ABSTRACT
So wrote Leo Tolstoy in the 1870s in A Confession. The comment was a product of Tolstoy’s anguished search for meaning in his own life, and is a good beginning for us. Whether believers or nonbelievers, most people join Tolstoy in trying to understand religion. This may be intuitive, a feeling or a sense that religion influences the way that peoples, communities, and nations behave, or it may result from personal interest in ethical questions about the issues of the day, or, in Tolstoy’s case, how to find meaning in a life that had lost all meaning. In addition most people have some awareness of the influence of religion on recent international issues, whether it be the Dalai Lama’s efforts to liberate Tibet or the impact of Islam on the politics of the Middle East. When it comes to history people are on less firm ground, but they usually agree that religion influenced everything from the rise of civilizations in India and China to the colonization of the Americas.
