Gananath Obeyesekere calls his contribution to this volume a peon to 'foolishness'. But this is a fertile foolishness that implies a positive freedom to engage passionately in comparison, to avoid disciplinary overspecialization, to understand that the non-rational need not imply the irrational, and to acknowledge the power of art and literature as potential inspirations for our work. These themes of creativity and engagement echo through this volume's discussions of orthodoxy, aesthetics, and the ambivalences that surround religious authority and leadership. A special section on pilgrimage...

Drawing on ethnographic inquiry and the anthropological literature on doubt and atheism, this volume explores people's reluctance to pursue religion. The contributors capture the experiences of godless people and examine their perspectives on the role of religion in their personal and public lives. In doing so, the volume contributes to a critical understanding of the processes of disengagement from religion and reveals the challenges and paradoxes that godless people face.

Drawing on ethnographic inquiry and the anthropological literature on doubt and atheism, this volume explores people's reluctance to pursue religion. The contributors capture the experiences of godless people and examine their perspectives on the role of religion in their personal and public lives. In doing so, the volume contributes to a critical understanding of the processes of disengagement from religion and reveals the challenges and paradoxes that godless people face.

This volume contributes to transatlantic anthropology and history by bringing together religion, cultural heritage and placemaking in the Atlantic world. The entanglements of religion, cultural heritage and belonging are ethnographically scrutinized to perceive the connections and disconnections of specific places.