Modernity and the Millennium is the first book to chart responses in the Muslim Middle East to modernity through an examination of the evolution of the Baha'i faith--a millenarian movement led by the nineteenth-century Iranian prophet Baha'u'llah ("the Glory of God"). This volume illuminates the complexity and ambiguity that characterized the changing relationship of Baha'u'llah and his followers to modernity; considered as a transnational and fluid political and cultural field of contestation. The insights presented here into these responses to modernity illuminate not only the genesis of a new world-religion but also important facets of Middle Eastern-particularly Iranian-social and cultural shifts in the nineteenth century.Drawing on the work of Habermas; Giddens; Touraine and Bryan Turner; among others; Juan R. I. Cole considers some of the ways in which Middle Eastern society was affected by five developments central to modernity: the lessening entanglement of the state with religion; the move from absolutism to democracy; the rise of sovereign nation-states; the advent of nationalism; and the women's movement. He explores the Baha'is' positive response to religious toleration; democracy; and greater rights for women and their "utopian realist" critique of nationalism; militant Jacobin secularization; industrialized warfare; and genocide; oppression of the poor and working classes; and xenophobia.
#88000 in Books Palgrave Macmillan 2010-06-21 2010-05-25Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.26 x .42 x 5.41l; .55 #File Name: 0230621252190 pages
Review
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. A world-enlarging history of AsiaBy Roger GreenBoth this and "Spirituality in the Land of the Noble"; by Richard Foltz; are excellent depictions of the origins of the major world religions and the cultures associated with them. These two books are very readable and give an image of the millennia long history of Asian civilization; and of the interactions (mostly via Persia/Iran) that enriched European history. It is enlightening to realize that the Jewish people would not have survived to be where they are now if it weren't for Persian King Cyrus; who freed the Jews from the Babylonian captivity. And that archeological finds in what is now western China include images that are clearly Persian/Greek from an era when those civilizations penetrated to China. And that Chinese Buddhist monks traveled to India in the early years CE (AD) to study the earliest Buddhist scriptures. Or that for many centuries Christianity was common in Central Asia; but was almost entirely versions of Christianity contemned as heretical (e.g Nestorian) by the Roman Church Most of us don't know about these backs forths via the Silk Road. Foltz has given us two very world-enlarging books.9 of 10 people found the following review helpful. easy to readBy James KenneyFoltz has a way with words; and can cast a spell that will leave you pondering for days. This is a fabulous little book which is at home with all the religions that slipped along the silk road: Buddhism; Christianity; Manichaeism; Islam; and is able to blend them in a way that the silk road itself did. Crisp; authoritative; easy to read: a jewel.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. The Religions of the Silk RoadBy T. V. JohnsonThe Silk Road was an interesting cross-cultural approach to explorethe many empires and peoples who were transmitters of commerceand ideas. The author; Richard Foltz; made a superior approachin meeting the many contributions of the Silk Road varied cultures.
