«The Demise of Religion is a robust contribution to new religions studies. The book effectively deploys a broadly applicable set of analytical categories to examine how these movements end without encouraging single-variable analyses or creating formulaic depictions. Moreover, the array of organizations covered speaks to this approach’s versatility. Beyond elucidating specific groups’ terminations, each case study showcases and broadens the editors’ arsenal of endogenous and exogenous factors that contribute to decline. In doing so, the volume establishes a theoretical foundation for normalizing new religious decline and fall, pointing the way for future studies of new religious demise.»

Nova Religio

«The present volume will serve as a foundation for future work on this underresearched topic.»

Olav Hammer, Professor of Religion, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark

«This is an erudite compilation of theoretical work on the demise of religion offered by some major figures in the sociology of religion. The collection also is interspersed with some excellent in-depth case studies that include newer religions that failed to gain traction for the longer term. This is a much-needed addition to the growing scholarship on what happens to new religions over time, and it will be welcomed by scholars from different areas of study.»

James T. Richardson, Foundation Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Judicial Studies, University of