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Sacred Companies: Organizational Aspects of Religion and Religious Aspects of Organizations. Edited by N. J. Demerath III, Peter Dobkin Hall, Terry Schmitt, and Rhys H. Williams. Religion in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. xxiv + 410 pp. $55.00 cloth.
The product of an interdisciplinary seminar sponsored by Yale's Program on Non-Profit Organizations (PONPO), this book sets out to argue "that there are 'religious' dimensions to every organization, and that there are also organizational dimensions to (virtually) every religion" (382). The twenty-two chapters and assorted editorial prefaces address the second half of this mandate more than the first. Scholars of religion (mostly sociologists, with some notable appearances by historians, economists, and a jurist) employ techniques and theories drawn heavily from other fields to analyze the workings of religious institutions, and the organizational theorist Paul DiMaggio suggests ways that students of religion could put his and his colleagues' ideas to use. With the exception, however, of a fascinating brief chapter by David Bromley analyzing the direct-sales firm Amway as a quasi-religious corporation, all the chapters deal with explicitly religious organizations: denominations, congregations, theological seminaries, and religious movements.
Nonetheless, as a collection of studies on religious organizations, the book is filled with rich material. Some contributors argue that the ways religious groups organize themselves have served...