Religion and Politics in a Global Society

Comparative Perspectives from the Portuguese-Speaking World

Contributions by Pierre Anouilh, Susana Goulart Costa, Eric Morier-Genoud, Christine A. Gustafson, Bindu Malieckal, Didier Peclard, José Damião Rodrigues, Matthew Schmaltz, José Pedro Zúquete Edited by Paul Christopher Manuel Georgetown University, Alynna Lyon, Clyde Wilcox Georgetown University

Publication date:

12 November 2012

Length of book:

274 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

224x151mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780739180068

Religion and Politics in a Global Society: Comparative Perspectives from the Portuguese-Speaking World, edited by Paul Christopher Manuel, Alynna Lyon, and Clyde Wilcox, explores the legacy of the Portuguese colonial experience, with careful consideration of the lasting impression that this experience has had on the cultural, religious, and political dynamics in the former colonies. Applying the insights derived from three theoretical schools (religious society, political institutions, and cultural toolkit), this volume brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines, offering in-depth case studies on Angola, Brazil, East Timor, Goa, Mozambique, and Portugal—societies connected by a shared colonial past and common cultural and sociolinguistic characteristics. Each chapter examines questions on how faith and culture interrelate, and how the various national experiences might resonate with one another. This volume provides a deeper understanding of the Lusophone global society, as well as the larger field of religion and politics.

Foreword. A Tale of Two Statues
by Thomas Massaro, SJ, and Kenneth R. Himes, OFM
Part One. Theoretical, Historical, and Cultural Issues
Chapter One. Religion and Politics in the Portuguese-Speaking World: Three Theoretical Slices
by Paul Christopher Manuel, Alynna J. Lyon, and Clyde Wilcox
Chapter Two. Patterns of Settlement and Religious Imperial Agents in the Portuguese Empire
by José Damião Rodrigues
Chapter Three. Portugal and the Building of an Imaginary Empire
by Susana Goulart Costa
Chapter Four. India's Luso-Africans: The Politics of Culture, Race, Colonialism, and Gender in Early Modern Portugal and Post-Colonial Goa
by Bindu Malieckal
Part Two. Societies Dominated by a Single Religious Tradition
Chapter 5. The Activist Catholic Church in Independent East Timor: "The Church is Not a Political Institution"
by Alynna J. Lyon
Chapter Six. Religion and Politics in Contemporary Portugal: Devotion, Democracy, and the Marian Apparitions at Fátima
by Paul Christopher Manuel
Part Three. Competing Religious Societies, with a Formerly Dominant Church
Chapter Seven. Faith-State Relations in Brazil: What Does Religious Competition Mean for Democracy?
by Christine A. Gustafson
Chapter Eight. The "Depoliticizing Machine": Church and State in Angola since Independence
by Didier Péclard
Part Four. Societies with Marked Religious Diversity, without a Dominant Church
Chapter Nine. A Special Place: Imagining Goa from the Estado da India to Indian Independence
by Matthew N. Schmalz
Chapter Ten. The Catholic Church in Mozambique under Revolution, War, and Democracy
by Eric Morier-Genoud and Pierre Anouilh
Chapter Eleven. Conclusion: Between Land and Sea: Portugal's Two Nationalisms in the Twenty-first Century
by José Pedro Zúquete

Theoretically sophisticated and methodologically eclectic, this collection is a pleasure to read. The contributors have provided a marvelous account of an unlikely imperial power, as well as nuanced analyses of the multiple political and religious legacies of the Portuguese colonial experience.