Heritage and Religious Change in Contemporary Europe: Interactions Along Three Axes
This article examines the relationship between heritage and three dimensions of religious change that have characterized Europe since the 1960s, namely secularization, pluralization, and spiritualization. Following an analysis of the role of religious heritage in both public discourse and academia,...
| Published in: | Trajecta |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Amsterdam University Press
2021
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| In: |
Trajecta
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy CD Christianity and Culture CH Christianity and Society KBA Western Europe |
| Further subjects: | B
Religious Diversity
B Secularization B European Religion B Religious Heritage B Postsecular |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | This article examines the relationship between heritage and three dimensions of religious change that have characterized Europe since the 1960s, namely secularization, pluralization, and spiritualization. Following an analysis of the role of religious heritage in both public discourse and academia, the essay turns to recent heritage initiatives, and explores how churches, secular organizations and government agencies have responded to the shifting religious landscape in their heritage work. The article shows that while secularization, understood here as declining participation in traditional religious congregations, has forced churches and synagogues to change hands and find new uses, it has also made possible new types of secular-religious cooperation in heritage that moves in a postsecular direction. The diversification of European society, which features the growth of new religious communities, has prompted some to mobilize tropes of "Christian" or "Judeo-Christian-Humanist" heritage to exclude religious minorities. At the same time, growing diversity has also led to calls to pluralize Europe’s religious heritage. Grassroots and top-down efforts to recover the presence of minorities in Europe in past decades have flourished. Finally, the article explores spiritualization as a religious activity that highlights creativity in the ongoing meaning making that constitutes heritage work today. |
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| ISSN: | 2665-9484 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Trajecta
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.5117/TRA2021.2.001.WEIR |