Presents twenty-four periodical articles on religion's relationship to culture, political violence, ecology, and gender, as well as new religions and religious conversion.

Part I.Religion and culture -- Keeping the faith : freedom, and international affairs / Paul Marshall -- Scholars get religion / Mark Clayton -- Psychiatry, spirituality and religion / William R. Breakey -- A city that echoes eternity [Jerusalem] / Kenneth L. Woodward -- Pope John Paul II / R. Scott Apple-- Russian renewal / Michael Bourdeaux -- A faith with many faces [Islam] / David R. Sands -- Part II. Religion and political violence -- Occidentalism / Avishai Margalit and Ian Buruma -- Religion and the war against evil / Harvey Cox -- Fundamentalism / R. Scott Appleand Martin E. Marty -- Separated at birth / Leela Jacinto -- Religious wars? : A short history of the Balkans / Paul Mojzes -- Part III. New religions and religious conversion -- Oh, gods! / Toby Lester -- Falun Gong : what's behind the movements? / Christopher Wanjek -- The church of the west [Mormonism] -- Guatemala's new evangelists / Rachel Cobb -- The expansion of Christianity : an interview with Andrew Walls -- Part IV. Religion and ecology -- Religion goes green : ecology joins theology / Linda Ashton -- Science, religion, and ecology turn eastward / Michael J. Strada -- Religion, modern secular culture, and ecology / George Rupp -- Religion and gender. Thai monk blazes path for equality for women -- Islam's female converts / Priya Malhotra -- New fields and strict Judaism coexist / Nina Siegal -- Reconciliation / Vanessa E. Jones.