The name tag hanging from the neck of Rodney Stark, a leading sociologist of religion, had the University of Washington crossed out and "Baylor University" written underneath. "I just signed the contract today," explained Stark on the first day of the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, a group which he will head as president in the coming year.
The prolific author, at times described as "skeptical of received wisdom" in academia, said he was a ...