Critically investigates the post secular turn definitions of religion and our urgent need to escape the pastGregg Lambert examines two facets of the return to religion in the 21st century the resurgence of overtly religious themes in contemporary philosophy and the global post secular turn that has been taking place since 9 11 He asks how these two returns to religion can be taking place simultaneously and explores the relationship between them Lambert reflects on statements of these returns from contemporary philosophers including Alain Badiou John D Caputo Jacques Derrida and Jean Luc Nancy He discovers a unique and forboding sense of the term religion that belongs exclusively to our contemporary perspective