apenas por sua consistente unidade de analise o grupo , a Sociologia deve encontrar algum lugar de importancia na pesquisa academica crista. Contudo, deve ser estudada sob a perspectiva crista.Lionel Matthews (Ph.D., Wayne State University) e professor associado de Sociologia na Universidade Andrews, Berrien Springs, Michigan, EUA. Este artigo e uma sintese do capitulo de abertura de seu livro Sociology: A Seventh-day Adventist Approach for Students and Teachers (Berrien Springs, Michigan: Universidade Andrews Press, 2006). Impresso com permissao do autor e do editor.REFERENCIASPERKINS, R. Looking bothways. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1987. p.13.PRING, R. Personal and social education in the curriculum: concepts and content. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1987.NOHRIA, N., LAWRENCE, P., WILSON, E. Driven: how human nature shapes our choices. Sao Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002; RYAN, R., DECI, E. Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well being. In: American Psychologist 55 (2000) 1:68-78; THOMPSON, M., GRACE, C., COHEN, L. Best friends, worst enemies: understanding the social lives of children. Nova York: Ballantine Books, 2001.MASLOW, A.H. Motivation and personality. 2a. ed. Nova York: Harper, 1970.PRATT, D. Curriculum planning: a handbook for professionals. Fort Worth, Texas: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1994.WHITE, Ellen G. Educacao. Tatui, SP: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 2001 [CD-ROM].Ibid., 13.RAWLS, A. Can rational choice be a foundation for social theory? In: Theory and Society, 21 (1992) 2:219-241.DURKHEIM, E. The rules of sociological method. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1964.Durkheim define fato social como maneiras de agir, pensar e sentir, externas ao individuo e dotadas de um poder de coercao, pela razao de que elas o controlam. Ibid., 3.MILLS, C.W. The sociological imagination. London: Oxford University Press, 1959.Ibid., 65-66.PERKINS, Looking Bothways.SCHWALBE, M. The sociologically examined life: pieces of the con-versation. Mountain View, California: Mayfield Publishing Company, 2001.Ibid., 5.LEMING, M.R., DEVRIES, R.G., FURNISH, B.F. (eds.) The sociological perspective: a value-com-mitted introduction. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Academie Books, 1989. p. 12.GRENZ, S.J. A primer on postmodernism. Grand Rapids: Wil-liam B. Eerdmans, 1996. p. 167.HEDDENDORF, R. Hidden threads: social thought for Christians. Dallas: Probe Books, 1990. p. 191.Ibid., 9.KAPLAN, A. The conduct of inquiry. Nova York: Harper and Row, 1968. p. 78.GOLDENBERG, I., GOLDENBERG, H. Family therapy: an overview. Pacific Grove, California: Brooks/Cole, 2003.COOLEY, C.H. Human nature and the social order. Nova York: Schocken, 1964 (trabalho original publicado em 1902). p. 36.DAVIS, K. Extreme isolation In: HENSLIN, J. M. (ed.). Down to earth sociology: introductory readings. 12. ed. Nova York: Free Press, 2003. p.133-142; RYMER, R. Genie. Nova York: Harper Perennial, 1994.FURNISH, B.F. Are groups real? In: LEMING, M.R., DEVRIES, R.G., FURNISH, B.F. (eds.) The sociological perspective: a value-com-mitted introduction. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Academie Books, 1989.Bellah, R.H. Habits of the heart: individualism and commitment in american life. Berkeley, California: Universidade da California, 1985. p. 143.SIRE, J.W. Discipleship of the mind: learning to love god in the ways we think. Downers Grove, Illinois:InterVarsity Press, 1990.