ET observes that religion and culture are in tension – that each affects the other.

They are in a symbiotic relationship, and in a sense, religion "compromises’ with culture

ET believes that this "compromise" is good – that the world’s religions would not have become the great religions they are if they had not fitted themselves into many different times and places. They are great religions just because they can speak to the deep needs of so many across so many centuries and continents.

He believes that, as a result of all this, in any single religious tradition there are few common elements through time: 1st Century Christianity is very different in its assumptions about people and the world than 20th Century Christianity, for instance.

Is ET a relativist? No. He believes that the continuity in any religion, and even between very different religious traditions, is found in God. In his famous phrase, "God is the One among the many." All things are grounded in and find perfect continuity in God. But God is so far beyond us, that it is not surprising that we often cannot see that continuity.

All this is an interesting way of justifying and legitimating diversity in religion. ET himself was a Christian sociologist of religion, but he believed he could learn from all good people, no matter what their religious tradition.

ET also was the first sociologist to develop a typology of the sociological forms of religion, a typology very similar to the more current version that has been distributed in class. (Church/Denomination/Sect/Cult)