The study of religion(s) in Western Europe III: Further developments after World War II

Abstract

Keywords:History of the study of religion Phenomenology of religion Religion and public education Religion in Europe a b s t r a c t This essay discusses main features and developments of the study of religion(s) in Western Europe. It attempts a historical, geographical, and thematic synthesis. Part III outlines post-World War II developments with regard to journals, textbooks, and survey works. It looks at national figureheads, disciplinary boundaries and the changing fortunes of the phenomenology of religion. The series concludes by addressing selected key areas of scholarly work and current issues and concerns.The history of the study of religion(s) is generally divided into two main erasdclassical and contemporarydwith World War II as a dividing line (see Gardaz, 2009, p. 283; see also Casadio, 2005a). Given the titles of its different parts, the present series of articles also adhere broadly to this scheme. In fact, however, this division into two main periods is far too rough. First of all, the criteria for any such division would need to be spelled out clearly. Different chronologies will emerge depending on whether one looks at institutional changes in academia in general and the study of religion(s) in particular, at developments in science and in the humanities in general and the study of religion(s) in particular, or when one bases one's chronology on main events in cultural or political history. 1 The latter approach, which would seem to lend support to the standard scheme, has the advantage of providing a framework relevant to the entire European continent, whereas changes in the institutional frameworks and in scholarship, common tendencies and shared developments such as the impact of existentialism and Marxism and the transformation of the role of the universities, are often specific to the various nations. This, in turn, has to do with linguistic barriers and the national structure of the European system of education and research, which is only slowly developing into a more overarching framework (see also part I ¼ Stausberg, 2007, pp. 294-296). However, even when taking political history as a point of departure, there are several possible dividing lines. World War I can be considered as much a crucial turning point in European history as World War II. In fact, the catastrophe of World War I led to a major intellectual crisis; the impact of this challenge for the study of religion(s) has so far, it seems to me, not attracted the attention it deserves. At the other end of the century, the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of the Cold War is another turning point (see also part II ¼ Stausberg, 2008a, p. 306), the full significance of which remains unclear even now, twenty years after the fact. 3 Moreover, cultural changes epitomized by the cultural revolution of 1968 significantly altered the intellectual climate in which the study of religion(s) was operating, even if these upheavals did not become immediately apparent in the scholarly production of the generation of scholars holding relevant ch...

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“…In the pluralistic and secularized Western world, it is possible to see a transmutation of the monopoly of a unique religion to a religious pluralism (Cabral et al 2000;Deneulin and Rakodi 2011;Rodrigues 2004). Here we find that the approach to life is in no way related to the traditional religious manifestations (Stausberg 2009). The increase in these new movements potentiates the decline in religious compromise of people, leading to associations and identities that are progressively ephemeral, and that sometimes, convert religion into a type of pragmatic utilitarianism (Taylor 1998).…”

“…As a social, cultural, and historical phenomenon, religious movements find themselves in continuous transformation (Deneulin and Rakodi 2011;Stausberg 2009). Portugal is not exception to this reality (Cabral et al 2000;Mónico et al 2010Mónico et al , 2011.…”