Following the successful formula of The Face of Human Rights and Who Owns the Water? this volume deals with the origin and significance of human belief. Religious phenomena such as the yearning for transcendence, inwardness, the experience of oneness, happiness, meaning in life, and rituals, as well as for models that can help to explain the origins and future of humanity and the world, exist both inside and outside official religious groups. With texts and a clear pictorial language, this volume addresses the phenomenon of religious belief, guiding the reader and viewer into the world of the numinous and mysterious, while also giving them a bit of critical orientation and existential questions to take along with them on their continued quest. The publication also takes a critical look at the traditional world religions, in order to help the reader differentiate between the political, cultural, and specifically religious roots of contemporary conflicts.

Lukas Niederberger (b. 1964) is a member of the senior staff of the Bildungszentrum Lassalle-Haus Schönbrunn (the Lassalle Institute at the Lassalle House in Bad Schönbrunn), where he lectures and leads seminars on ethics, leadership, interfaith dialogue, rituals, and spirituality. He is also a Lecturer at the Höhere Fachschule für Sozialpädagogik, Luzern (Lucerne School of Pedagogy).