Pious citizens : reforming Zoroastrianism in India and Iran / Monica M. Ringer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ringer, Monica M., 1965- author.

Series:

Modern intellectual and political history of the Middle East.

Modern Intellectual and Political History of the Middle East

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Zoroastrianism--India--History.

Zoroastrianism.

Zoroastrianism--Iran--History.

India--Religion.

India.

Iran--Religion.

Iran.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 273 p. ) ill., map ;

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Syracuse, New York : Syracuse University Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In Pious Citizens, Ringer tells the story of a major intellectual revolution in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century India and Iran, one that radically transformed the role of religion in society. At this time, key theological debates revolved around Zoroastrianism's capacity to generate "progress" and "civilization." Armed with both the destructive and creative capacities of historicism, reformers reevaluated their own religious tradition, molding Zoroastrian belief and practice according to contemporary ideas of rational religion and its potential to create pious citizens. Ringer demonstrates how rational and enlightened religion, characterized by social responsibility and the interiorization of piety, was understood as essential for the development of modern individuals, citizens, new public space, national identity, and secularism. She argues persuasively that reformers believed not only that social reform must be accompanied by religious reform but that it was in fact a product of religious reform. Pious Citizens offers new insights into the theological premises behind the promotion of secularism, the privatization of religion, and the development of new national identities. Ringer's work also explores growing connections between the Iranian and Indian Zoroastrian communities and the revival of the ancient Persian past.

Contents:

Introduction: modernity, religion, and the production of knowledge

Bombay and murmurs of reform: religion as "civilization" and "progress"

The Protestant challenge to Zoroastrianism

The Parsi response: rational religion and the rethinking of tradition

Western religious studies scholarship: historicism and evolutionism

Parsi religious reform in the second generation: the recovery of "true" religion

The Parsi rediscovery of ancient Iran

Iranian nationalism and the Zoroastrian past

Kay Khosrow Shahrokh: rational religion and citizenship in Iran

Conclusion: religion and the creation of pious citizens.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780815650607

0815650604

OCLC:

770377238