The Politics of Postsecular Religion: Mourning Secular Futures

by Ananda Abeysekara

Book Overview

Ananda Abeysekara contends that democracy, along with its cherished secular norms, is founded on the idea of a promise deferred to the future. Rooted in democracy's messianic promise is the belief that religious--political identity-such as Buddhist, Hindu, Sinhalese, Christian, Muslim, or Tamil--can be critiqued, neutralized, improved, and changed, even while remaining inseparable from the genocide of the past. This facile belief, he argues, is...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231142900
• ISBN13: 9780231142908
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 324 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.1"
• Age Range: 22 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher