Religion and Development : Ways of Transforming the World

For years, academics and policymakers have assumed economic progress would create a less religious world. In practice, however, the opposite seems to be true. Despite advances in business and technology, citizens continue to hold strong to their faiths, viewing the world through the prism of religious ideology even as they live increasingly modern lives. Religion and Developmentexplores the enduring relationship between religion and economic development, focusing not so much on religious institutions as religious ideas themselves. Gerrie ter Haar argues that religious ideas are what motivate citizen's actions and choices and that adhering to a religious worldview results in specific outcomes. For certain citizens, religion exists as a separate dimension of life, often operating behind or in conjunction with vital drivers of develoipment. Haar's work particularly addresses the failure of technocratic visions of development.