Religions and Trade: Religious Formation, Transformation and Cross-Cultural Exchange between East and West

In Religions and Trade a number of international scholars investigate the ways in which eastern and western religions were formed and transformed from the perspective of trade. Trade changes religions. Religions expand through the help of trade infrastructures, and religions extend and enrich the trade relations with cultural and religious commodities which they contribute to the market place of human culture and religion. This leads to the inclusion, demarcation and densification as well as the amalgamation of religious traditions.

In an attempt to find new pathways into the world of religious dynamics, this collection of essays focuses on four elements or commodities of religious interchange: topologies of religious space, religious symbol systems, religious knowledge, and religious-ethical ways of life.