This third volume in the outstanding series makes important new contributions to our understanding of the process whereby individuals and groups attribute meanings to the political structures and communities they create or inherit. Avoiding simplistic distinctions between religion and politics, each of these essays suggests more satisfactory ways of approaching the complex nature of these dynamic phenomena. They explore the role of traditional religious values, symbols, affiliations, and/or leaders in dealing with contemporary sociopolitical realities, analyzing the way in which religious traditions help shape the understanding and meaning of contemporary political realities and how they are reinterpreted and used to accomplish political and religious goals.