Avesta word for "praise-song" (Bartholomae: "Lobgesang"); that word is not actually attested in any text. The surviving texts of the Avesta, as they exist today, derive from a single master copy produced by Sasanian Empire-era (224–651 CE) collation and recension. That master copy, now lost, is known as the 'Sassanian archetype'. The oldest surviving manuscript ("K1") of an Avestan language text is dated 1323 CE. Summaries of the various Avesta texts found in the 9th/10th century texts of Zoroastrian tradition suggest that a significant portion of the literature in the Avestan language has been lost. Only about one-quarter of the Avestan
Sociology of Religion (book) religious beliefs steered the direction of the economic and technological forces that were already in motion. Max Weber takes an objective, distant view of the sociological traditions of the institution of religion. He is standing on the outside, looking in, contrary to the believers whose journey of faith causes them to examine their religion from within. This detached, objective view of religion embodies the objective, modernist practice of the sociological perspective of religion today. Sociology of Religion (book) Sociology of Religion is a 1920 book by Max Weber, a German economist and sociologist. The original edition was in German. Max