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9780804747684 Academic Inspection Copy

Formations of the Secular

Christianity, Islam, Modernity
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Opening with the provocative query "what might an anthropology of the secular look like?" this work explores the concepts, practices, and political formations of secularism, with emphasis on the major historical shifts that have shaped secular sensibilities in the modern West and Middle East. It proceeds to dismantle commonly held assumptions about the secular and the terrain it allegedly covers. It argues that while anthropologists have oriented themselves to the study of the "strangeness of the non-European world", and to what are seen as non-rational dimensions of social life, the modern and secular have not been examined. The conclusion is that the secular cannot be viewed as a successor to religion, or be seen as on the side of the irrational. This work should appeal to anthropologists, historians, religious studies scholars, as well as scholars working on modernity.
Talal Asad is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the author of Genealogies of Religion.
"A dark but brilliantly original work, Formations of the Secular is one of the most important books on religion and the modern in recent years." - H-Net Reviews "Formations of the Secular is also a difficult if stunningly eloquent book, a response both elusive and forthright to the many shelves of 'books on terrorism' which this country's trade publishers are rushing into print." - Bryn Mawr Review of Comparative Literature "This wonderfully illuminating book should be read alongside the author's Genealogies of Religion ..." - Religion "...Asad's brilliant study remains a defining piece of intellectual and scholarly contribution for all of those interested in exploring the religious and the secular in the modern era." - The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences "...one of the most interesting scholars of religious writing today." - Christian Scholar's Review
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