Religion and Politics: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies

The early twenty-first century has witnessed a global resurgence of religious activity and identification. In particular, numerous examples of the growing political influence of religion can be cited, not least in Europe, once thought to be an inexorably secularizing continent. In India, meanwhile, officially a secular state, the Bharatiya Janata Party has served in several coalition governments and, until 2004, was the leading party in government. In the USA, religion continues to have a major impact on both domestic politics and the country’s international relations. More obviously perhaps, in the Middle East, religion plays an enormous part in political life, both domestically and internationally, while the Roman Catholic Church has played a leading role in the turn to democracy in Spain, Poland, and several Latin American countries.

Volume I (‘The World Religions and Politics’) of this new four-volume collection from Routledge focuses on the major world religions and the roles they play in politics. Volume II (‘Religion and Governance’) brings together key work on: religion and secularization; religious fundamentalism; the relationship between church and state; religion and democracy; and religion and civil society. Volume III (‘Religion and International Relations’), meanwhile, assembles vital scholarship on religion and foreign policy, globalization, and terrorism. Finally, Volume IV collects work on ‘Religion, Development, and Security’ to examine religion and conflict; religion, gender, and politics; faith-based development aid; religion and science; and religion and human rights.

With a full index and a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, that places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Religion and Politics is an essential one-stop reference resource.