However complex and mysterious, religion in some form is integral to human life as
evident in history and therefore cannot be divorced from study and analysis. The
alternative term `spirituality' appeared to ward off the ambiguous characters of religion,
but it has not proved to be less complex. Explicit religions claim to possess the
resources of spirituality while often maintaining a dichotomy between spiritual and
material. An alternative understanding of spirituality is presented as permeating all
aspects of life. The concept of implicit religion and secular spirituality, unlike the
established religion, is exploratory with open boundary. However, it cannot remain a
concept in the intellectual realm but be applied to contexts like India where religious
life is vibrant within a secular polity where struggle for legal and eco-justice
continues.
The essays of this book provide a commentary on these issues. Further, insights,
instincts and impulses to work for change at great personal risks deserve an in-depth
exploration.
Contents
Foreword
Preface
1. Is Implicit Religion and Secular Spirituality only a Western Concept and Experience?
: A Keynote Presentation / Edward Bailey
2. Defining Religion in `Hindu' India : A Review of Major Attempts / Israel
Selvanayagam
3. North East Indian Secular Spirituality? : An Exploration towards Sacred-secular
Spirituality / Songram Basumatary
4. Religion and Secular Spirituality in India : An Islamic Perspective / Mohd Fahim
Akhtar
5. Islamic Spirituality in Secular India : Some Modern Thinkers / M. M. Abraham
6. Secular Spirituality from an Ao Naga Tribal Women Perspective / Asangla Lemtur
7. Religion and Secular Spirituality in Tribal Traditions of NEI : A Feminist
Perspective / T. Vanlaltlani
8. Secular Spirituality of People's Movements in the Context of Religious Pluralism : A
Feminist Perspective / Gabriele Dietrich
9. Understanding Religion and Spirituality in Current Debates of Secularism in India /
Densingh Oliver
10. Freedom of Religion in Secular India : From a Legal Perspective / Faizan Mustafa
11. Human Sex, Sacred or Profane? : Hindu-Christian Perceptions / Israel Selvanayagam
12. Environmental Spirituality / W. S. Annie
Appendix
Index of Names and Key Terms
Contributors
Rev. Dr. Israel Selvanayagam, a presbyter from the Church of South
India, has taught Religion, Hinduism and Interfaith Relations in many colleges/seminaries
in India and in the United Kingdom. Currently, he is with the Methodist Church in Britain,
based in Evesham. He has published extensively both in Tamil and English. His last major
book is, `Kristu Bhakti and Krishna Bhakti: A Christian-Hindu Dialogue Contributing to
Comparative Theology', CWI, 2017.
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