ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book addresses the relationship between religion and knowledge from a sociological perspective, building on historical foundations but offering a distinctive focus on the changing status of religious phenomena at the turn of the twenty-first century. It follows a tripartite structure, focusing on institutions of knowledge, the knowledge economy and academic knowledge, respectively. Religion can be challenged anew because the late modern age is one in which knowledge is no longer the preserve of a privileged few, but accessible to the masses via media that empower as well as intellectually enrich. In recent years, a series of factors have brought questions of the relationship between religion and knowledge into sharp relief and reconfigured them into a set of concerns that have acute social relevance. The book follows a tripartite structure, focusing on institutions of knowledge, the knowledge economy and academic knowledge, respectively.
