Individuals and groups have long found identity and meaning through religion and its collective expression. In Religion in World History, John C. Super and Briane K. Turley examine the value of religion for interpreting the human experience in the past and present. Through this they explore those elements of religion that best connect it with cultural and political dynamics that have influenced history.
Working within this general framework, Super and Turley bring out three unifying themes:
DT The relationship between formal and informal religious beliefs, how these change through time, and how they are reflected in different cultures
DT The relationship between church and state, from theocracies to the repression of religion
DT The ongoing search for spiritual certainty, and the consequent splintering of core religious beliefs and the development of new ones