The Religious Roots of Contemporary European Identity

The Religious Roots of Contemporary European Identity PDF Author: Lucia Faltin
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0826423485
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 247

Book Description
This volume provides a coherent critical examination of current issues related to the religious roots of contemporary, i.e. post-1990 European identity, by analyzing the components of contemporary European identity, the presence of religion in the development of national identities, manifestation of religious roots in secular society, and the role of religion in further European integration and social inclusion. The book involves a multi and interdisciplinary approach to the theme, by bringing together scholars in history, religious studies, sociology, cultural studies, European studies, and international relations. This rigorously edited volume provides a coherent analysis of the religious roots of Europe's identity today, with particular attention to the secular context of religious communities. Europe is often perceived as secular by most of its citizens, regardless of their creed. Bearing this in mind, the authors build upon their expertise in different fields of arts and humanities to identify some of the key elements of European religious heritage and its manifestation in Europe's identity, be it secular or otherwise perceived. The authors also indicate the role these elements play in further European integration. With this focused approach, the publication identifies a number of similarities across faiths and, more holistically, vis-à-vis Europe. This serves the readers to perceive their own identity in a wider context of shared values, reaching beyond a particular faith or non-religious framework.

Christendom and European Identity

Christendom and European Identity PDF Author: Mary Anne Perkins
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 9783110182446
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 408

Book Description
The series Religion and Society (RS) contributes to the exploration of religions as social systems- both in Western and non-Western societies; in particular, it examines religions in their differentiation from, and intersection with, other cultural systems, such as art, economy, law and politics. Due attention is given to paradigmatic case or comparative studies that exhibit a clear theoretical orientation with the empirical and historical data of religion and such aspects of religion as ritual, the religious imagination, constructions of tradition, iconography, or media. In addition, the formation of religious communities, their construction of identity, and their relation to society and the wider public are key issues of this series.

Is Europe Christian?

Is Europe Christian? PDF Author: Olivier Roy
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190099933
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 194

Book Description
Latest from Olivier Roy offering a brilliant analysis of Europe's ongoing culture wars over identity, immigration and Islam, and what these mean for Christianity. As populism rises and historic identities are hotly contested, the idea of the 'Christian West' is under the spotlight.

The Religious Roots of Contemporary European Identity

The Religious Roots of Contemporary European Identity PDF Author: Lucia Faltin
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
ISBN: 9781441195715
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Book Description
This volume provides a coherent critical examination of current issues related to the religious roots of contemporary, i.e. post-1990 European identity, by analyzing the components of contemporary European identity, the presence of religion in the development of national identities, manifestation of religious roots in secular society, and the role of religion in further European integration and social inclusion. The book involves a multi and interdisciplinary approach to the theme, by bringing together scholars in history, religious studies, sociology, cultural studies, European studies, and international relations. This rigorously edited volume provides a coherent analysis of the religious roots of Europe's identity today, with particular attention to the secular context of religious communities. Europe is often perceived as secular by most of its citizens, regardless of their creed. Bearing this in mind, the authors build upon their expertise in different fields of arts and humanities to identify some of the key elements of European religious heritage and its manifestation in Europe's identity, be it secular or otherwise perceived. The authors also indicate the role these elements play in further European integration. With this focused approach, the publication identifies a number of similarities across faiths and, more holistically, vis-à-vis Europe. This serves the readers to perceive their own identity in a wider context of shared values, reaching beyond a particular faith or non-religious framework.

Historical Narratives and Christian Identity on a European Periphery

Historical Narratives and Christian Identity on a European Periphery PDF Author: Ildar H. Garipzanov
Publisher: Brepols Publishers
ISBN: 9782503533674
Category : Christian literature, Latin (Medieval and modern)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
This volume presents the first comprehensive overview of the major early historical narratives created in Northern, East-Central, and Eastern Europe between c. 1070 and c. 1200, with each chapter providing a short introduction to the narrative in question. Most chapters are written by established experts in their fields, who have published critical editions of the discussed narratives, their English translations, or analytical works dealing with early history writing in corresponding regions. However, the volume is more than just a summary of various narratives. Despite being written in such different languages as Latin, Old Norse, and Old Church Slavonic, these narratives played similar roles for their reading audiences, in that they were crucial in the construction of Christian identity in the lands recently converted to Christianity. The thirteen authors contemplate the extent to which this identity formation affected the nature of narrativity in these early historical works. The authors ask how the pagan past and Christian present were incorporated in the texture of the narratives, and address the relative importance of classical and biblical models for their composition and structure. By addressing such questions, the volume offers medievalists a coherent comparative study of early history writing in the peripheral regions of medieval Europe in the first centuries after conversion.

