"This collection of original essays by leading academics represents an interdisciplinary intervention in the continuing and ever-transforming discussion of the role of religion and secularism in today's world. Foregrounding the most urgent and compelling questions raised by the …
"The United States has never had an officially established national church. Since the time of the first British colonists, it has instead developed a strong civil religion that melds God and nation. In a deft exploration of American civil religious symbols -- from the Liberty Be…
A new insight into the interplay between ceremonial ritual and power, drawing on the rich archives of medieval Bruges.
"Public religious practice lay at the heart of civic society in late medieval Europe. In this illuminating study, Andrew Brown draws on the rich and previously little-researched archives of Bruges, one of medieval Europe's wealthiest and most important towns, to explore the role…
The decadence of industrial democracies
"The nation-state is for the most part the product of a European mentalité. What happens when it is exported, along with colonialism, to other parts of the world? What happens in China when it encounters--either through force or by willing appropriation--European categories of n…
Territory -- Constitution -- Religion -- Reincarnation -- Contact -- Nativity. "The nation-state is for the most part the product of a European mentalité. What happens when it is exported, along with colonialism, to other parts of the world? What happens in China when it encoun…
"The nation-state is for the most part the product of a European mentalité. What happens when it is exported, along with colonialism, to other parts of the world? What happens in China when it encounters--either through force or by willing appropriation--European categories of n…
Confucianism, a habit of the heart
"What do our myths say about us? Why do we choose to believe stories that have been disproven? David M. Krueger takes an in-depth look at a legend that held tremendous power in one corner of Minnesota, helping to define both a community's and a state's identity for decades. In 1…