Introduction

Abstract

The introduction starts with a brief but pointed characterization of the religious situation in the Global North and the South, and analyzes the discourse on “return of religion.” The chapter provides an initial clarification of the key concepts of identity, religion, and globalization, employed throughout this volume. It shows that relating religion to modernity is not the same discourse as religion under globalizing conditions. On the theoretical front, the chapter points out how the religious experiences of the South have not become part of theorizing and how the prevalent theories are not able to do justice to the practice of religions in the Global South. A new and different theorizing is called for.