Christianity and National Identity in Twentieth-Century Europe

Christianity and National Identity in Twentieth-Century Europe PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783666101496
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description
This collection explores how Christian individuals and institutions combined the topics of faith and national identity in twentieth-century Europe. "National identity" is understood in a broad sense that includes discourses of citizenship, narratives of cultural or linguistic belonging, or "national" characteristics. It considers various geographical contexts, and takes into account processes of cross-national exchange and transfer. It shows how national and denominational identities were often mutually constitutive, at times leading to a strongly exclusionary stance against "other" national or religious groups. In different circumstances, religiously minded thinkers critiqued nationalism, emphasising the universalist strains of their faith, with varying degrees of success. Throughout the century church officials and lay Christians have had to come to terms with the relationship between their national and "European" identities within the processes of Europeanisation.

The Rise of Western Christendom

The Rise of Western Christendom PDF Author: Peter Brown
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118338847
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 741

Book Description
This tenth anniversary revised edition of the authoritative text on Christianity's first thousand years of history features a new preface, additional color images, and an updated bibliography. The essential general survey of medieval European Christendom, Brown's vivid prose charts the compelling and tumultuous rise of an institution that came to wield enormous religious and secular power. Clear and vivid history of Christianity's rise and its pivotal role in the making of Europe Written by the celebrated Princeton scholar who originated of the field of study known as 'late antiquity' Includes a fully updated bibliography and index

Conditions of European Solidarity: Religion in the new Europe

Conditions of European Solidarity: Religion in the new Europe PDF Author: Krzysztof Michalski
Publisher: Central European University Press
ISBN: 9789637326493
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 168

Book Description
This book offers a unique transdisciplinary collection of essays written by highly renowned international scholars.

Why We Should Call Ourselves Christians

Why We Should Call Ourselves Christians PDF Author: Marcello Pera
Publisher: Encounter Books
ISBN: 1594035644
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Book Description
The intellectual and political elite of the West is nowadays taking for granted that religion, in particular Christianity, is a cultural vestige, a primitive form of knowledge, a consolation for the poor minded, an obstacle to coexistence. In all influential environments, the widespread watchword is “We are all secular” or “We are all post-religious.” As a consequence, we are told that states must be independent of religious creed, politics must take a neutral stance regarding religious values, and societies must hold together without any reference to religious bonds. Liberalism, which in some form or another is the prevailing view in the West, is considered to be “free-standing,” and the Western, liberal, open society is taken to be “self-sufficient.” Not only is anti-Christian secularism wrong, it is also risky. It's wrong because the very ideas on which liberal societies are based and in terms of which they can be justified—the concept of the dignity of the human person, the moral priority of the individual, the view that man is a “crooked timber” inclined to prevarication, the limited confidence in the power of the state to render him virtuous—are typical Christian or, more precisely, Judeo-Christian ideas. Take them away and the open society will collapse. Anti-Christian secularism is risky because it jeopardizes the identity of the West, leaves it with no self-conscience, and deprives people of their sense of belonging. The Founding Fathers of America, as well as major intellectual European figures such as Locke, Kant, and Tocqueville, knew how much our civilization depends on Christianity. Today, American and European culture is shaking the pillars of that civilization. Written from a secular and liberal, but not anti-Christian, point of view, this book explains why the Christian culture is still the best antidote to the crisis and decline of the West. Pera proposes that we should call ourselves Christians if we want to maintain our liberal freedoms, to embark on such projects as the political unification of Europe as well as the special relationship between Europe and America, and to avoid the relativistic trend that affects our public ethics. “The challenges of our particular historical moment”, as Pope Benedict XVI calls them in the Preface to the book, can be faced only if we stress the historical and conceptual link between Christianity and free society.

The Rise of Christian Democracy in Europe

The Rise of Christian Democracy in Europe PDF Author: Stathis N. Kalyvas
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801483202
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 318

Book Description
Kalyvas also lays a foundation for a theory of the Christian Democratic phenomenon which would specify the conditions under which confessional parties succeed and would determine the impact of such parties, and the way they are formed, on politics and society.