Religion and Secularity

Marion Eggert, Dr. (1992, Munich, Sinology), is Professor of Korean Studies at Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany. She has published on Chinese and Korean poetry and poetics, dream culture, travel literature, and religious culture, especially the interaction between Confucianism and Christianity.Lucian Hölscher, Dr. (1976, Heidelberg, Modern History), is Professor for Modern History at the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany. He has published on past concepts of the future, the theory of history and the history of religion, including a History of Protestantism (Munich: Beck 2005).

"The book certainly demonstrates how weak the arguments are of those who see concepts such as ‘religion’ and the ‘secular’ simply as Western constructions imposed on other cultures. It also, importantly, shows that secularism was not necessarily seen by proponents as something ‘anti-religious’ so much as it served as a means of protecting religions." - Ian Reader, Lancaster University, in: Journal of Religion in Europe 8/1 (2015), 149-152"This volume of case studies is a rich contribution to the discussion of religion and secularity, and it reminds us of the importance of steering away from universalizing our thinking regarding the process of secularization." - Courtney Bruntz, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, in: Religion 45/1 (2015), 142-146"The book presents a wide range of empirical studies, with geographical and historical variability, aiming successfully at clarifying concepts and their fluctuating meanings." - Carolina Ivanescu, independent scholar, in: Comparative Sociology 15/1 (2016), 144-145"The editors of this useful and readable volume intend to furnish an ongoing debate on secularization with “historical and semantic reference points." - Barbara Hendrischke, University of Sydney, in: Religious Studies Review 40/1 (2014), 59