Durkheim is universally recognised as one of the founding fathers of sociology with his work enabling sociology to be accepted as a discipline within the academic world. What is presented here is a selection of readings from Durkheim's work on religion, beginning with early reviews and proceeding with articles and extracts from books, presented in order of original publication.

Also included are detailed bibliographies and abstracts together with contributions by such writers as Van Gennep, Goldenweiser and Stanner.