Sacred Tensions: Modernity and Religious Transformation in Malaysia

Dynamic religious and social change in a country that exemplifies religious multiplicity. Despite predictions that the contemporary world with its secular trends would eventually turn religion into an anachronism, at no time in modern history has religion been more vibrant and intense than now.

In Sacred Tendons Raymond L. M. Lee and Susan E. Ackerman consider this resurgence of religion, particularly the resurgence of charismatic practices, in light of the importance of modernity, rationalism, and bureaucracy. The authors look specifically at the relation between secularization and religion in Malaysia, which serves as a crossroads of the world religions.

Lee and Ackerman suggest that Malaysia's rapidly modernizing society offers an ideal setting in which to study the dynamics of religious and social change. They examine the development and practice of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity, and from their analyses provide insight about how established and charismatic religions fit into the framework of modernization and secularization throughout the world.

University of California Press. Hardback. Brand New