The New DurkheimThe French sociologist Emile Durkheim (18581917) is considered to be a founding father of several academic disciplines: sociology, anthropology, and religious studies. His books, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, Suicide, The Rules of Sociological Method, and The Division of Labor in Society are still required reading for any serious student in these fields. Religion as the objectification of social ties, ritual as a source of collective