Holy Ignorance : When Religion and Culture Part Ways.

Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Foreword -- Introduction -- Modernity, Secularization and the Revival of Religion -- Deterritorialization and Deculturation -- What is Pure Religion? -- How Can Faith be Passed on to the Next Generation? -- The New Converts -- PART 1: THE INCULTURATION OF RELIGION -- 1. When Religion Meets Culture -- Is Religion Part of Culture? -- Converts and Missionaries: the Clash Between Culture and Religion -- Catholic Missions -- The Protestant Missions -- 2. From Civilization to Multiculturalism -- One Civilization, Many Cultures -- Advent of Cultures and the Crisis of Civilization: the Inculturation of Religion -- 3. Religion, Ethnic Group, Nation -- The Interplay Between Religious and Cultural Markers -- Religion and Language Policy -- 4. Culture and Religion: The Divide -- When Believers and Non-Believers Share the Same Culture -- Divorce: Culture as Neo-Paganism -- Culture That Has Forgotten its Religious Roots -- Pagan Modernity: the Atheist's New Gods -- PART 2: GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION -- 5. Free Market or Domination by the Market? -- Acculturation as Domination -- Is Christianity Still Western? -- 6. The Religion Market -- The Market: Metaphor or Fact? -- Market Conditions -- From Market to Huge Bazaar of Rites and Signs -- 7. The Standardization of Religion -- The Formatting of Religions -- Self-Formatting -- When the Secular State Defines Religion -- Formatting by Institutions -- Formatting Through Social Practice -- The Homogenization Effect -- External Uniformization -- Conclusion -- Glossary -- Notes -- Index.

Olivier Roy, world-renowned authority on Islam and politics, finds in the modern disconnection between faith communities and socio-cultural identities a fertile space for fundamentalism to grow. Instead of freeing the world from religion, secularization has encouraged a kind of holy ignorance to take root, an anti-intellectualism that promises immediate, emotional access to the sacred and positions itself in direct opposition to contemporary pagan culture. The secularization of society was supposed to free people from religion, yet individuals are converting en masse to fundamentalist faiths, such as Protestant evangelicalism, Islamic Salafism, and Haredi Judaism. These religions either reconnect adherents to their culture through casual referents, like halal fast food, or maintain their momentum through purification rituals, such as speaking in tongues, a practice that allows believers to utter a language that is entirely their own. Instead of a return to traditional religious worship, we are now witnessing the individualisation of faith and the disassociation of faith communities from ethnic and national identities. Roy explores the options now available to powers that hope to integrate or control these groups; and whether marginalisation or homogenisation will further divide believers from their culture.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.