This innovative edited collection provides a comprehensive analysis of modern secularism across
Asia which contests and expands prevailing accounts that have predominantly focused on the
West. Its authors highlight that terms like 'secular' 'secularization' and 'secularism' do
not carry the same meanings in the very different historical and cultural contexts of Asia.
Critiquing Charles Taylor's account of secularism this book examines what travelled and what
not in 'the imperial encounter' between Western secular modernity and other traditions outside
of the West. Throughout the book state responses to religion at different points in Chinese
and South-East Asian history are carefully considered providing a nuanced and in-depth
understanding of post-secular strategies and relations in these areas. Particular attention is
given to Catholicism in the Philippines Vietnam and Singapore and Hinduism and Chinese
religion in Malaysia Singapore and India. This theoretically engaged work will appeal to
students and scholars of Asian studies anthropology religious studies history sociology
and political science.
