The goal of this scholastic work is to explore how religion is changing in the global era especially in its role in public life. The project has been put together by Mark Juergensmeyer, founding director and fellow of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara; Dinah Griego, project coordinator of the Luce Project on the Role of Religion in Global Civil Society at the Orfalea Center; and John Soboslai, a PhD candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. More than 100 scholars, policymakers, and practitioners participated in eleven workshops funded over a four-year period by the Luce Foundation as part of their initiative on religion in international affairs. In addition, journalists, social activists, religious leaders, and representatives of service organizations added their views to the mix.

After an introduction about the challenges faced by religion in the global age, the authors point to crises of identity, accountability, and security as causes of the social turmoil of the twenty-first century. These convulsions have led to the weakening of the nation-state, the emergence of transnational communities, and the use of modern technology to give voice to once-marginal elements of society to be heard.

These same forces are shaking the foundations of traditional religious establishments. Some believers have distanced themselves from these commotions and found shelter from the storm in the comfort of personal piety. Others are turning to their religious values and devoting themselves to global citizenship. They are working together with others on environmental issues, human rights, and peace.

God in the Tumult of the Global Square is a thoughtful and enlightening meditation on the worthwhile connections between religion and contemporary globalism.