Religion and Borders
Traditional borders and boundaries are challenged, tested, defended, and redefined in unprecedented ways. Our current crises can be seen as a consequence of conflicting interpretations of the meaning and purpose of borders and boundaries—tribal, political, national, theological, religious, social, familial, sexual, gender, and psychological, among others. The crises of immigration, refugees, famine, disease, poverty, wars, misogyny, sexism, and the environment originate from reified misunderstandings of borders and boundaries. Borders and boundaries define who we are and are not; they divide those who suffer and perish from those who flourish and survive. Religion, itself based on “holiness,” or separateness, plays a vital role—both as object and subject—in better understanding borders and boundaries. Religion and Borders interrogates and reconceptualizes the nature and function of borders and and the role that religion plays in enforcing or overturning barriers. This series will welcome different scholarly approaches that examine the connection between religion and borders/boundaries, broadly defined. It aims to illuminate how religion—as a socio-cultural phenomenon and a discipline—constitutes itself on the premise of borders, while containing within itself the resources, instincts, and practices to resist boundaries and enclosures.

Volumes in the series will not only explore the methodological and theoretical dimensions of the discipline, but will also engage with salient social and political issues, particularly the various crises that are deeply embedded in religious discourse (e.g., migration, environment, public health, sexuality, poverty, war/violence). Projects that engage and draw upon comparative theology, comparative religion, multi-religious sources, interreligious engagement, and interdisciplinary perspectives are especially welcome.



Editor(s): Alexander Y. Hwang (alexander.y.hwang@gmail.com)
Staff editorial contact: Michael Gibson (mgibson@rowman.com)
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