Faith and Social Movements - Religious Reform in Contemporary India

This book analyses a Hindu and an Islamic reform movement - Svadhyaya and Tablighi Jamaat - grounded in ethnographic research.

List of contents

List of figures; Preface; Acknowledgments; Introduction: dissent, religion and civil society; Part I. Svadhyaya Ethics and the Spirit of Voluntarism: 1. Theologies of self-reform: what transforms the cross?; 2. Praxis of an emergent congregation: metaphysics of reform and rebirth; 3. The structure of Lokasamgraha: volunteers, networks and training; 4. Succession, routinization of charisma and judicial religion; Part II. The Tablighi Jamaat's Call for Self-reform: 5. Pedagogy of Tablighi reform: the mission and the messenger; 6. 'Unintended consequences' of piety and discourses of Islamic reform; Conclusion: religion, movements and secularity; Glossary; Bibliography; Index.

About the author

Anindita Chakrabarti teaches in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. She was also Visiting Professor at Leipzig University in 2013. Her research interests are sociology of religion, sociology of social movements, sociology of work and sociology of law.

Summary

The book straddles the fields of the sociology of movements and religious studies. Using a comparative lens, two different movements - a Hindu and an Islamic reform - have been studied in ethnographic detail. It contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the concepts of secularity and civil society in a 'post-secular' world.

Product details

• Authors: Anindita Chakrabarti, Anindita (Indian Institute of Technol Chakrabarti, Anindita (Indian Institute of Technology Chakrabarti, Chakrabarti Anindita
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.09.2017
• EAN: 9781107166622
• ISBN: 978-1-107-16662-2
• No. of pages: 242
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Religion: general, reference works; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; Sociology, RELIGION / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / Democracy, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology of Religion, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / Asian, India, Religion: general, Political structures: democracy, Religious groups: social & cultural aspects, Social groups: religious groups and communities, Political structures / systems: democracy