We all know what religion is - or do we? Confronted with religious pluralism and cultural diversity, it manifests irtself in many forms. What is Religion? serves not only as an introduction to the diffferent belief-systems flourshing across the modern world, but asks us to consider how the very boundaries of faith might be drawn now and in the future. How might religion interact with political ends, permeating culture, society and everyday life? Is the post-secular world in thrall to 'religions' of its own kind - materialism, humanism, medicine, science? And what logic separates 'common sense' or academic knowledge from the immutable but instable boundaries of faith? Which is the more certain? What does it mean to believe? Combining clear accounts of contemporary global religious practice wuth an incisive philosophical interrogation of the dynamics and aims of belief, What is Religion? offers a fresh and wide-ranging introduction to the perenial human question of ritual, faith, ethics and salvation.