A Global History of Religions in the Contemporary World

The social sciences have often viewed religion as a phenomenon in sharp decline. However, contrary to these predictions, religion continues to play a fundamental role in the lives of millions of people and is a key factor in explaining conflicts as well as political and national identities. Not even the idea of a distinction between a secular and a religious sphere as the organizing principle of modern societies seems to hold up, given how laws and politics continue to be interpreted through a religious lens. We need only pause for a moment to consider how “the religious” constantly transcends the boundaries established in non-confessional states and permeates every aspect of a country’s social and political life. Francisco Javier Ramón Solans examines the complex relationships between various religious denominations and those elements that are often presented a priori as antagonistic or incompatible: secularization, modernization, modern politics, nation, globalization, gender, and civil rights. He also addresses the “invention” of new institutional religions such as Hinduism, Confucianism, and Shintoism, which until the 19th century were merely a set of moral precepts. A complex and multifaceted account that synthesizes the research conducted in recent decades on the role played by religions in the contemporary world.