The Plausibility of Pure Religion: Olivier Roy's Thesis about the Separation between Religion and Culture

In this article, we examine the plausibility of the concept of "pure religion" as it is put forward by Olivier Roy in his book Holy Ignorance: When Religion and Culture Part Ways (2010). First, we describe Roy's thesis of the separation of religion and culture; second, we establish the role and meaning of the concept of "pure religion" in his theory; and third, we investigate whether and to what extent it is a plausible notion.