The Evolution of the Sociology of Religion 75
judiciously and are likely to make more sense in some parts of the world than in
others.^8
Whatever the theoretical difficulties, it is abundantly clear – given the nature of
the religious phenomena described in this section – that a global frame of reference
is increasingly necessary. And within such a framework, careful comparative analy-
sis becomes the most obvious way to work if we are to reveal the specific features of
particular cases, from which accumulations of data begin to emerge. Patterns and con-
nections begin to form, which in turn suggest heuristic (and sometimes full-fledged
theoretical) possibilities, for example the “ideal type” of fundamentalisms already out-
lined. Martin’s work on global Pentecostalisms offers another example (Martin 2002).
Building from encyclopedic reading in the field, largely of relatively small-scale an-
thropological studies, Martin constructs a framework through which to “make sense”
of these very different situations. The framework is strong enough to guide the reader’s
thinking, but sufficiently flexible to allow the empirical material to speak for itself.
Among many emergent themes, Martin makes it abundantly clear that circumstances
alter cases, once again underlining the essential point: The world is indeed contingent
and effective sociological thinking must take account of this fact, if it is to understand
(or even begin to understand) the bewildering variety of ways in which religion and
modernity interconnect.
(^8) It is interesting, for example, that Finke and Stark’s contribution to this volume makes reference
to both the Latin American (Pentecostal) and the fundamentalist cases. RCT undoubtedly sheds
light on these examples (especially the former), alongside other theoretical perspectives. Gill’s
work (1998, 1999) on Latin America is particularly helpful in this respect.