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Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

Print Price: $181.50

Format:
Hardback
760 pp.
6.75" x 9.75"

ISBN-13:
9780199988457

Publication date:
January 2017

Imprint: OUP US


The Oxford Handbook of Secularism

Edited by Phil Zuckerman and John Shook

Series : Oxford Handbooks

As recent headlines reveal, conflicts and debates around the world more and more frequently involve secularism. National borders and traditional religions can no longer keep people in tidy boxes anymore as political struggles, doctrinal divergences, and demographic trends sweep across regions and entire continents. Secularity is increasing in society, with a growing number of people in many regions having no religious affiliation or lacking interest in religion. Simultaneously, there is a resurgence of religious participation in the politics of many countries. How might these diverse phenomena be interrelated, and better understood?

The Oxford Handbook of Secularism offers a wide-ranging examination of secularism on a global scale, bringing together an international collection of views from prominent experts in a variety of fields. This volume reflects the impressive level of academic attention now given to secularism across the humanities, social sciences, law and public policy, and international relations. Long-reigning theories about the pace of secularization, and ideal church-state relations, are here scrutinized by a new generation of scholars studying secularism with new questions, better data, and fresh perspectives.

This is the essential volume for comprehending the core issues and methodological approaches to the demographics and sociology of secularity; the history and variety of political secularisms; the comparison of constitutional secularisms across countries spanning from America to Asia; the key problems now convulsing church-state relations; the intersections of liberalism, multiculturalism, and religion; the latest psychological research into secular lives and lifestyles; and the naturalistic and humanistic worldviews available to nonreligious people. The Oxford Handbook of Secularism addresses a wide breadth of interrelated issues and problems from multi-disciplinary stances, covering scholarly territory not addressed previously.

Readership : Scholars and students in religious studies, apostasy, secularism, humanism, atheism, agnosticism, secularity, secularization, world religions, sociology of religion, psychology of religion, history of religion, anthropology of religion, religion and deviance, and philosophy of religion.

Contributors
Introduction: The Study of Secularism, Phil Zuckerman and John R. Shook
Part One: Identifying the Secular, Secularity, Secularization, and Secularism
1. Identifying (with) the Secular, Johannes Quack
2. Religious/Non-Religious Demography and Religion v. Science: A Global Perspective, Ariela Keysar
3. Secularization and its Consequences, Steve Bruce
4. The Imagined War between Secularism and Religion, Mark Juergensmeyer
5. Political Secularism, Jacques Berlinerblau
6. Political Secularism and Democracy in Theory and Practice, Jonathan Fox
Part Two: Secular Governments
7. Anglo-American Secular Government, John Perry
8. Secularism in France, Amélie Barras
9. Secularism in Turkey, Kenan Sevinc, Ralph W. Hood Jr., Thomas Coleman
10. Secularization in Israel, Guy Ben-Porat
11. Secularism, State Neutrality, and Islam, Abdullah Saeed
12. Secular Government in sub-Saharan Africa, Baffour K. Takyi
13. Secularism in India, Vidhu Verma
14. Soviet Atheism and its Aftermath, Sonja Luehrmann
15. Sacred, Secular, and Neo-sacred Governments in China and Taiwan, Cheng-tian Kuo
Part Three: Contesting Political Secularism
16. Religion in the Public Sphere, Cristina Lafont
17. The Liberal Betrayal of Secularism, Shadia B. Drury
18. Religious Freedom in a Secular Society, Roger Trigg
19. Communicative Reason and Religious Faith in Secular and Post-Secular Contexts, Jacob Goodson
20. Secularisms or Liberal-Democratic Constitutionalism, Veit Bader
21. Multiculturalizing Secularism, Tariq Modood
22. Secularisms or Critique of Religio-Secularism, Yolande Jansen
Part Four: Politics of Church and State
23. A Secular Critique of Religious Ethics and Politics, Paul Cliteur
24. Secular Education and Religion, James Arthur
25. Secularism, Feminism and the Public Sphere, Niamh Reilly
26. Secularism, Race, and Political Affiliation in America, Juhem Navarro-Rivera and Yazmín García Trejo
27. Black Infidels, Sikivu Hutchinson
28. Secularism and U.S. Religion Jurisprudence, Caroline Corbin
29. Separating Church and State in America, David Niose
Part Five: Secularity and Society
30. Varieties of Secular Experience, David Eller
31. Secular Living, Jesse Smith
32. Secular Prosociality and Well-being, Luke Galen
33. Secularism and the Science of Well-being, David Yaden, Jonathan Iwry, Emily Esfahani Smith, James Pawelski
34. Secular Spirituality, Robert C. Fuller
35. Nonreligious People in Religious Societies, Will Gervais and Maxine Najle
36. The Challenge of Leaving Religion and Becoming Secular, Marlene Winell
Part Six: Morality and Secular Ethics
37. Agency and Responsibility in a Natural World, Erik Wielenberg
38. The Evolution of Sociality, Helping and Morality, Dennis Krebs and Kaleda Denton
39. Ethics, Secular and Religious, John Teehan
40. Secular Ethics, East and West, Sor-hoon Tan
41. Secularism, Humanism, and Secular Humanism, Joseph Blankholm
42. Humanism as a Positive Outcome of Secularism, Joachim Duyndam
43. Secularization, Bio-medical Technology and Life Extension, Brian S. Turner
Index

There are no Instructor/Student Resources available at this time.

Phil Zuckerman is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Program in Secular Studies at Pitzer College. He is co-author (with Frank Pasquale and Luke Galen) of The Nonreligious: Understanding Secular People and Societies (OUP 2016) and author of Faith No More: Why People Reject Religion (OUP 2011). John R. Shook is Director of Education and Senior Research Fellow, Center for Inquiry and Visiting Assistant Professor of Science Education and Research Associate in Philosophy at the University at Buffalo.

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Special Features

  • First volume to include comprehensive, interdisciplinary coverage of secularism.
  • Features in depth discussions of secularism in over two dozen countries around the world.