I wish to express my sincerest thanks to my mother and father, and to my sister, Myriam. I want to thank my French publisher at Le Seuil (Paris), Jean-Louis Schlegel, and my American publisher at Columbia University Press, Anne Routon, for extending to me their confidence and for their thorough advice and suggestions; to Christopher Jon Delogu, for his thoroughness and enthusiasm in translating this book. Thanks to Jase Short and John Green for their help during my research in Tennessee; to Denise Spellberg, for her pioneering, inspiring, and stimulating work, and for believing in this book; to Denis Lacorne, for his trust, encouragements, and most helpful feedback; to Zachary Shore, for his long friendship and stimulating comments during the revision process; and to Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, Winnifred Sullivan, and Anver Emon, for their precious input and support at various stages of this research. My work benefited from funding from the ERC-funded ReligioWest project at the European University Institute (Florence), and from important feedback from the research team there. The Centre Raymond Aron in Paris (CNRS-EHESS), where I have worked since 2013, has proved to be a very amicable and collegial place that afforded me unique research conditions to finalize this project.
I am particularly grateful to Olivier Roy for all these years of encouragement, teaching, and inspiration.