Is Europe Christian?

Is Europe Christian?
Author: Olivier Roy
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2020
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0190099933

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.

Religion, Politics and Law in the European Union

Religion, Politics and Law in the European Union
Author: Lucian N. Leustean
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2013-09-13
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1317990811

EU enlargement - to countries in Central and Eastern Europe in 2004, the inclusion of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, and increasing debates on Turkey’s membership - has dramatically transformed the European Union into a multi-religious space. Religious communities are not only shaping identities but are also influential factors in political discourse. This edited volume examines the activities of religious actors in the context of supranational European institutions and the ways in which they have responded to the idea of Europe at local and international levels. By bringing together scholars working in political science, history, law and sociology, this volume analyses key religious factors in contemporary EU architecture, such as the transformation of religious identities, the role of political and religious leaders, EU legislation on religion, and, the activities of religious lobbies. This book was published as a special issue of Religion, State and Society.

Church, State, and Democracy in Expanding Europe

Church, State, and Democracy in Expanding Europe
Author: Lavinia Stan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages:
Release: 2011-08-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0199714126

Lavinia Stan and Lucian Turcescu examine the relationship between religion and politics in ten former communist Eastern European countries. Contrary to widespread theories of increasing secularization, Stan and Turcescu argue that in most of these countries, the populations have shown themselves to remain religious even as they embrace modernization and democratization. Church-state relations in the new EU member states can be seen in political representation for church leaders, governmental subsidies, registration of religions by the state, and religious instruction in public schools. Stan and Turcescu outline three major models: the Czech church-state separation model, in which religion is private and the government secular; the pluralist model of Hungary, Bulgaria and Latvia, which views society as a group of complementary but autonomous spheres - for example, education, the family, and religion - each of which is worthy of recognition and support from the state; and the dominant religion model that exists in Poland, Romania, Estonia, and Lithuania, in which the government maintains informal ties to the religious majority. Church, State, and Democracy in Expanding Europe offers critical tools for understanding church-state relations in an increasingly modern and democratic Eastern Europe.

Magic, Science, and Religion in Early Modern Europe

Magic, Science, and Religion in Early Modern Europe
Author: Mark A. Waddell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2021-01-28
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1108591167

From the recovery of ancient ritual magic at the height of the Renaissance to the ignominious demise of alchemy at the dawn of the Enlightenment, Mark A. Waddell explores the rich and complex ways that premodern people made sense of their world. He describes a time when witches flew through the dark of night to feast on the flesh of unbaptized infants, magicians conversed with angels or struck pacts with demons, and astrologers cast the horoscopes of royalty. Ground-breaking discoveries changed the way that people understood the universe while, in laboratories and coffee houses, philosophers discussed how to reconcile the scientific method with the veneration of God. This engaging, illustrated new study introduces readers to the vibrant history behind the emergence of the modern world.

Religion, the Supernatural and Visual Culture in Early Modern Europe

Religion, the Supernatural and Visual Culture in Early Modern Europe
Author: Jennifer Spinks
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 437
Release: 2015-07-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004299017

This volume brings together some of the most exciting new scholarship on these themes, and thus pays tribute to the ground-breaking work of Charles Zika. Seventeen interdisciplinary essays offer new insights into the materiality and belief systems of early modern religious cultures as found in artworks, books, fragmentary texts and even in Protestant ‘relics’. Some contributions reassess communal and individual responses to cases of possession, others focus on witchcraft and manifestations of the disordered natural world. Canonical figures and events, from Martin Luther to the Salem witch trials, are looked at afresh. Collectively, these essays demonstrate how cultural and interdisciplinary trends in religious history illuminate the experiences of early modern Europeans. Contributors: Susan Broomhall, Heather Dalton, Dagmar Eichberger, Peter Howard, E. J. Kent, Brian P. Levack, Dolly MacKinnon, Louise Marshall, Donna Merwick, Leigh T.I. Penman, Shelley Perlove, Lyndal Roper, Peter Sherlock, Larry Silver, Patricia Simons, Jennifer Spinks, Hans de Waardt and Alexandra Walsham.

