International scholars are brought together in this volume to discuss controversial issues in the work of a founding father of sociology. The subjects covered relate to Durkheim's Jewish background and its influence on his life and thought; a positive reinterpretation of Durkheim's study of primitive thought in terms of social classification; an attempt to shed new light on his book on methodology, The Rules, which has been much criticized; a philosophical and sympathetic analysis of the notion of the social; a discussion of Durkheim's sociology of morals based on a study of social facts; a...

This study brings together two disciplines, now more and more considered being conjuncted. Both sociology and theology give an account of the human condition, but the majority of sociologists and theologians have dismissed each other's views as irrelevant. Updated reprint of the book with the same title, published in 1980 by The Harvester Press.