From World Religions to Axial Civilizations and Beyond
From World Religions to Axial Civilizations and Beyond

Author: Saïd Amir Arjomand

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2021-03-01

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1438483414

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The post–World War II idea of the Axial Age by Karl Jaspers, and as elaborated into the sociology of axial civilizations by S. N. Eisenstadt in the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, continues to be the subject of intense scholarly debate. Examples of this can be found in recent works of Hans Joas and Jürgen Habermas. In From World Religions to Axial Civilizations and Beyond, an internationally distinguished group of scholars discuss, advance, and criticize the Jaspers-Eisenstadt thesis, and go beyond it by bringing in the critical influence of Max Weber's sociology of world religions and by exploring intercivilizational encounters in key world regions. The essays within this volume are of unusual interest for their original analysis of relatively neglected civilizational zones, especially Islam and the Islamicate civilization and the Byzantine civilization, and its continuation in Orthodox Russia.

Revisiting Secularism in Theory and Practice
Revisiting Secularism in Theory and Practice

Author: Seda Ünsar

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-02-21

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 3030374564

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This book offers a philosophical and macro-historical analysis of secularism, supported by an investigation of various contemporary cases. Starting with an in-depth theoretical discussion of the meaning of secularism, it subsequently presents a historical study on the secularization of norms and identities in Europe. The respective case studies cover topics such as the epistemologies of secularism, liberalization and embedded secularism, the relationship between modernity and secularism, the socio-anthropology of secularism, Turkish modernization as a cultural revolution, the political economy of secularism in Turkey, and the secular rationale of the EU neighborhood policy.