[PDF] Religion In An Expanding Europe eBook

Author : Timothy A. Byrnes
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 306 pages
File Size : 34,94 MB
Release : 2006-03-23
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1139450948

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With political controversies raging over issues such as the wearing of headscarves in schools and the mention of Christianity in the European Constitution, religious issues are of growing importance in European politics. In this volume, Byrnes and Katzenstein analyze the effect that enlargement to countries with different and stronger religious traditions may have on the EU as a whole, and in particular on its homogeneity and assumed secular nature. Looking through the lens of the transnational religious communities of Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Islam, they argue that religious factors are stumbling blocks rather than stepping stones toward the further integration of Europe. All three religious traditions are advancing notions of European identity and European union that differ substantially from how the European integration process is generally understood by political leaders and scholars. This volume makes an important addition to the fields of European politics, political sociology, and the sociology of religion.

Author : Lavinia Stan
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : pages
File Size : 25,89 MB
Release : 2011-08-29
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0199714126

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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.

Author : Timothy A. Byrnes
Publisher :
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 32,69 MB
Release : 2006
Category : Political culture
ISBN : 9780511191633

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As the EU expands eastwards, religious issues are of growing importance in contemporary European politics. Examining the intersection between European enlargement and the transnational religious communities of Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Islam, this book argues that religious factors are stumbling blocks rather than stepping stones toward the further integration of Europe.

Author : Philip W. Barker
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 225 pages
File Size : 44,19 MB
Release : 2008-08-20
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 113597392X

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This volume examines the enduring nature of religious nationalism in modern Europe. Through a series of in-depth case studies covering Ireland, England, Poland, and Greece; the author argues that religious frontiers, or geographic lines of division between different and unique religions, are central to the formation of religiously-based national identities. Typically, as states develop economically and politically, religion plays a lesser role in both individual lives and national identity. However, at religious frontiers, religion becomes useful for differentiating and mobilizing groups of people. This is particularly true when the religious frontier also represents a threat or conflict. Although religion may not be the root of conflict in these instances, the conflict takes on religious tones because of its ability to unite an otherwise diverse population. Religion takes precedence over language, culture, or other national building-blocks because the "other" can best be distinguished in religious terms. The in-depth case studies allow for a deep historical understanding of the processes which converge to create a modern religious nation. Greatly expanding our current understanding of the conditions in which religious nationalism develops, this important book has implications for our understanding of religion and politics, secularization, European politics and foreign policy.

Author : Grace Davie
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 234 pages
File Size : 18,98 MB
Release : 2000-08-03
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0191584185

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Religion in Modern Europe examines religion as a form of collective memory. This is a memory held in place by Europe's institutional churches, educational systems, and the mass media - all of which are themselves responding to rapid social and economic change. Europe's religious memory is approached in the following ways: as vicarious-a particularly European characteristic, as precarious-especially among young people, and as it is portrayed by the media. The memory may fragment, be disputed, and in extreme cases, disappear. Alternatives may emerge. The challenge for European societies is to affirm healthy mutations in religious memory and discourage others. The book also examines the increasing diversity of Europe's religious life. European Societies Series Series Editor: Colin Crouch Very few of the existing sociological texts which compare different European societies on specific topics are accessible to a broad range of scholars and students. The European Societies series will help fill this gap in the literature, and attempt to answer questions such as: Is there really such a thing as a 'European model' of society? Do the economic and political integration processes of the European Union also imply convergence in more general aspects of social life, like family or religious behaviour? What do the societies of Western Europe have in common with those further to the east? This series will cover the main social institutions, although not every author will cover the full range of European countries. As well as surveying existing knowledge in a way that will be useful to students, each book will also seek to contribute to our growing knowledge of what remains in many respects a sociologically unknown continent.

Author : Miklós Tomka
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 23,33 MB
Release : 2011
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781283165198

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In sharp contrast to Western developments post-communist Europe experienced a spectacular religious revival after 1989. Previously marginalized believers and churches became accepted and active participants of social life. Several successive surveys of three international projects studied religious revival and variations of religiosity, the social image of religious people and their specific private and public behaviour in the period between 1991 and 2008. The present volume is the first ever cross-national and cross-denominational comparative analysis of these results.

Author : Krzysztof Michalski
Publisher : Central European University Press
Page : 168 pages
File Size : 10,48 MB
Release : 2006-01-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9789637326493

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

Author : Miklós Tomka
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 269 pages
File Size : 27,94 MB
Release : 2011-01-27
Category : Religion
ISBN : 3110228165

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Reiterated international comparative surveys offer evidences about developments of religion-related scene in Central and Eastern Europe. The present volume is the first one, which presents an extensive and detailed cross-national analysis of sociological data comparing extensively countries, regions and denominations in the past two decades. It displays achievements and shortages of a religious revival in the post-communist region, as well as religion’s role in family life, social responsibility and public commitment. It proves the combination of de-Christianization based on previous persecution of religion and an ongoing modernization and the rise and the transformation of religion. In some countries popular religiosity of traditional social strata is dominant. In other countries there is a visible transition from old and low strata religiosity to a more restricted but socially more influential religiosity of young middle and upper strata groups. In final outcome the volume substantiates the growing public role of religion in Eastern and Central Europe as well as the distinct impact of religiosity on individual behaviour. These results contradict the idea of an overwhelming secularization but argue for a more complex process overcoming the communist past.

Author : Olivier Roy
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 194 pages
File Size : 13,2 MB
Release : 2020-03
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0190099933

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As Europe wrangles over questions of national identity, nativism and immigration, Olivier Roy interrogates the place of Christianity, foundation of Western identity. Do secularism and Islam really pose threats to the continent's 'Christian values'? What will be the fate of Christianity in Europe? Rather than repeating the familiar narrative of decline, Roy challenges the significance of secularized Western nations' reduction of Christianity to a purely cultural force- relegated to issues such as abortion, euthanasia and equal marriage. He illustrates that, globally, quite the opposite has occurred: Christianity is now universalized, and detached from national identity. Not only has it taken hold in the Global South, generally in a more socially conservative form than in the West, but it has also 'returned' to Europe, following immigration from former colonies. Despite attempts within Europe to nationalize or even racialize it, Christianity's future is global, non-European and immigrant-as the continent's Churches well know. This short but bracing book confirms Roy's reputation as one of the most acute observers of our times. It represents a persuasive and novel vision of religion's place in national life today.