COMMENT ON "PREFATORY FINDINGS IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF MISSIONS"

The article presents a comment on a previous article Prefatory Findings in the Sociology of Missions, by David R. Heise, that appeared in the April 1967 issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Long-neglected theories of social change have undergone an extensive revival in recent years as part of the effort to explain the revolutionary transformations, which are sweeping through the traditional societies of the world. The emphasis was placed at first on "the social consequences of technical change," but more recently it has shifted to a concern for the dynamics of the change process itself. This newer emphasis has served to refocus attention on the agents of communication and persuasion which transmit change both within and between groups, and, more generally, on problems of the diffusion of innovation. The most interesting part of Heise's paper, from the vantage point of theory building in diffusion research, is his emphasis on the target unit at which change-attempts are directed. One hopes that Heise's paper will lead not only to further work along the lines but also to renewed interest, at a more macroscopic level, in the diffusion of Christianity, Islam, and other religious movements in other times and places.