"An immense intellectual shift is taking place in the social scientific study of religion. During the past few years, many of its most venerated theoretical positions- faithfully passed down from the famous founders of the field- have been overturned."
This is the first line of the book, and the authors make their argument clear. In this text, Stark and Finke challenge the traditional approach to the scientific study of religion. They argue that the scientific approach until recently wasn't "truly scientific."
"The notion that humans are essentially rational creatures underlies the mainstream of modern social science, except when religion is the object of study."
Here, Stark and Finke point to the hypocrisy of the traditional scientific study of religion. When considering this subject, social scientists maintain that the religious mind is "fundamentally irrational."
"As noted in the introduction for most of its existence, the social scientific study of religion has been nothing of the sort."
In this text, Stark and Finke argue that the social science of religion has not adhered to traditional scientific principles. As such, this book is an attempt to have a more truthful look at religion and its origins. For example, Stark and Finke point out that social science traditionally sees humans as being rational beings, however, in the case of religion, faithful people are seen as being inherently "irrational."
