Description
Religion and Modern Society Book Description: Today, religion has become the first agenda item of the public, especially with the recent events that focus the world's attention on Islam. This book offers a unique historical and comparative analysis of the role of religion in the emergence of modern secular society. Bryan S. Turner examines the problems of multicultural, multifaith societies and legal pluralism from the perspective of citizenship and the state—with particular emphasis on the problems of defining religion and the sacred in the secularization debate. Turner addresses a number of problems central to current debates: the secularization thesis itself, the communications revolution, rise of youth spirit, feminism, religiosity, religious awakening. Religion and Modern Society contributes to political and ethical disagreements through debates on cosmopolitanism, religion, and globalization. The book ends with a pessimistic analysis of the erosion of the social in modern society and the inability of new religions to provide a "social improvement". (From the Promotional Bulletin)