Available From UC Press

Why has the turn of the twenty-first century been rocked by a new religious rebellion? From al Qaeda to Christian militias to insurgents in Iraq, a strident new religious activism has seized the imaginations of political rebels around the world. Building on his groundbreaking book, The New Cold War?: Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular State, Mark Juergensmeyer here provides an up-to-date road map through this complex new religious terrain. Basing his discussion on interviews with militant activists and case studies of rebellious movements, Juergensmeyer puts a human face on conflicts that have become increasingly abstract. He revises our notions of religious revolution and offers positive proposals for responding to religious activism in ways that will diminish the violence and lead to an accommodation between radical religion and the secular world.

Mark Juergensmeyer is Professor of Sociology and Director of Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the winner of the Grawemeyer Award for his book Terror in the Mind of God (UC Press). He is the editor of Global Religions: An Introduction and is also the author of The New Cold War? Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular State and Gandhi's Way: A Handbook of Conflict Resolution, both from UC Press.

"This is an indispensable book in helping us understand the new world disorder that seems to be overtaking us. Juergensmeyer points out that much of the world neither understands nor finds attractive the idea of a 'secular state.' He helps us see that religious nationalism is a fact of life that will be with us for a long time to come. Deconstructing any simple notion of 'fundamentalism,' he shows us how it is possible to live with religious nationalism constructively without demonizing it. That is a major achievement."—Robert Bellah, coauthor of Habits of the Heart

“For years, Mark Juergensmeyer has served as a kind of Cassandra figure, warning us all about the rise of religious violence, the global reach of religious nationalism, and the challenges posed by new religious identities to the secular nation-state. Now that the world is finally listening, Juergensmeyer remains our best guide in unraveling the complex interplay between religion and politics in the modern world. Global Rebellion once again demonstrates why Juergensmeyer is the foremost authority on the global sociology of religion. This is an awe-inspiring work by arguably the most important thinker on the subject.“ –Reza Aslan, author of No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam