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When Worlds Collide: Religion, Politics, and Society in a Globalized...
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When Worlds Collide: Religion, Politics, and Society in a Globalized World

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2025 | Viewed by 1049

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Boris Havel

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Interests: Judaism; Israel; Christianity; Early Islam; religious and historical aspects of Middle Eastern political processes; Christian-Jewish relations; Holocaust

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Thirty years after the publication of Huntington’s famous article entitled “The Clash of Civilizations?”, its only mistaken aspect appears to be the question mark. World politics has become far more complicated than that in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, shifting toward some rather unexpected directions. One of them is the ever-increasing role of civilization, as a factor associated with political positioning, identities, and alliances, at the expense of more traditional features such as ideology or ethnicity. In that context, and in accordance with Huntington’s theory, religion is particularly relevant to scholarly pursuit as perhaps the main feature of civilization.

The aim of this Special Issue of Religions is to explore the influence of religion in shaping modern politics, societies, and international relations. The interdisciplinary approach via which political science is studied through the prism of religion is still, to a significant degree, rather scarce. Considering the apparent relevance of religion in contemporary political processes, this may seem unexpected and in need of explanation. I would suggest that political science in the interdisciplinary context is often studied together with other social sciences and humanities, such as history, geography, philosophy, law, economics, anthropology, sociology, linguistics, communication and media studies, etc. Study programs often combine at least some of these fields, as the scholarly value of interdisciplinarity has been increasingly recognized and pursued in Western academia. When it comes to religion and politics, however, the academic reality is somewhat different. Formal academic training and expertise in both theology and political science seems rather rare. Theologians tend to be less acquainted with political science, and political scientists are even more unacquainted with theology. Political scientists who do develop an academic interest in theology face an additional problem associated with the diversity of religions, sects and denominations, and the consequent extensive variety of spiritual attitudes and relations to politics. Dissimilarities in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim understandings of contemporary society and politics, for someone acquainted primarily with the secular, rational and humanist approach to social sciences, may be very surprising and unexpected. Further challenges and complexities arise when the issue of denominations or sects within the same religion is considered. Notwithstanding common basic doctrines, premises and worldviews, the attitudes of Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox, or Sunni and Shia, to a variety of political issues may differ profoundly.

Finally, scholars who do possess the necessary expertise in political science and theology, and produce works in which they combine the two, may find it challenging to navigate through peer-review processes for the very same reasons addressed above.

We considered all of these factors while devising this Special Issue of Religions. Therefore, we are pleased to welcome scholars with expertise in the three major monotheistic religions, namely Judaism, Christianity and Islam, or theology and political science in general, to submit their research regarding the interaction among religion, politics, and society in our globalized world. The scope of this Special Issue includes broad theoretical and methodological issues, or more specific issues such as the following:

  • Western Christian influence on current political debates in the US or Europe;
  • Rapprochement of Catholics and Protestants in contemporary Conservative political movements;
  • The role of Orthodox Christianity in shaping Russian imperialism;
  • Religious vs. secular Zionist movements in Israel;
  • Religious aspects of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict;
  • Middle Eastern politics between religion and pragmatism (or any MENA state);
  • Islam and human rights as charted by the UN;
  • Islam and democracy;
  • Revolutionary jihadism vs. Arab kingdoms and emirates’ political establishment;
  • The role of Shiism in advancement of Iranian influence in Iraq, Sirya, Lebanon or Yemen;
  • Religious aspect of contemporary Middle Eastern hostilities and alliances;
  • Relation between pan-Arabism and pan-Islamism;
  • Politics of Muslim Brotherhood;
  • Caliphate in historical and contemporary Islamic thought;
  • Jewish religious anti-Zionism;
  • Jewish religious Zionism;
  • Contemporary Christian Zionism;
  • Methods in research of religious influence on politics.

