I recently got a question, asking me what book I would recommend to read up on arguments for the social and personal benefits of religion.

I had to admit, I don’t know of any single book that fits the description, but it would be mildly surprising if some such book didn’t exist. There is a sizable social science literature on the benefits of religion, but my acquaintance with it is limited: brief discussions in other books, the occasional article, and so forth. It would be nice to have some resource that summarized the current state of debate and research for those of us who are not social scientists.

If anyone who reads this knows of a book that does this, even approximately, please write a comment or email me.