This colourful and richly illustrated book deals with the relationship between contemporary society, religion and the individual, and the role played by postmodern art within that relationship. The merits of the Enlightenment and postmodernism notwithstanding, there are indications that the Western individual regards his freedom as a burden and attempts to repudiate his own identity by taking refuge in consumerism, group culture, fundamentalism and virtual worlds. Onno Zijlstra and Suzan ten Heuw analyse what is going on in today’s Western society and how things have come to such a pass. The individualisation of religion plays an important role here and forms a breeding ground for extremism and spirituality of all sorts. The authors make an appeal to the individual’s power of the imagination. They emphasise the importance of reading and rereading, and of stimulating creativity. They ascribe an important role to the visual arts and to literature because this is where religion can be expressed and because both art and literature can serve as a vehicle for individuality.