This book aims to expand the limits of the social-scientific study of religion and define a coherent model of recent global transformations in religion, challenging the paradigm of secularisation and post-secularisation. Using a wide-ranging selection of case studies, including global Islam, post-Soviet Eastern Europe, China, India, and Africa, the author argues that since the 1980s, religion has been dramatically shaped around the world by neoliberalism and consumerism. Providing a global, macro-level history of how religion has changed in the past four decades, this book contends that the rise of economics as a dominant social sphere is central to understanding the ongoing changes in contemporary world religions.
1 Introduction
2 The Rise of Market Islam I: Islamism, From State Focus to Lifestyle
3 The Rise of Market Islam II: Halalising Islam, From Fashions and Foods to
Finance
4 From Stalin to the Market: Religion in Orthodox-majority Eastern Europe
5 Chinese Revolutions 1 (1898-1978): The Making of Religion
6 Chinese Revolutions 2 (1978-2022): Booming Economy, Booming Religion
7 Conclusion
Biography
François Gauthier is Professor of Religious Studies in the Department of Social Science at the University of Friborg, Switzerland.
