The purpose of this thesis is to examine the economic approach to religion and suggest a new frame for the religious market model. In religious studies, various approaches have been attempted, for example anthropology, sociology and psychology. Recently, some sociologists and economists have started to observe the marketization of religion and to explain religious phenomena or behaviours from an economic perspective. Based on this economic approach to religion, they have made it possible to explain not only marketization of religion but also religious revival in a secular and modern period. In spite of their great contributions to the formation of a new paradigm in religious studies, however, the economic approach to religion has been criticized for its reductionist methodology and basic assumptions. In addition, this approach has been questioned about its main theory, the religious market model. Some people assume that this model can be applied only to a free market situation in the modern period; others assume that it is applicable only to specially secularized regions, such as the U.S. or U.K. Nevertheless, the previous model has often shown some limitations because of the narrow understanding of the religious market. After all, these limitations have left economists of religion unable to explain more diverse religious contexts. Given these considerations, this thesis concludes that the existing religious market model needs to be more comprehensively updated. Therefore, in order to enhance the applicability of the economic approach to religion, I suggest new typologies of the religious economic system, religious market, and religious market structure. Then I examine how they can be applied in an actual religious marketplace through specific cases in South Korea.

This thesis traces the emergence of the idea of what has become known as humanitarian intervention. The nascent concept of humanitarian intervention was present in the early modern period, and emerged in the writings of thinkers who wrote on the law of nature and the law of nations, such as Francisco Vitoria, Alberico Gentili, Francisco Suarez, Juan Gines de Sepulveda, Hugo Grotius, Samuel von Pufendorf, Christian Wolff, Emmerich Vattel, and Edmund Burke. My claim is that the distinctive features of the idea of humanitarian intervention have changed considerably over the centuries, reflecting the historical circumstances in which these ideas were developed. Although, on the surface, modern conceptions of humanitarian intervention share certain similarities with their historical namesake, they are in fact conceived and justified very differently. When contemporary thinkers invoke the authority of this illustrious heritage they tend to neglect the different foundations and rationale given for intervention. I argue that if we want to understand what shocked the moral conscience of mankind during the emergence of the idea, we have to understand the general historical context, that is, the conditions of belief that formed our conceptions of the moral obligation to save strangers. Otherwise we fail to understand what constitutes our humanitarian urge. For the earlier writers, debates were framed within a fundamentally western and Christian context, which they purported were universal. Most discussions revolved around questions of intervening to convert heathens to save their souls, saving innocents from being slaughtered and other crimes against the natural law such as cannibalism or sodomy. Modern conceptions of humanitarian intervention rest their case on very different principles, and are firmly grounded in a human rights culture associated with the juridical revolution in international relations. As such, this thesis explores the development of the idea of humanitarian intervention in the early modern period in order to highlight its distinctive character. To make such a claim I also identify some of the main features of the contemporary idea of humanitarian intervention. I suggest that the development of the concept has not been properly understood in the modern-day literature. There is therefore a considerable gap, which I seek to fill.

The objectives of this research are three in number: an understanding of Hick's religious pluralism and Newbigin's theology of religions; an exploration of the reason for their divergence; and a constructive suggestion for the recovery of mission anew, despite the challenge of religious pluralism. Hick's religious pluralism focuses on the Real-centredness based on religious experience and supported by its fruits. Newbigin's theology of religions focuses on Christ (or Trinitarian)-centredness based on confession. The main reason for their divergence is their different paradigms. Hick's was transformed into a religious pluralistic paradigm, while Newbigin's retained a particularistic (Christian) paradigm. Each one's paradigm was closely related to his faith (presupposition). Two constructive suggestions for the Korean Christian context are pointed out: biblical study and following the model of Jesus Christ. Biblical study, taking account of the Korean Christian context, has the hope that Christians will find a wider meaning of God in the Bible, while keeping their faith. Following the model of Jesus Christ emphasizes orthopraxis as well as orthodoxy. It means following Jesus, self-emptying and self-sacrifice for the sake of mission to people of other faiths.

