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ABSTRACT. Among the markers of ethnonational identity, language and religion have figured with equal prominence. In many cases, religion has been the bedrock of nation‐building; and even today, it is difficult to separate a number of national identities from their religious matrices. Religious identity is based on, and perpetuated in, narratives expressed in a specific language. Language and religion are related; in our secular age, however, that relationship is no longer consistent. The two may feed upon one another; language may substitute for religion; or religion may trump language. This article explores the varying relationships between language and religion.

"Whether lauded and encouraged or criticized and maligned, action in solidarity with culturally and geographically distant strangers has been an integral part of European modernity. Traversing the complex political landscape of early modern European empires, this book locates the historical origins of modern global humanitarianism in the recurrent conflict over the ethical treatment of non-Europeans that pitted religious reformers against secular imperial networks. Since the sixteenth-century beginnings of European expansion overseas and in marked opposition to the exploitative logic of predatory imperialism, these reformers - members of Catholic orders and, later, Quakers and other reformist Protestants - developed an ideology and a political practice in defense of the rights and interests of distant "others." They also increasingly made the question of imperial injustice relevant to growing "domestic" publics in Europe. A distinctive institutional model of long-distance advocacy crystallized out of these persistent struggles, becoming the standard weapon of transnational activists"--

This book explores the way that the study of love creates a "common ground" in religion. For the contributors, common ground is not to be understood as a minimal core of belief, but as a space which scholars from Islam, Judaism, and Christianity occupy in order to consider together the meaning and practice of love.

Evolution and Christian belief (1) -- Evolution and Christian belief (2) -- Divine action in the world : the old picture -- The new picture -- Evolutionary psychology and scripture scholarship -- Defeaters? -- Fine-tuning -- Design discourse -- Deep concord : Christian theism and the deep roots of science -- The evolutionary argument against naturalism