Religion Matters: Volume 2: Further Explorations of Connectedness

This book constitutes the second volume of ’Religion Matters: The Contemporary Relevance of Religion’ (Springer, 2020). Offering a fresh and much-needed perspective, it explores the role of religion in the modern, neo-liberal world. The book acclaims that ’religion’ is a contextual and contested term, which is extensively discussed in the Introduction.

Designed to be read selectively, this book allows readers to delve into topics and traditions of specific interest without the necessity of reading the entire volume. In contrast to volume 1, where contributors critically engaged with religion and various disciplines, this book poses a fundamental question: Can religion contribute to the discipline under consideration?

Authors were selected based on their ability to address this question. Some chapters concluded that religion may offer very little to the discipline under consideration, highlighting the value of volume 1’s critical stance on the place of religion incontemporary society. However, the project’s overall aim remained somewhat unfulfilled, leading to the creation of this second volume.

The primary omission from the first book was a comprehensive exploration of the sciences and health sciences, which this second volume aims to rectify. Furthermore, additional authors were chosen to investigate the nature of connectedness facilitated by religion, horizontally through membership within wider communities, societies, cultures, or religious traditions, and vertically by examining historical relationships within a particular faith tradition, culture, community, or society. This volume also broadens its focus to include non-Christian perspectives, Indigenous perspectives, and an increased representation of female contributors.

Paul Babie is Bonython Chair in Law and Professor of Law, Associate Dean of Law (International), and Director of the Research Unit for the Study of Society, Ethics, and Law (RUSSEL) at The University of Adelaide (Australia). He is a barrister and solicitor (non-active practising) of the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta (Canada), and an associate member of the Law Society of South Australia. His primary research interests include private law theory, property theory, and religious legal systems. He has published and spoken extensively in these fields and he teaches property law, property theory, law and religion, water law, and Roman law.

Rick Sarre is Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of South Australia (UniSA) having retired from teaching in 2020. He is a past president of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology, and is a fellow of the Society. He has taught diverse aspects of law, crime and religion in the Business Division at Graceland University (Iowa, USA), at the Department of Law at Umeå University (Sweden), and with UniSA business law programs twinned with Hong Kong Baptist University (Hong Kong). He was the chair of Academic Board at the University of South Australia from 2011 to 2016.