The Secular State Under Siege: Religion and Politics in Europe and America

Throughout human history, religion and politics have entertained the most intimate of connections as systems of authority regulating individuals and society. While the two have come apart through the process of secularization, secularism is challenged today by the return of public religion. This cogent analysis unravels the nature of the connection, disconnection, and attempted reconnection between religion and politics in the West. In a comparison of Western Europe and North America, Christianity and Islam, Joppke advances far-reaching theoretical, historical, and comparative-political arguments. With respect to theory, it is argued that only a “substantive” concept of religion, as pertaining to the existence of supra-human powers, opens up the possibility of a historical-comparative perspective on religion. At the level of history, secularization is shown to be the distinct outcome of Latin Christianity itself. And at the level of comparative politics, the Christian Right in America which has attacked the “wall of separation” between religion and state and Islam in Europe with the controversial insistence on sharia law and other “illiberal” claims from some quarters are taken to be counterpart incarnations of public religion and challenges to the secular state. This clearly argued, sweeping book will provide an invaluable framework for approaching an array of critical issues at the intersection of religion, law and politics for advanced students and researchers across the social sciences and legal studies, as well as for the interested public.

The Character of Christian-Muslim Encounter: Essays in Honour of David Thomas

The Character of Christian-Muslim Encounter is a Festschrift in honour of David Thomas, Professor of Christianity and Islam, and Nadir Dinshaw Professor of Inter Religious Relations, at the University of Birmingham, UK. The Editors have put together a collection of over 30 contributions from colleagues of Professor Thomas that commences with a biographical sketch and representative tribute provided by a former doctoral student, and comprises a series of wide-ranging academic papers arranged to broadly reflect three dimensions of David Thomas’ academic and professional work – studies in and of Islam; Christian-Muslim relations; the Church and interreligious engagement. These are set in the context of a focussed theme – the character of Christian-Muslim encounters – and cast within a broad chronological framework.

Western Hindus and 'Global Hinduism' - Discourses on Conversion to 'Hindu-Religions', Acceptance of Converts and Social Engagement

The paper deals with the problem of (the often supposedly impossible) conversion to “Hinduism���. I start with an outline of what I call the ‘no conversion possible’ paradigm, and briefl y point to the lack of refl ection on acceptance of converts in most theories of religious conversion. Then, two examples are presented: Firstly, I consider conversion to ISKCON and the discourse on the Hare Krishna movement’s Hinduness. Secondly, I give a brief outline of the globalsanatana dharmamovement as inaugurated by Satguru Siva Subramuniyaswami, a converted American Hindu based in Hawai’i. In the conclusion, I refl ect on (civic) social capital and engagement in global networks as a means to gain acceptance as converts to Hinduism. I argue in line with Stepick, Rey and Mahler (2009) that the religious movements’ civic engagement (in these cases engagement in favour of the Indian diasporic communities and of Hindus in India) provides a means for the individual, non-Indian converts to acquire the social capital that is necessary for gaining acceptance as ‘Hindus’ in certain contexts.