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Sherratt reviews Religion and Civil Society: Rethinking Public Religion in the Contemporary World by David Herbert.

The book makes a decisive contribution to debates about the clash between Islam and the West, arguing that the major threat to religious freedoms comes from secularism, and that Islam and Christianity both have the resources to develop a vibrant and pluralist "public square" informed by intellectual debate. By engaging with the core questions and suggesting a pathway through the various answers that have been proposed in recent years, this is an ideal introduction to the field, and one which will help stimulate ideas and discussions

Ursachen und Erscheinungsformen des "Islamismus", der durch den Rückgriff auf den Islam als politischer Ideologie gekennzeichnet ist. Der Erfolg der islamischen Revolution in Iran wird wesentlich auch auf spezifisch schiitische Elemente wie die chiliastische Erwartung und vor allem den Märtyrerkult zurückgeführt. Die Abgrenzung zwischen Schiiten und Sunniten im Islam ist nach Ansicht des Autors zurückgetreten gegenüber der Polarisierung zwischen "politischem" und "religiösem" Islam. (DÜI-Hns)

This article discusses the reasons why Ferdowsi does not begin the Shahnameh with the episode of Zoroaster, which he quotes from the version of Daqiqi, but rather with an account of the creation of the world that, in contrast to Islamic historians writing before Ferdowsi, does not attempt to accommodate a Qur'anic view of creation and human history, but neither does he give a cosmology dominated or well informed by Zoroastrian theology. Similarly, Ferdowsi tends to present pre-Islamic Iran as having a consistent religious history, and perhaps avoids beginning with Goshtāsp's conversion to the religion of Zoroaster, as he makes Daqiqi appear to do, in order to minimize the role of religious conflict in Iranian history, again diverging from historians of the Islamic period writing before him. The article also explores the role of God in the Shahnameh and the absence of theodicy.

The issue of religious belief and its role in economic activity, entrepreneurial behavior, attitudes toward work and capital, and the formation of markets has been generally ignored throughout the disciplines of management and economics. This e-book brings together papers that illustrate our increasing effort to understand the complex calculus between the forces that frame economic and firm behavior and the cultural and moral foundations that emanate from our notions of religion, spirituality and belief. Together with theoretical papers examining the impact of religious orientation on perceptions of market justice and entrepreneurial activity, authors study traditions and practices amongst the Yoruba people of Nigeria and the Amish of Pennsylvania.