Review Symposium.The Sociology of Religion of Joseph H. Fichter.

The article focuses on the life and works of sociologist Joseph Fichter. Main stress is on the content of Joseph Fichter's work over the past two decades and its contribution to our understanding of religion, particularly American Catholicism. However, the author has prefaced his remarks on Fichter's work with some comments about the man himself. According to the author it is appropriate to do this because Fichter has revealed a great deal about himself through his own writing and because some knowledge of the man provides an important context in which he can assess his work. When Fichter began his teaching and research in the late 1940's, the Catholic Church's general attitude toward sociology seemed to be a mixture of some ignorance (not knowing what sociology was) and some arrogance (not believing that sociology could be of any possible use). In this context the contributions of Joseph Fichter in the field of sociology are discussed in the article.