The social space of interaith relations in India is commonly represented in the academia, the media and the everyday discourse through the paradigm of communalism. This thesis considers it an analytical and socio-political discursive space, grounded on reified religious communities and their mutual relations. Thus, similar to ethnicity and ethnic conflict, communalism tends to reproduce the discourse of Hindu vs. Muslim as a given of social relations, configuring the very conflict narrative it attempts to explain. This study proposes a shift in perspective, trying to situate the paradigm of communalism in the social space and processes in which it is articulated and that it contributes to reproduce. By relying on existing critical literature on Indian nationalism, secularism, caste and communalism and on feminist perspectives on power, conflict and identity this thesis focuses on the interconnectedness of gender and socio-economic dimensions in nalTatives of interfaith relations. It elaborates an argument of communalism as a discourse of domination and social polarisation, reproducing social boundaries of a majoritarian, patriarchal and socioeconomically asymmetric order and veiling social tensions over the positioning of different sections of society and relations of super/subordination among them. The conflict nalTative of communalism is located within the discursive landscape of Indian colonial and post-colonial society, structuring and naturalising forms of domination and social polarisation across gender and socio-economic dimensions. By exploring the urban space of Hyderabad (Deccan), this research de constructs the conflict nalTative of communalism in its different themes and articulations, conceiving of gender and socio-economic differentials as organising principles for social relations, participating in the configuration of social boundaries but also of the possibilities for transcending them. In fact, while providing a perspective on the naturalisation of relations of super/subordination through the narrative of Hindu-Muslim conflict/harmony, this study P9ints at possibilities to imagine alternatives to the dominant paradigm. Multiple tensions over forms of domination and social polarisation find expression in the discourses and practices of interfaith relations, questioning the relative positionings assigned to different sections of society within and between religious communities' boundaries. In that sense, they expose and challenge the dominant language, meaning and practice of social relations. This study aims at reflecting on conflicts as socio-political and analytical paradigms reproducing discourses of and about power. It then proposes to look within and beyond dominant conflict narratives, at the social tensions articulating possibilities for a change in the discourse and practice of social relations and their representation.

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This thesis develops an idea of how the common good might be pursued in a plural society, beginning from Jonathan Sacks' vision of such a society as a'community of communities'. It does so principally by developing Alasdair Maclnytre's concept of 'tradition'. Chapter 1 begins by assembling conceptual tools for the task, drawing on the work of scholars from a variety of disciplines. These include understandings of morality, plurality, community relations, the common good, the public arena, and modernity. Chapter 2 begins to refine these tools through a case study of The Satanic Verses controversy. The analysis is achieved principally by viewing the controversy in terms of a conflict between two communities of interpretation, a'literary community' and 'the British Muslim community'. While it is recognised that these constructs are over-simplistic, it is argued that the conflict can most fairly be viewed by seeing participants in the controversy as members of communities of interpretation, each with their own history, practices and identities at stake. In the course of the chapter, the 'literary community' is identified as broadly 'liberal' in outlook. Liberalism is then the topic of Chapter 3, in particular recent theoretical formulations of liberalism in the work of Rawls, Kymlicka and Galston, and their application of liberal theory to minority cultures in plural secularised societies. Chapter 4 provides an account of the failure of such liberal approaches according to Maclntyre, developing his concept of tradition as an alternative way to safeguard the integrity of individuals and communities, and to pursue the common good in a plural society. Chapters 5 and 6 seek to understand aspects of British Muslim and Christian communities respectively in the light of this analysis, in particular their inter-relationship with British society, and their contribution to the common good. Chapter 7 then problematises and refines the concept of tradition through an examination of the work of John Milbank, suggesting an understanding of tradition which combines teleological orientation, emphasis on concrete cultural practices and recognition of difference. Finally, Chapter 8 applies this refined concept of tradition to two contested fields; the international debate on Islam and human rights, and multicultural, citizenship and religious education in schools in England and Wales.

A recent crisis of civil war had affected Sri Lanka for a near twenty-six year period, beginning with the fulminant ‘Black July’ of 1983, whilst arriving at an acrimonious and controversial cessation in May 2009. The burgeoning vehemence attracted the attention of various actors, both international and domestic, with an interest in deescalating the discord between compatriot ethnic groups. Among such impetuses were the various inter-religious peace initiatives, organizations which attempted to restore unity by fostering the shared accordant values of otherwise disparate religious traditions. Of what academic work presently exists on the topic of inter-religious peace initiatives in contemporary Sri Lanka though, curiously very little accounts for the participation of those within the contextual Hindu community. This is a particularly problematic knowledge vacuum, given that Sri Lankan Hindus, by virtue of a significant overlap with Tamil ethnicity, were intimately affiliated with a major faction within the nation’s period of civil unrest. This thesis then succeeds in shedding light upon how Sri Lankan Hindus have so far responded to the offer of participation within the activities of inter-religious peace initiatives; however it does so through considering a series of hypothetical impediments – ranging from the pressure of nationalist militancy to ethical perspectives on the legitimacy of violence – which appeared to have had the potential to negate any prospective positive engagement. The validity of such hypotheses is then tested according to a multifaceted collection of ethnographic field data. Though the Civil War is now very much at an end, this thesis also argues for the continuity of an underlying conflict into the current post-war era, and as such offers an invaluable reference point to those involved in ongoing strategies of inter-religious peace-building in Sri Lanka.