- Acknowledgements
- Contributors
- Introduction: Towards A More Organic Understanding of Religion within a Global Framework
- Reappraising Durkheim for the Study and Teaching of Religion
- The Uses of Max Weber: Legitimation and Amnesia in Buddhology, South Asian History, and Anthropological Practice Theory
- Max Weber: Religion and Modernization
- Max Weber on Islam and Confucianism: The Kantian Theory of Secularization
- Religion In the Works of Habermas, Bourdieu, and Foucault
- Rational Choice Theory: A Critique
- Religion and Gender
- Religion and Modernity Worldwide
- Postmodernism and Religion
- Religion and Power
- Culture and Religion
- Methodology in the Sociology of Religion
- Conceptual Models in the Study of Religion
- Defining Religion: A Social Science Approach
- A Critical View of Cognitive Science's Attempt to Explain Religion and its Development
- Science and Religion
- Atheism
- Religion and Morality
- The Contemporary Convergence of Art and Religion
- The Social Roots and Meaning of Trance and Possession
- Religion and The State
- Religion and Nationalism
- Religion and The Law: An Interactionist View
- The Socio-Cultural and Socio-Religious Origins of Human Rights
- Globalization, Theocratization, and Politicized Civil Religion
- Religious Fundamentalism
- Migration and the Globalization of Religion
- Religious Diversity
- Church-sect-cult: Constructing Typologies of Religious Groups
- Sects in Islam
- Congregations: Local, Social, and Religious
- The Sociology of the Clergy
- The Meaning and Scope of Secularization
- Generations and Religion
- Religion and Family
- The Reproduction and Transmission of Religion
- Religion and Ritual: A Multi-perspectival Approach
- Religion and The Media
- Religion and the Internet
- New Religions as a Specialist Field of Study
- Unchurched Spirituality
- Spiritualities of Life
- The Sociology Of Esotericism
- Implicit Religion
- Religion and Ecology
- Religion, Spirituality, and Health: An Institutional Approach
- The Role of Religious Institutions in Responding to Crime and Delinquency
- Religion and Altruism
- Religious Violence
- Girard, Religion, Violence, and Modern Martyrdom
- Religion and Social Problems: A New Theoretical Perspective
- Religion and Social Problems: Individual and Institutional Responses
- The Teacher of Religion as Ethnographer
- Ethnography/Religion Explorations in Field and Classroom
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
This article presents reflections on religion and modernity in three religious traditions, the centres of gravity of which lie in the non-Western world. The three traditions are Pentecostal Christianity, resurgent Islam, and Hindu nationalism. Several things stand out from this overview. The first is that religious change worldwide bears the imprint of, not a unitary secularisation, but each tradition's engagement with the world-building powers of our age. The historic, or ‘world’, religions are the most long lasting of civilizational institutions. Among the world-building powers shaping the course of modern religious change are capitalism, the nation-state, new modes of knowledge and communications, and non-religious ideologies such as liberalism and secular nationalism. The second point is that, contrary to some earlier forecasts, the impact of these world-building forces on religion has been heterogeneous rather than homogenising.
Keywords: Pentecostal Christianity, resurgent Islam, Hindu nationalism, religious change, secular nationalism, capitalism
Robert W. Hefner is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Institute of Culture, Religion, and World Affairs, Boston University, where he also directs the program on Islam and Civil Society.
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- Acknowledgements
- Contributors
- Introduction: Towards A More Organic Understanding of Religion within a Global Framework
- Reappraising Durkheim for the Study and Teaching of Religion
- The Uses of Max Weber: Legitimation and Amnesia in Buddhology, South Asian History, and Anthropological Practice Theory
- Max Weber: Religion and Modernization
- Max Weber on Islam and Confucianism: The Kantian Theory of Secularization
- Religion In the Works of Habermas, Bourdieu, and Foucault
- Rational Choice Theory: A Critique
- Religion and Gender
- Religion and Modernity Worldwide
- Postmodernism and Religion
- Religion and Power
- Culture and Religion
- Methodology in the Sociology of Religion
- Conceptual Models in the Study of Religion
- Defining Religion: A Social Science Approach
- A Critical View of Cognitive Science's Attempt to Explain Religion and its Development
- Science and Religion
- Atheism
- Religion and Morality
- The Contemporary Convergence of Art and Religion
- The Social Roots and Meaning of Trance and Possession
- Religion and The State
- Religion and Nationalism
- Religion and The Law: An Interactionist View
- The Socio-Cultural and Socio-Religious Origins of Human Rights
- Globalization, Theocratization, and Politicized Civil Religion
- Religious Fundamentalism
- Migration and the Globalization of Religion
- Religious Diversity
- Church-sect-cult: Constructing Typologies of Religious Groups
- Sects in Islam
- Congregations: Local, Social, and Religious
- The Sociology of the Clergy
- The Meaning and Scope of Secularization
- Generations and Religion
- Religion and Family
- The Reproduction and Transmission of Religion
- Religion and Ritual: A Multi-perspectival Approach
- Religion and The Media
- Religion and the Internet
- New Religions as a Specialist Field of Study
- Unchurched Spirituality
- Spiritualities of Life
- The Sociology Of Esotericism
- Implicit Religion
- Religion and Ecology
- Religion, Spirituality, and Health: An Institutional Approach
- The Role of Religious Institutions in Responding to Crime and Delinquency
- Religion and Altruism
- Religious Violence
- Girard, Religion, Violence, and Modern Martyrdom
- Religion and Social Problems: A New Theoretical Perspective
- Religion and Social Problems: Individual and Institutional Responses
- The Teacher of Religion as Ethnographer
- Ethnography/Religion Explorations in Field and Classroom
- Index