Meaning and Modernity: Religion, Polity, and Self - Hardcover

"[This book] not only serves as a testimony to the intellectual influence of Robert Bellah, it establishes a new school of comparative religious and social thought." - Mark Juergensmeyer, author of Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence; "[A] highly readable collection of original, thought-provoking essays.... Readers will learn much about such issues as how Calvinism contributed to political revolution, why democracies require an enlarged sense of political community, how the religious foundations of Japan and the United States differ, and what it means to be a Christian and an American." - Benton Johnson, author of Functionalism in Modern Sociology: Understanding Talcott Parsons

Deepening and developing the seminal vision of "Habits of the Heart" (California, 1985), this volume presents original essays by leading thinkers in the social sciences, philosophy and religion. It covers such issues as how Calvinism contributed to political revolution, why democracies require an enlarged sense of political community, how the religious foundations of Japan and the United states differ and what it means to be a Christian and an American.