Prof. Dr. Boris Havel
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • religion
  • theology
  • civilization
  • politics
  • society
  • history
  • globalization
  • identity
  • political science

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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14 pages, 216 KiB  
Article
Equal Before God but Not Equal Before His Law? Sharia Law and Women’s Right to Interpretation in the Light of the Human Rights Debate
by Ajla Čustović
Religions 2025, 16(3), 362; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16030362 - 13 Mar 2025
Viewed by 19
Abstract
Over the last couple of decades, the subject of women’s rights in Islam has emerged as the central tension point in discussion about the (in)compatibility of Islam with the modern concept of universal human rights. This topic has drawn significant attention from both [...] Read more.
Over the last couple of decades, the subject of women’s rights in Islam has emerged as the central tension point in discussion about the (in)compatibility of Islam with the modern concept of universal human rights. This topic has drawn significant attention from both liberal and Muslim theorists, who have questioned the source of gender inequality and discrimination against women evident in various Muslim societies. These issues are particularly pronounced in certain provisions of Islamic family law, which appear to conflict with both Islamic principles and the concept of a just and merciful God. Simultaneously, another discussion is unfolding within inner-Muslim debate where Muslims are sharply divided over an important question: Is Sharia divinely created or humanly constructed? Within this debate, Islamic female theorists argue that not only is Sharia man-made law, but one constructed dominantly through the interpretations of male jurists, theologians, and thinkers, whereas female voices and experiences were marginalized, silenced, and excluded. This profoundly influenced the construction of Sharia and embedded hierarchical gender-power dynamics within its provisions. This article explores the topic through three key points: first, the question of the creation or construction of Sharia is examined, emphasizing the unquestionable interpretative role of humans in deciphering God’s Will; second, it argues that the construction process of Sharia was dominated and monopolized by male interpreters, who have read the Qur’an through the lens of the historical context of eighth- and ninth-century Arabia, where gender inequality was a norm; third, it highlights the voices of Islamic female theorists and their egalitarian interpretations of the Qur’an, which reflect the core Islamic message of a just and merciful God. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue When Worlds Collide: Religion, Politics, and Society in a Globalized World)
34 pages, 521 KiB  
Article
The Post-Secular Cosmopolitanization of Religion
by Abbas Jong
Religions 2025, 16(3), 334; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16030334 - 6 Mar 2025
Viewed by 256
Abstract
The contemporary restructuring of religion and secularism demands a departure from conventional post-secular analyses that remain confined within the epistemic and institutional frameworks of the nation-state. This paper develops the concept of post-secular cosmopolitanization to theorize the dissolution of the secular–religious binary as [...] Read more.
The contemporary restructuring of religion and secularism demands a departure from conventional post-secular analyses that remain confined within the epistemic and institutional frameworks of the nation-state. This paper develops the concept of post-secular cosmopolitanization to theorize the dissolution of the secular–religious binary as a regulatory mechanism of power, revealing how religion and secularism are co-constituted through global entanglements that transcend national boundaries. Unlike dominant conceptions of post-secularism, which assumes the continued dominance of secular and national institutions despite religious resurgence, post-secular cosmopolitanization captures the ways in which transnational religious movements, digital religious networks, and global governance structures are reshaping religious authority, secular regulation, and political sovereignty. It is shown that this transformation leads to three major consequences: (1) the erosion of the nation-state’s regulatory monopoly over religious life as alternative religious and transnational actors emerge as influential governance entities; (2) the deterritorialization and fragmentation of religious authority, undermining traditional clerical and institutional hierarchies; and (3) the blurring of religious and secular domains, where global economic, legal, and political structures increasingly integrate religious actors, norms, and ethical frameworks. These developments signal a paradigmatic shift beyond the secularization thesis and dominant conceptions of post-secularism, necessitating a reconsideration of how power, governance, and religious authority function in a world no longer structured by the nation-state’s exclusive claim to sovereignty. By analyzing these entanglements, this paper provides a theoretical framework to understand the reconfiguration of global secular and religious orders, challenging entrenched assumptions about the trajectory of modernity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue When Worlds Collide: Religion, Politics, and Society in a Globalized World)
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