This book addresses the need for a reassessment of issues relating to identity in the light of current transformations in society as a whole and religion in particular. Drawing together case-studies from many different expressions of faith and belief, leading scholars ask how contemporary religions or spiritualities respond to the challenge of forming individual and collective identities in a nation context.

Contents: Preface, Kieran Flanagan; Ambiguous attachments: religion, identity and nation, Simon Coleman and Peter Collins; Losing our space, finding our place? The changing identity of the English parish church, Martin Percy; The changing identity of Catholics in Britain, Mike Hornsby-Smith; Identity and the Anglican priesthood: debates on the ordination of women and homosexuals in sociological perspective, Martin Stringer; Religion, identity and change in contemporary Wales, Paul Chambers; Unfinished business: devolving Scotland/devolving religion, Steve Sutcliffe; Time, place and Mormon sense of self, Douglas Davies; American-led urban revivals as ethnic identity arenas in Britain, Nancy Schaefer; Protestant women - political activists: tangling secular and religious identity in Northern Ireland, Katy Radford; Islam, identity and globalization: reflections in the wake of September 11th, 2001, David Herbert; 'I'm a Gujarati Lohana and a Vaishnav as well': religious identity formation among young Coventrian Punjabis and Gujaratis, Eleanor Nesbitt; Kinship identity and nonformative spiritual seekership, Matthew Wood; Index.