Religion and Political Power

Edited by Gustavo Benavides & Martin W. Daly

Subjects: Politics
Paperback : 9780791400272, 240 pages, July 1989
Hardcover : 9780791400265, 240 pages, July 1989

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Table of contents

Preface

1. Religious Articulations of Power
Gustavo Benavides

2. India, Sri Lanka and Religion
Ninian Smart

3. Indian Secularism and the Problem of the Sikhs
Lina Gupta

4. The Problem of "Superstition" in the People's Republic of China
Stephan Feuchtwang

5. Islam and Political Power in the USSR
Alexandre Bennigsen

6. Islam, Secularism, and Ethnic Identity in the Sudan
M. W. Daly

7. Privatization of Woman's Role in the Islamic Republic of Iran
Shahin Gerami

8. Jewish Religion(s) and Jewish State: The Case of Conservative and Reform Judaism in Israel
William M. Batkay

9. American Foreign Policy through Benediction: The Case of Russell Conwell
Warren L. Vinz

10. Civil Religion in a New Context: The Mexican-American Faith of César Chávez
Spencer Bennett

11. Religion and Nationalism in the United States
Phillip E. Hammond

12. Millennial Politics in Contemporary Peru
Gustavo Benavides

Notes

Contributors

Index

Description

This book explores the interaction between two of the most charged topics in the modern world, religion and politics. It shows the inextricable connection between religious attitudes and representations, and political activities.

After an introductory chapter explores theoretically the religious articulations of political power, the authors examine the role played by religion in the current political situation in several countries. Approaching these cases as anthropologists, historians, sociologists, and political scientists, the authors make visible the dialectical relationship between religion and the pursuit of political power—on the one hand, the political significance of religious choices, and on the other, the almost unavoidable need to articulate in religious terms a group's attempt to acquire, maintain, or expand political power.

Gustavo Benavides is Lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies at Villanova University. M. W. Daly is Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Memphis State University.