Religion of Java

Written with a rare combination of analysis and speculation, this comprehensive study of Javanese religion is one of the few books on the religion of a non-Western people which emphasizes variation and conflict in belief as well as similarity and harmony. The reader becomes aware of the intricacy and depth of Javanese spiritual life and the problems of political and social integration reflected in the religion. The Religion of Java will interest specialists in Southeast Asia, anthropologists and sociologists concerned with the social analysis of religious belief and ideology, students of comparative religion, and civil servants dealing with governmental policy toward Indonesia and Southeast Asia.

Clifford Geertz is the Harold S. Linder Professor of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He is the author of many books, including Islam Observed and Peddlars and Princes and, with Hildred Geertz, Kinship in Bali (all published by the University of Chicago Press).