Religion Around Shakespeare

Religion Around Shakespeare
Author: Peter Iver Kaufman
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 341
Release: 2015-06-26
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0271069589

For years scholars and others have been trying to out Shakespeare as an ardent Calvinist, a crypto-Catholic, a Puritan-baiter, a secularist, or a devotee of some hybrid faith. In Religion Around Shakespeare, Peter Kaufman sets aside such speculation in favor of considering the historical and religious context surrounding his work. Employing extensive archival research, he aims to assist literary historians who probe the religious discourses, characters, and events that seem to have found places in Shakespeare’s plays and to aid general readers or playgoers developing an interest in the plays’ and playwright’s religious contexts: Catholic, conformist, and reformist. Kaufman argues that sermons preached around Shakespeare and conflicts that left their marks on literature, law, municipal chronicles, and vestry minutes enlivened the world in which (and with which) he worked and can enrich our understanding of the playwright and his plays.

Global Institutions of Religion

Global Institutions of Religion
Author: Katherine Marshall
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2013-06-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 113667344X

This work fills a significant gap in the current literature by providing a concise introduction to religious institutions and an insightful analysis of their role in world affairs. Focusing on formal institutions specifically dedicated to governing religious communities, the work examines the intersections between religious and other global institutions, set against the fundamental question: why and how do these intersections matter? The work explores the role of religion within key issues including Human rights Human security International development and humanitarian relief Climate change Moral responsibilities The new forms that religious institutions are taking, their fit with human rights and democratic ideals, their changing nature in plural societies, are a highly relevant part of the global institutional picture and this book is essential reading for all students and scholars of global institutions, international relations and religion.

Being German, Becoming Muslim

Being German, Becoming Muslim
Author: Esra Özyürek
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 186
Release: 2014-11-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0691162794

Every year more and more Europeans, including Germans, are embracing Islam. It is estimated that there are now up to one hundred thousand German converts—a number similar to that in France and the United Kingdom. What stands out about recent conversions is that they take place at a time when Islam is increasingly seen as contrary to European values. Being German, Becoming Muslim explores how Germans come to Islam within this antagonistic climate, how they manage to balance their love for Islam with their society's fear of it, how they relate to immigrant Muslims, and how they shape debates about race, religion, and belonging in today’s Europe. Esra Özyürek looks at how mainstream society marginalizes converts and questions their national loyalties. In turn, converts try to disassociate themselves from migrants of Muslim-majority countries and promote a denationalized Islam untainted by Turkish or Arab traditions. Some German Muslims believe that once cleansed of these accretions, the Islam that surfaces fits in well with German values and lifestyle. Others even argue that being a German Muslim is wholly compatible with the older values of the German Enlightenment. Being German, Becoming Muslim provides a fresh window into the connections and tensions stemming from a growing religious phenomenon in Germany and beyond.

The World's Religions

The World's Religions
Author: Ninian Smart
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 298
Release: 1998-06-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780521631396

The World's Religions offers a fascinating insight into a wide range of faiths, their history and their followers. In the richly illustrated new edition of this popular book, religions are described through their symbols, rituals, followers, architecture and art. References, statistics, maps and pictures have been updated and added. The text has been thoroughly revised to highlight recent developments, such as the spread of Islam, African-American and Hispanic-American religious experience, and women priests.

Taking Psychoanalytic and Psychometric Perspectives toward a Binocular Vision of Religion

Taking Psychoanalytic and Psychometric Perspectives toward a Binocular Vision of Religion
Author: Barbara Keller
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 91
Release: 2020-06-02
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9004436340

Psychoanalytic and Psychometric Perspectives on Religion suggests to combine perspectives from psychoanalysis and academic psychology, from nomothetic and idiothetic research, for more depth of vision for the current psychology of religion. In this interdisciplinary study, Barbara Keller demonstrates the potential of integrative perspectives by analysing topics such as religious development, religion and personality, and the process of working with religious issues in psychotherapy. Options for the study of lived “religion” are discussed, taking into consideration North American and European contexts of religious experience and of psychological and psychoanalytic discussion.