Religion

Kuwait has enjoyed wealth far longer than the other oil producing states of the Middle East and is proud to spend its riches on its heritage, as Philip Mansel explores here.

Francis Robinson explains how his perception of Islam is reflected in his book, Atlas of the Islamic World since 1500 (Phaidon, 1982).

In this article Rosalind O'Hanlon describes the effects of Hindu religious hierarchies upon the daily life of Untouchables in traditional Indian society and discusses some of the forces associated with British rule that worked to change both the social position of Untouchables and their perception of their position.

Maggie Black takes a look at the seasonal celebration of All Saints and serves up a Hallowe'en recipe.

Keith Robbins considers the plurality of the Edwardian church, its relations with the state, and its responses to social change.

Neither the Greeks nor the Romans paid much attention to the achievements or customs of the peoples that they conquered. As Jenny Morris shows here, in the case of their Jewish subjects this indifference caused problems that had both religious and political repercussions.

'Bold is the man that dare engage For Piety in such an age' wrote a seventeenth-century poet. Yet, as Antonia Fraser shows here, the aristocratic Puritan, Mary Rich, sought to serve God as much by her tenacious moral example as by her prayers.

The loss to the Turks of Constantinople, the ancient capital of the Eastern Empire, in 1453 had been a terrible blow to Christendom. It was the crusading dream of Charles V, argues Sinclair Atkins, to reconquer the Byzantine city.

The census of religious worship taken in England and Wales in 1851 gives a unique insight into the religious habits of our Victorian predecessors which, as Bruce Coleman explains, is very much at variance with the popular image of them.

The refugee supporters of the House of Stuart, explains Bruce Lehman, made new lives for themselves as Europeans, achieving success as bankers, merchants, soldiers, churchmen and diplomats.