This volume contains the papers presented at the Leiden Conference on Canonization and Decanonization, held in January 1997. The emphasis is on the processes of canonization and decanonization in several religions, and on the phenomenon of religious canons. The two sections discuss (de)canonization and the history of religions, and (de)canonization and modern society. In the first section, processes out of which canons eventually emerge are highlighted in contributions devoted to particular religions, such as African religions, Judaism and Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism. The articles in the second section are of particular relevance to the contemporary situation in the Western world. They deal with aspects such as forms of the survival of a canon in processes of modernization, canonization and the challenge of plurality, and canonization and hermeneutics.