The City and Beyond as Dialogue: Negotiating Religious Authenticity in Global Society

Abstract

The disjunction of time and space under conditions of globalization is bringing about an ongoing reformulation of the boundaries between seemingly clear orienting polarities, including those between core and periphery, metropolis and hinterland, home and away, global and local; and more generally, identity and difference. Using these polarities as analytic points of departure, this paper lays some theoretical foundations for raising questions about how we construct and reconstruct religions in global society. The core argument is that different places in which adherents to a religion locate serve as centres for an ongoing negotiation as to what constitutes that religion. The process greatly relativizes distinctions such as that between homeland and diaspora, especially as concerns the question of authenticity and, hence, authority.