Attempting to provide a sociological explanation of the Holocaust, the main theme of this work is the demonstration that the Holocaust has to be understood as deeply involved with the nature of modernity - neither a single event nor a simple outpouring of barbarism. The author discusses what sociology can teach us about the Holocaust, but more particularly concentrates upon the lesson which the Holocaust has for sociology. There are two ways, he points out, in which the significance of the Holocaust can be side-stepped in our understanding of modernity. One way is to present the Holocaust as something which happened to the Jews, as an event in Jewish history. A second way is to regard the Holocaust as representing loathsome aspects of social life which the progress of modernity will increasingly overcome. Neither of these views stand up to scrutiny, according to the author.

本書的研究主體涵蓋臺灣、中國大陸、韓國、日本等東亞地區的知識人對「近代性」的思考，打破了以臺灣或中國大陸為觀察視野的單一面向之思維模式，內容涵蓋以下幾項課題：
(一)、日本與韓國面對「近代性」的不同背景圖像；(二)、從共同文本的不同翻譯看東亞對「近代性」的反應；(三)、漢學、蘭學與日本近代化之關聯性；(四)、從韓國看近代日本國家主義的形成；(五)、中日近代知識人對歷史觀念的變化；(六)、以「西」釋「中」的歷史脈絡與「近代性」的關聯；(七)、近代中日知識人對美國文明認知的異同。以上研究主題以「空間移動」的探討為經，以東亞區域性時勢潮流的思想交流為緯的研究架構，將人物互動所延伸的文化、思想交流等各種「近代性」層面的問題納入探討的視角。

First published in 2000, Dipesh Chakrabarty's influential Provincializing Europe addresses the mythical figure of Europe that is often taken to be the original site of modernity in many histories of capitalist transition in non-Western countries. This imaginary Europe, Dipesh Chakrabarty argues, is built into the social sciences. The very idea of historicizing carries with it some peculiarly European assumptions about disenchanted space, secular time, and sovereignty. Measured against such mythical standards, capitalist transition in the third world has often seemed either incomplete or lacking. Provincializing Europe proposes that every case of transition to capitalism is a case of translation as well--a translation of existing worlds and their thought--categories into the categories and self-understandings of capitalist modernity. Now featuring a new preface in which Chakrabarty responds to his critics, this book globalizes European thought by exploring how it may be renewed both for and from the margins.

《现代性的神学起源》是由米歇尔·艾伦·吉莱斯皮著，张卜天译，是一部颇具原创性的深刻著作。它把现代性追溯到中世纪晚期，认为从唯名论革命开始的西方神学传统的内部张力是现代形而上学、科学、政治、宗教哲学、人类学、虚无主义等等的真正发端，人文主义、宗教改革和现代思想分别对应着把人、神、自然置于存在者领域的优先地位。通过深入探讨奥卡姆、彼特拉克、路德、笛卡儿、霍布斯等人的思想及其内部争论，《现代性的神学起源》表明，要想化解现代性危机，必须首先理解现代性是如何起源的，现代性并非如传统看法所说是用理性战胜了宗教迷信，而是源于提出一种新的融贯的形而上学或神学的一系列尝试。《现代性的神学起源》能够大大开阔我们的视野，使我们更深入地理解现代性和目前的哲学、科学、政治、文化处境。