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The last decade has seen an unexpected return of the religious, and with it the creation of new kinds of social forms alongside new fusions of political and religious realms that high modernity kept distinct. For a fuller understanding of what this means for society in the context of globalization, it is necessary to rethink the relationship between the religious and the secular; the contributors - all leading scholars in anthropology - do just that, some even arguing that secularization itself now takes a religious form. Combining theoretical reflection with vivid ethnographic explorations, this essential collection is designed to advance a critical understanding of social and personal religious experience in today's world.

Kari Telle is a Senior Researcher at the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) in Bergen, Norway, where she also coordinates the "Politics of Faith" research program. Her work in Indonesia deals with popular religion, ritual, conflict and security politics. Recent publications include: Swearing Innocence: Performing Justice and "Reconciliation" in Post-New Order Lombok(2009); Spirited Places and Ritual Dynamics among Sasak Muslims on Lombok (2009); Entangled Biographies: Rebuilding a Sasak House (2007).

Annelin Eriksen is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen. She has worked since 1995 in Vanuatu, first on Ambrym island and later in the capital Port Vila. Her work deals with social and cultural change, Christianity, and gender relations. Her most recent book is Gender, Christianity and Change (2008).

Bruce Kapferer is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences and is currently Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen, Norway. His published books include: A Celebration of Demons (1983), Legends of People, Myths of the State (1988), and The Feast of the Sorcerer (1997). He has edited Beyond Rationalism (2003), and has coedited with Angela Hobart Aesthetics in Performance (2005) and, with Bjørn Bertelsen, Crisis of the State (2009).