Durkheimov teorijsko-metodologijski pristup religiji

In this paper the author tries to examine the main ideas of Emile Durkeim's sociology of religion. Special attention is paid to the problem of the initial definition of religion, as one of the paramount presumption within the sociological survey of the religious phenomenon. In this regard, the paper is divided into three sections: in the first part, the author deals with Durkheim's theoretical and methodological frame within which he will start to define the elemental forms of religion: in the second part, it take into consideration the so-called 'working definition of religion'; and finally, in die third part, it analyses the formal and the substantive elements of the final definition of religion. The final definiton comprises two related elements, one substantive, the other functional. The substantive element asserted that religion involved a perception of the world in terms of the distinction between the sacred and the profane. The second element asserted that religion functioned to create moral community in society.