Why Politics Can't be Freed From Religion is an original, erudite, and timely new book from Ivan Strenski. Itinterrogates the central ideas and contexts behind religion, politics, and power, proposing an alternative way in which we should think about these issues in the twenty-first century.
A timely and highly original contribution to debates about religion, politics and power – and how historic and social influences have prejudiced our understanding of these concepts
Proposes a new theoretical framework to think about what these ideas and institutions mean in today&'s society
Applies this new perspective to a variety of real-world issues, including insights into suicide bombers in the Middle East
Includes radical critiques of the religious and political perspectives of thinkers such as Talal Asad and Michel Foucault
Dislodges our conventional thinking about politics and religion, and in doing so, helps make sense of the complexities of our twenty-first century world
About the Author
Ivan Strenski is Holstein Family and Community Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Riverside. He is the author of numerous books, including: Contesting Sacrifice: Religion, Nationalism and Social Thought (2002); Theology and the First Theory of Sacrifice (2003); The New Durkheim: Essays on Philosophy, Religious Identity and the Politics of Knowledge (2006); Thinking About Religion: An Historical Introduction to Theories of Religion and Thinking About Religion: A Reader (both Wiley-Blackwell, 2006).
Features
A timely and highly original contribution to debates about religion, politics and power – and how historic and social influences have prejudiced our understanding of what these mean
Proposes a new theoretical framework to think about what these ideas and institutions mean in today’s society
Applies this new perspective to a variety of real-world issues, including insights into suicide bombers in the Middle East
Includes radical critiques of the religious and political perspectives of thinkers such as Talal Asad and Michel Foucault
Dislodges our conventional thinking about politics and religion, and in doing so, helps make sense of the complexities of our twenty-first century world
