I loved this book. When I was getting my degree in religious studies this was one of the books for my senior seminar. The book starts off describing the influence of the "predecessors" Freud, Marx, Nietzsche and Saussure. Then it has an alphabetical listing of the theorists. Some are actual theorists of religion, but most are from other social sciences--sociology, anthropology, gender studies. Their influence on religious studies and allied fields is examined. I didn't have time to read Foucault, Althusser etc., so this book was a great reference. However, the entries on Walter Benjamin, Jacques Derrida and Emmanuel Levinas stirred up enough interest in me to delve further into those personalities. ( )