Religion in the 21st Century: Challenges and Transformations

Science has long challenged religious belief, but the corresponding role of religion to prune science of idolatry and false absolutes is rarely discussed. This volume addresses that imbalance and its contributors seek to usher in a new era of mutually constructive dialogue. Robert E. Ulanowicz, University of Maryland's Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, USA

Religion in the 21st century is a phenomenon that cannot be taken for granted, and is undergoing transformations that present us with new challenges both from a scholarly and societal perspective. The nuanced and multifaceted way in which these features are analyzed in this book should be welcomed by all who are interested and concerned with the role of religion on the contemporary scene. The combination of accessible scholarship and challenging positions makes this a book for everyone who is interested in religion in the secularized parts of the world. The volume contributes to an understanding of how it is not, after all, a contradiction to be both fully modern and religious. Jan-Olav Henriksen, Norwegian School of Theology, Oslo, Norway

In spite of the debate about secularization or de-secularization, the existential-bodily need for religion is basically the same as always. What have been changed are the horizons within which religions are interpreted and the relationships within which religions are integrated.

This book explores how religions continue to challenge secular democracy and science, and how religions are themselves being challenged by secular values and practices. All traditions-whether religious or secular-experience a struggle over authority, and this struggle seems to intensify with globalization, as it has brought people around the world in closer contact with each other, in this book, internationally leading scholars from sociology, law, political science, religious studies, theology and the religion and science debate, take stock of the current interdisciplinary research on religion and open new perspectives at the cutting edge of the debate on religion in the 21st century.

Lisbet Christoffersen is Professor in Law, Religion and Society at Roskilde University, Denmark, and Adjunct Professor of Law and Religion with Ecclesiastical Law at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Hans Raun Iversen is Associate Professor for Practical Theology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Hanne Petersen is Professor of Legal Cultures. She is part of a management team of the Centre for Studies of Legal Culture at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. She was formerly Professor of Jurisprudence and Sociology of Law at the University of Greenland, and Professor of Greenlandic Sociology of Law at the University of Copenhagen.
Margit Warburg is Professor in Sociology of Religion at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.