"In Religion as a Chain of Memory, Hervieu-Leger undertakes a sociological redefinition and reexamination of religion. For religion to endure in the modern world, she finds, it must have deep roots in traditions and times in which it was not defined as irrelevant. This reasoning leads her to develop the concept of a "chain of memory" - in which individual believers become part of a community that links past, present, and future members. Thus, religion may be perceived as a shared understanding with a collective memory that enables it to draw from the well of its past for nourishment in the increasingly secular present."--BOOK JACKET.