religion in the west seen as being in a state of terminal decline.

Others question this approach and suggest that we are witnessing not decline but transformation understood in different ways: a shift from theism to pantheism, from outer to inner authority, from God to self-as-god, and above all, from religion to spirituality.

The book offers students and scholars of the sociology of religion and theology, as well as interested general readers, fresh insights into the future of religion and spirituality in the west.