Nation and Religion: Perspectives on Europe and Asia

Commendation Quotes: "Nation and Religion" urges us to rethink the received historical interpretation that associates the onset of western modernity with the separation of the private world of religion from the public domain of politics. Commendation Quotes: "Nation and Religion " urges us to rethink the received historical interpretation that associates the onset of western modernity with the separation of the private world of religion from the public domain of politics. Commendation Quotes: Van der Veer and Lehmann have collected eminent scholars to focus on the manifold connections between religion and nationalism. . . . There are keen scholarly insights here that will appeal to a wide readership. Marc Notes: Bibl. & index; Avail. in cloth at $55.00Table of Contents: Acknowledgments1Introduction32The Moral State: Religion, Nation, and Empire in Victorian Britain and British India153Protestantism and British National Identity, 1815-1945444Race in Britain and India715History, the Nation, and Religion: The Transformations of the Dutch Religious Past966On Religious and Linguistic Nationalisms: The Second Partition of Bengal1127Nationalism, Modernity, and Muslim Identity in India before 19471298Memory, Mourning, and National Morality: Yasukuni Shrine and the Reunion of State and Religion in Postwar Japan1449Papists and Beggars: National Festivals and Nation Building in the Netherlands during the Nineteenth Century16110Religion, Nation-State, Secularism17811The Goodness of Nations197Bibliography205List of Contributors223Index225Publisher Marketing: Does modernity make religion politically irrelevant? Conventional scholarly and popular wisdom says that it does. The prevailing view assumes that the onset of western modernity--characterized by the rise of nationalism, the dominance of capitalism, and the emergence of powerful state institutions--favors secularism and relegates religion to the purely private realm. This collection of essays on nationalism and religion in Europe and Asia challenges that view. Contributors show that religion and politics are mixed together in complex and vitally important ways not just in the East, but in the West as well. The book focuses on four societies: India, Japan, Britain, and the Netherlands. It shows that religion and nationalism in these societies combined to produce such notions as the nation being chosen for a historical task (imperialism, for example), the possibility of national revival, and political leadership as a form of salvation. The volume also examines the qualities of religious discourse and practice that can be used for nationalist purposes, paying special attention to how religion can help to give meaning to sacrifice in national struggle. The book's comparative approach underscores that developments in colonizing and colonized countries, too often considered separately, are subtly interrelated. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Benedict R. Anderson, Talal Asad, Susan Bayly, Partha Chatterjee, Frans Groot, Harry Harootunian, Hugh McLeod, Barbara Metcalf, and Peter van Rooden.

Contributor Bio:  Van Der Veer, Peter is Professor of Comparative Religion and Director of the Research Center for Religion and Society at the University of Amsterdam. Contributor Bio:  Van Der Veer, Peter Peter van der Veer is Professor of Comparative Religion at the University of Amsterdam and the author of "Gods on Earth: The Management of Religious Experience and Identity in a North Indian Pilgrimage Centre" (1988). Contributor Bio:  Lehmann, Hartmut Hartmut Lehmann is Professor of History and Director of the Max-Planck Institute for History in Gottingen, Germany. Hermann Wellenreuther is Professor of History at the University of Gottingen. Renate Wilson is a social and medical historian at The Johns Hopkins University. Contributor Bio:  Van Der Veer, Peter Peter van der Veer is Professor of Comparative Religion at tPeter van der Veer is Professor of Comparative Religion at tPeter van der Veer is Professor of Comparative Religion at tPeter van der Veer is Professor of Comparative Religion at the University of Amsterdam and the author of "Gods on Earth:he University of Amsterdam and the author of "Gods on Earth:he University of Amsterdam and the author of "Gods on Earth:he University of Amsterdam and the author of "Gods on Earth: The Management of Religious Experience and Identity in a No The Management of Religious Experience and Identity in a No The Management of Religious Experience and Identity in a No The Management of Religious Experience and Identity in a North Indian Pilgrimage Centre" (1988). rth Indian Pilgrimage Centre" (1988). rth Indian Pilgrimage Centre" (1988). rth Indian Pilgrimage Centre" (1988).