Religion, cultural differentiation and cultural identities
Team leaders :
Professor Heinz Schilling (Germany)
Dr. Istvan Toth (Hungary)
Europe has been divided into two major Christian zones ever since the schism of 1054. Subsequently, Latin Christendom was subdivided, first by a papal schism in 1378 and more profoundly by confessional churches after the Protestant Reformation. The effects and influences of these major traditions on their respective societies was fundamental in the shaping of early modern European culture. But their interaction was problematic : should we speak of cultural exchange, or of mutual incomprehension ? How were religious objects and habits filtered from one cultural zone to another, beginning with the oldest division between Greek and Latin Christendom, and following with the bitter confessional rivalries of 16th and 17th century Europe ?
The dialectic of identity and differentiation in the cultural impact of religion on the early modern societies of Latin Christendom originates with the spiritual movements of the late medieval period (mysticism, the Devotio moderna, recent heresies like the Hussite, humanist critiques) and with the increasing autonomy of major European princes vis-a-vis the papacy during the age of schisms and conciliarism after 1378, resulting in an impressive set of concordats. The greater schisms of the Protestant Reformation exacerbated this process, creating territorial monopolies of confessional churches, whose impact on European society can be experienced even today when travelling through Protestant and catholic regions ; religio vinculum societatis long remained a favorite maxim among jurists and statesmen, weakening only slightly in western Europe by 1700. Godly confessions shaped godly people who struggled to create a godly Europe.
Although total religious and cultural integration through confessionalism could not be enforced in any European society, its impact on both public and private life was profound. A plethora of prescriptive and devotional sources, ranging from disputational tracts to hymns to religious architecture to epitaphs, has been discussed by highly sophisticated experts in a variety of disciplines, although seldom in either a comparative or an interdisciplinary manner. Although much evidence has been digested from central and western Europe, we know less about confessional culture in southern Europe. Above all, far too little attention has been paid to east-central Europe, from the Baltic lands to the Ukraine, where interconfessional exchanges did not escalate into wars of religion. Instead, one finds extensive experiments in peaceful coexistence (most notably in the huge state of Poland-Lithuania or Transylvania) and even experiments in confessional compromises between the ancient rival Greek and Latin churches (e.g., the Polish Uniates or Mohilas work at Kiev). The roles of non-Christian beliefs and communities must also be taken into account in order to study relations between them and the surrounding Christians. Christendoms most complex relationships were with Jewish communities, now mainly located in central and eastern Europe.
