Olivier Roy is one of the most distinguished analysts of and commentators on political Islam in the Muslim Middle East and Central Asia. He is Professor at the European University Institute in Florence.
"Olivier Roy, the outstanding scholar of contemporary religions,
has written a book of startling clarity and wisdom. Illuminating
trends, issues and movements that had before appeared bizarre or
simply antipathetic, he provides us with tools for the
comprehension of matters as diverse as coverage of the war on
terror to the common individual confusion over one's own beliefs
and scepticisms."--Financial Times"[A] perceptive and thoughtful
book."--Richard Phelps, The Guardian"The book is an intriguing
examination of contemporary religion outside of the usual
secularization debate."--Religion Watch
"An erudite account of intricate relationships between religion and
other markers of identity, including nationality, socially defined
race, language, class, political ideology, generation, gender and
sexual orientation."--Times Literary Supplement"Holy Ignorance is
in a way a synthesis of all Roy's previous work on the sociology of
religion. It formulates forcefully the thesis that has been taking
shape throughout his previous works: in a globalised world,
religion thrives to the extent that it has severed its ties with
culture. This de-culturation of religions explains their revival,
and much of our difficulties in understanding them. It is certainly
an important book that is written in an easy, accessible language
fit for a wide audience--Roy's erudition is simply flabbergasting,
and it has the merit of making his book very concrete, very
vivid."--Nicholas Guilhot, New York University"Roy's central theses
about the way religion is going in today's world (a breathtakingly
ambitious exercise to be sure) could, and deserve to, reset debates
about secularization and secularism, and give birth to creative new
departures in theory and research."--David Lehmann, Cambridge
University"An intriguing thesis slithers through this impressively
profuse and promiscuous garden of sociohistorical erudition.
Religion is not experiencing a comeback, the renowned scholar of
political Islam argues, but a significant transformation brought
about by the secularization intended to marginalize and diminish
it." -- Michael P. Kramer, Common Knowledge
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