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A standout contribution to post-secular IR theory, this book addresses issues of global politics, from cooperation to conflict, and shows how a religious metaphor, the pilgrim, can help us to rethink our concepts of self, agency, and community in a time of changing world order.

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Prologue: Imagine Postsecular Pilgrimage: The Idea of the Book Global Return of Religion: Clash or Engagement Self: Pilgrim, Nomad, Homo Faber Agency: Pilgrimage between Departure and Destiny Community: The Pilgrim´s Cosmopolitan Communitarian Companions The Pilgrim´s Policy Conclusions: Cooperation, Conflict, Change Pilgrim City: Seeing IR Again for the First Time Epilogue: D - Destiny or F - Freedom

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"In this fascinating and imaginative book, Mariano Barbato transgresses outdated boundaries between the theological and the political to present pilgrimage as a source of imagination for world politics. In an age of mobility, the pilgrim offers a positive model for negotiating both continuity and change. This book is full of interesting narratives and rigorous conceptual analysis, and it offers international relations a new way forward in a postsecular age." - William T. Cavanaugh, Senior Research Professor, Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology, DePaul University

"In Barbato´s book, the notion of pilgrimage serves as a conceptual tool in his attempt to understand our current age, which he calls ´the age of transformation´. This, for millions of people around the world in the context of globalisation, implies ´taking leave and being on the way´, as an often constant, not always favourable, experience. This rich and densely argued book is a welcome addition to the small - yet, growing - number of monographs which seek to engage with the thorny issue of post-secular IR theory." Jeffrey Haynes, Associate Dean of Faculty, Research and Postgraduate, and Director of the Centre for the Study of Religion, Conflict and Cooperation, London Metropolitan University

"This is a very learned, thoughtful, and engaging book that is simply a pleasure to read. It uses the concept of postsecular pilgrimage to theorize about the self, agency, and community in a global age that points toward a deeper reconfiguration of the way we look at religion, politics, and international relations." - Scott M. Thomas, senior lecturer in International Relations and the Politics of Developing Countries, University of Bath

"Resisting mainstream ´securitization´ of religion in international relations studies, Barbato makes a wide-ranging and sustained argument for the creative import of religious semantics in world politics. The post-secular perspective defended is original and, often, persuasive." - Richard Beardsworth, Professor of International Relations Theory, Florida International University, Miami

"Mariano Barbato´s fascinating new book is a self-consciously normative call for the adoption of religious imagery as a tool for understanding the central dynamics that define world politics in our day The book is a challenging and welcome corrective to the (still) stubbornly secular focus of much of contemporary Social Science." - Timothy Byrnes, Professor of Political Science, Coordinator of Benton Scholars, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY

"An outstanding meditation on the role of the pilgrim as a political actor in a globalised world - inspiring, original and thought-provoking. A fascinating must-read for believers and agnostics alike!" - Thomas Diez, Professor of Political Science and International Relations, University of Tübingen, Germany

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