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Religion has long been a driving force in the process of globalization. This idea is not controversial
or novel thinking, nor is it meant to be. However, the dominant reasoning on the subject of
globalization, expressed by authors like Thomas Friedman, places economics at the center of
analysis, skewing focus from the ideational factors at work in this process. By expanding the
definition of globalization to accommodate ideational factors and cultural exchange, religion’s
agency in the process can be enabled. Interestingly, the story of religion and globalization is in some
ways the history of globalization, but it is riddled with paradoxes, including the agent-opponent
paradox, the subject of this article. Religion and globalization have a co-constitutive relationship,
but religious actors are both agents of globalization and principals in its backlash. While some
actors might benefit from a mutually reinforcing relationship with globalization, others are
marginalized in some way or another, so it is necessary to expose the links and wedges that allow
for such a paradox. To that end, the concepts of globalization and religious actors must be defined,
and the history of the agent-opponent paradox, from the Buddhists of the Silk Road to the Jubilee
campaign of 2000, must be elucidate
