Religion and development : ways of transforming the world / Gerrie Ter Haar, editor ; with a foreword by James D. Wolfensohn.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 387-411) and index.

Religion and development : what's in two names? -- Religion and development : introducing a new debate / Gerrie ter Haar -- Development and faith institutions : gulfs and bridges / Katherine Marshall -- Faith-based organisations and development : an African indigenous organisation in perspective / Dele Olowu -- Religion and sustainable development : a typological analysis / Louke van Wensveen -- Religion and economics -- Religious values and economic growth : a review and assessment of recent studies / Eelke de Jong -- Religion and development revisited : some lessons from Guatemalan micro-entrepreneurs / Henri Gooren -- Islamic banking : background, theory and practice / Ismail Ozsoy -- The opportunities and challenges of Islamic microfinance / Ajaz ahmed Khan and Laura Thaut -- Religion and the millennium development goals : whose agenda? / Wendy Tyndale -- A model of integral development : assessing and working with religious health assets / James R. Cochrane -- Muslim NGOs and the reality of HIV/AIDS / Willem van Eekelen and Helen Mould -- Re-imagining the role of ulama : poverty alleviation and development in Pakistan / Husnul Amin -- Religion, development and social change -- Religion and human rights : searching for common ground / Gerrie ter Haar -- Harnessing popular visions for social transformation : the experience of the OAIC in its work with African independent churches / John Padwick and Nicta Lubaale -- A wind of change : spirituality and technology for global sustainable development Christiaan Hogenhuis -- Integral development : religion and development cooperation in the Netherlands / Lisette van der Wel.

Until recently, policy-makers and academics generally saw religion as something that would disappear as countries made economic progress. But we now know that this rarely happens in fact. People in most countries continue to look at the world through the prism of religion even when they develop modern lifestyles. Religion and Development looks at the ways in which a religious worldview influences processes of development. Its great originality is that it does not concentrate primarily on religious institutions and organisations but on religious ideas themselves. In the final resort, it is people's ideas that motivate them. Their worldview stimulates them to act in specific ways. Religion is a dimension of life that often lies behind qualities such as social trust and cohesion that are vital to development. This is of growing importance in a world where technocratic visions of development have lost their way. For communities where religious belief is accepted as a fact of everyday life, religion constitutes a major resource. It can be employed by people who want to destroy society as well as those who want to build it. The contributors to this book explore how religious resources can be harnessed for development. Many of the world's people believe that the material advancement of both individuals and communities is inseparable from their spiritual improvement. The essays in this volume take this point of view seriously.