The construction of the notion of religion in early modern Europe

Abstract

Brill profit levels and organic growth in line with expectations, integration V&R according to plan and continuation of eBusiness growth Update on year-to-date performance During the third quarter Brill's eBusiness continued its strong growth, driven by eBooks and digital primary sources. This growth compensated for the ongoing decline in print books. YTD Journal sales declined mainly due to delayed invoicing, which is expected to be recovered in Q4, and continuing IT problems at our UK based distributor. Overall Brill's revenues including the acquisition of Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht and Böhlau Verlag (V&R) are clearly ahead of last year.Cost of goods sold improved slightly as a result of the migration from print to eBooks. Operating costs were in line with expectations. Year to date EBITDA, operating profit and net profit have developed as planned.The integration of V&R runs according to plan. Both the Brill as well as the V&R teams and staff are now part of one global matrix organization. Various integration projects in IT, production, distribution, publishing and sales are underway. Management closely leads and monitors the integration and is pleased with the progress and the results of the acquired V&R business so far.In August, Brill acquired the journal Folia Primatologica from Karger Publishing, an important addition to our Biology portfolio. At the end of Q3 Brill's Book Archive was launched, a digital archive expanding our eBook list with more than 6,000 back list titles in 2021. The first sales are expected in Q4. FY OutlookThe COVID-19 pandemic continues to make market circumstances difficult and unpredictable. In Asia important countries are still in lockdown and (intercontinental) travel is still difficult or impossible, limiting our staff to visit authors, conferences and customers in person. The shortages in the global supply chains are hampering Brill as well, to the extent that this may have a negative impact on the results of the important 4 th quarter and could affect our top-and bottom line negatively.

Four genealogies of postsecularity

“…This postmodern dimension of postsecularity is closely connected to genealogical studies about the modern construction of the religion-secular binary, which shows how both modern religion and modern secularity as two incompatible dimensions are not some eternal entities, but artificial constructs resulting from theoretical and political efforts dating back at least to the fifteenth century (Despland and Vallee 1992;Asad 1993Asad , 2003Molnar 2002;Dubuisson 2003;Masuzawa 2005;Fitzgerald 2007;Hurd 2008;Cavanaugh 2009;Nongbri 2013;Sullivan et al 2015).…”

Disappearing Categories: Using Categories in the Study of Religion

“…Nearly all recent discussions of the concept of religion begin either with the claim that "religion" is a relatively recent, Western Christian category, or that it is in fact not a native category at all, but a second-order abstraction used by scholars (cf. Molnár 2002). Both claims, as several scholars have noted, are exaggerated.…”