RETHINKING RELIGION

Contemporary discourses on religion generally centre either on its ideological dimensions or on its practical implications, though there is always an implicit tension between these two. This book tries to bridge the gap and explore this complex phenomenon in the context of rising popularity of rationalist outlook in social life, and of ‘secularization and de-divinization’ perspective in sociological and philosophical literatures. In order to provide a complete and comprehensive analysis of religion this book focuses on:

—Traditional Religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam.

—Classical Theories of Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber.

—The Enlightenment Critique of Religion.

—Tribal Religion and Folk Religion.

—Religion and Globalization.

Scholars from USA, UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Bangladesh, Iran and India have contributed to this volume and the mélange of diverse viewpoints has enriched the quality of the book. This book will undoubtedly prove useful to the scholars and students of sociology, anthropology, philosophy, history and religion studies.