By N. J. Demerath III
Eminent sociologist of faith Jay Demerath traveled to Brazil, China, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Northern eire, Pakistan, Poland, Sweden, Turkey, and Thailand to discover the heritage and present dating of faith, politics, and the kingdom in each one state. within the first a part of this wide-ranging publication, he asks, What are the elemental fault strains alongside which present tensions and conflicts have shaped? What are the trajectories of swap from earlier to offer, and the way do they assist are expecting the future?
In the book’s moment half the writer returns domestic to target the us the purely country based in particular at the precept of a separation among faith and country and examines the level to which this precept really holds and the implications while it doesn't. Highlighting such concerns as tradition wars, violence, globalization, and the fluidity of person non secular id, Demerath exposes the provincialism and fallacies underlying lots of our perspectives of faith and politics worldwide.
Finally, Demerath examines America’s prestige because the world’s so much spiritual country. He locations that declare inside a comparative context and argues that our nation isn't really “more spiritual” yet “differently religious.” He argues that it represents a distinct blend of congregational faith, spiritual pluralism, and civil faith. however the usa additionally illustrates the common tendency for the sacred to offer strategy to the secular and for the secular to generate new sorts of the sacred.
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Extra resources for Crossing the Gods: World Religions and Worldly Politics
Sample text
Brazil declared its independence as early as 1822 and established itself as a republic in 1889. Portugal has long since ceased to be Brazil’s primary reference point, though Portuguese continues as its national language. Like most of Latin America, Brazil has three religious traditions that Brazil and Guatemala 17 have grown increasingly competitive but not without some convergences. Of course, the Roman Catholic Church is the great institutional monolith. Until 1889, Brazil was officially a Catholic state, though in real political matters, the church was largely under the thumb of the Portuguese crown.
Many other Latin American (especially Central American) countries revolve increasingly around the United States, both culturally and economically. But Brazil is now remarkably self-sufficient. If it tilts in any direction, it is toward Europe, and this is not just because of its Portuguese colonial past. Brazil declared its independence as early as 1822 and established itself as a republic in 1889. Portugal has long since ceased to be Brazil’s primary reference point, though Portuguese continues as its national language.
This was not at all the Brazil I had envisioned. Rio de Janeiro, with its scalloped beaches and sensuous carnival, was more than a thousand miles to the southeast. By contrast, Rio Maria seemed like the sleepy setting of a stock Hollywood western, and with much the same primordial conflict between the few who had claimed the land and the many who sought it—in this case, with the priest’s help. Brazil as Cultural Multilith Brazil is hardly the only Latin American nation to offer such contrasts. But it is exceptional on several other counts.