We God's People
Christianity, Islam and Hinduism in the World of Nations

The politicization of Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism originated with the dual global dissemination of the nation-state alongside the western concept of religion.

Jocelyne Cesari (Author)

9781108453745, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 16 December 2021

200 pages
22.9 x 15.3 x 2.4 cm, 0.658 kg

'Much has been written on how colonization altered the nature of organized public power on the one hand and the character of organized faith on the other. Yet scholarly work on how precisely it impacted their relationship outside the west is scarce. I can think of no better scholar than Jocelyne Cesari to fill this gap. In this well-researched and insightful book, Cesari argues that as the international system developed in the West expanded forcing other societies to structures their memories, emotions and values in accordance with the 'national framework', it pushed them to adopt the separtionalst paradigm with all the tensions between power and faith it engenders. An important book that is bound to become a landmark in the relationship between the 'west' and the 'non-west' on political secularism.' Rajeev Bhargava, Director of Parekh Institute of Indian Thought, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi

Cesari argues that both religious and national communities are defined by the three Bs: belief, behaviour and belonging. By focusing on the ways in which these three Bs intersect, overlap or clash, she identifies the patterns of the politicization of religion, and vice versa, in any given context. Her approach has four advantages: firstly, it combines an exploration of institutional and ideational changes across time, which are usually separated by disciplinary boundaries. Secondly, it illustrates the heuristic value of combining qualitative and quantitative methods by statistically testing the validity of the patterns identified in the qualitative historical phase of the research. Thirdly, it avoids reducing religion to beliefs by investigating the significance of the institution-ideas connections, and fourthly, it broadens the political approach beyond state-religion relations to take into account actions and ideas conveyed in other arenas such as education, welfare, and culture.

Introduction
1. Framing the question
2. State, Islam, Nation, and Patriotism: never ending tensions
3. The nexus of Secularism and Communalism or Hinduism as a political project
4. Religion and the transcendent state in China
5. Orthodoxy: between nation and empire
6. Patterns of religion-politics interactions
Conclusion
Appendix I
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS], Comparative politics [JPB], Social theory [JHBA], Sociology [JHB], Religion & politics [HRAM2], Religion: general [HRA]