Religion has taken on an undeniable social interest in recent times. More and more questions we ask ourselves about the present and the future that include religious arguments. The point of view behind this extraordinary monograph is that the past can be of great help in explaining the role of religions in the present; to launch, likewise, a look at future prospects and reflect on the impact of beliefs in our global world, as well as the keys to their durability and transformations. This reflection is organized around five main thematic axes - violence, power, identity, death and fear - and how these are combined with religion, both in our present and in the past, comparatively and differentially. But to understand the possibilities and challenges of this type of analysis offered by the history of religions, a methodological reflection is also necessary, which forms the final chapter of a book whose ultimate intention is to offer arguments that help make religion understandable today. both in its collective and individual facets.