Holy ignorance : when religion and culture part ways

by Olivier Roy

Paper Book, 2010

Status

Available

Call number

201/.7

Genres

Sociology

Religion & Spirituality

General Nonfiction

Nonfiction

All Topics

Collection

Don

Publication

New York : Columbia University Press, c2010.

Description

Olivier Roy, world renowned authority on Islam and politics, finds in the modern disconnection between faith communities and sociocultural identities a fertile space for fundamentalism to grow. Instead of freeing the world from religion, secularization has encouraged a kind of holy ignorance to take root, an anti-intellectualism that promises immediate, emotional access to the sacred and positions itself in direct opposition to contemporary pagan culture.The secularization of society was supposed to free people from religion, yet individuals are converting en masse to fundamentalist faiths, such as Protestant evangelicalism, Islamic Salafism, and Haredi Judaism. These religions either reconnect adherents to their culture through casual referents, like halal fast food, or "deculturate" through "purification" rituals, such as speaking in tongues, a practice that allows believers to utter a language entirely their own. Instead of a return to traditional religious worship, we are now witnessing the individualization of faith and the disassociation of faith communities from ethnic and national identities. This has placed culturally integrated religions, such as Catholicism and eastern orthodox Christianity, on the defensive, and presents new challenges to state and society. Roy explores the options available to powers that hope to integrate or control these groups and whether marginalization or homogenization will further divide believers from their culture.… (more)

Media reviews

New York Times

Over the past few years, a number of theories have been offered about the rise of fundamentalism. Roy proposes the most original — and the most persuasive. Fundamentalism, in his view, is a symptom of, rather than a reaction against, the increasing secularization of society. Whether it takes the

form of the Christian right in the United States or Salafist purity in the Muslim world, fundamentalism is not about restoring a more authentic and deeply spiritual religious experience. It is instead a manifestation of holy ignorance, Roy’s biting term meant to characterize the worldview of those who, having lost both their theology and their roots, subscribe to ideas as incoherent as they are ultimately futile. The most important thing to know about those urging the restoration of a lost religious authenticity is that they are sustained by the very forces they denounce.

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— 1 more

Financial Times

User reviews

LibraryThing member vpfluke

This is wide-sweeping look at the presence of religion in today's world Roy shows that much religion has become detached from the culture in which it came into being. This has lent a greater fervency to many believers and the cause of greater strife. Roy gives examples of group where the relation

between religion, territory, culture, and lnguge are comples; the Plmiris in Central ASis, African-Emriecans, Tatars and Moriscos. He looks at neo-ethic groups based on religious markers, such as how Muslims are regarded in the Indian subcontinent, religious groups in Bosnia, and Judaism in israel. New paradims have arisen involving sexuality, women, homosexuality, paganism, traditionalist severing of ties from the main authority, and religious purity. Roy looks at the export of religions, and in the process how they are "branded" or "formatted". This is an engrossing book and gives one lot to think about

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