"The most important study of Javanese religion since Clifford Geertz's Religion of Java (1960). An ethnographically rich and historically detailed portrait of the last Hindu enclave in Muslim Java, Hefner's work is also a compelling account of the symbolic processes involved in religious conversion... This is a brilliant study which is certain to appeal to readers concerned with post-structuralist theory as well as specialists in Asian Studies, Hinduism, and Islam."--Choice "Elegantly written, convincingly argued, and painstakingly researched, this study of a Javanese mountain people is the most paradigmatic work in the anthropology of religion to appear since Nuer Religion."--E. Valentine Daniel, Religious Studies Review "[T]he description of ritual, the priestly role, and prayer in the contemporary setting is careful, subtle and original. The challenges from and reactions to Islam are well delineated."--R. H. Barnes, Times Literary Supplement

Robert W. Hefner is professor of anthropology at Boston University. His books include Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia and Schooling Islam: The Culture and Politics of Modern Muslim Education (both Princeton).