La "responsabilità sociale" dell'imprenditore negli ambienti cattolici lombardi dagli anni Trenta alla Ricostruzione

My research focuses on the mentality of catholic entrepreneurs and managers in Italy between the 1930's and the 1950's. The main source of my study is the archive of an organization called Unione Cristiana Imprenditori Dirigenti [Christian Entrepreneurs and Managers Association], which was founded in Milan in 1945 with the pedagogic intent to foster higher moral standards and social responsibility in the milieux of catholic entrepreneurs, in the spirit of the Social Doctrine of the Church. This experience was set in the social and political context of the Italian post-war years, but it was also rooted in the debate – started during the 1930s - on the rise of a new catholic leadership in society.

Ernesto Buonaiuti e la rivista «Il Rinnovamento»

This work is about the modernist writer Ernesto Buonaiuti (1881-1946) in the early years of his cultural activity. He was suggested by Alfred Loisy's historical method and by William James pragmatism in philosophy. So he refused traditional religious education he received to become a catholic priest and started a long-life battle against Roman Catholic Church. My research tries to investigate the influence of pragmatism on Buonaiuti's thought, analyzing articles he published on the modernist review «Il Rinnovamento», from 1907 to 1909. Then I compared philosophical themes with other works by Buonaiuti, trying to focus the development of his way of thinking throught the years until the end. My conclusion: Buonaiuti was a religious pragmatist all over his life and many works he published after the modernist crisis can confirm it.

Muslime in Ruanda – von Marginalisierung zu Integration /// Arbeitspapiere / Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien ; 74

Zwischen April und Juni 1994 wurden in dem kleinen zentralafrikanischen Land Ruanda ca. 800.000 Menschen ermordet worden. Die Mehrzahl der Opfer waren Tutsi, aber auch viele Hutu verloren ihr Leben. Nahezu jede internationale und nationale Organisation versagte im Angesicht des Ausmaßes der Tragödie. Auch die in Ruanda sehr einflussreiche katholische Kirche konnte oder wollte die Massaker nicht beenden. Einzig die in der ruandischen Geschichte bis zum Genozid immer marginalisierten Muslime verweigerten in der Mehrzahl eine Teilnahme an den Massakern. Warum es zu diesem Verhalten kam, steht als Ausgangsfrage zu Beginn der Untersuchung. Im Folgenden gliedert sich die Arbeit in drei Teile – Geschichte des Islam bis 1994, Verhalten der Muslime im Völkermord von 1994 und die Veränderungen in den zehn Jahren nach dem Genozid. Die Arbeit, welche sich auf die Ergebnisse einer zweimonatigen Feldforschung und einige ältere Arbeiten zum Thema stützt, macht deutlich, dass die Geschichte der ruandischen Muslime bis 1994 durch eine kontinuierliche Marginalisierung gekennzeichnet war. Als nach dem Völkermord das außergewöhnliche Verhalten der ruandischen Muslime langsam deutlich wurde, änderte sich bei vielen Menschen und auch bei offiziellen Stellen auch die Einstellung gegenüber Muslimen.

Zielvereinbarungsgespräch und Leitungsaufgabe von katholischen Priestern

Die großen christlichen Kirchen in Deutschland befinden sich in einem strukturellen Umbruch, der sich zunehmend auf die Pastoral der örtlichen Pfarreien und Kirchengemeinden auswirkt. Durch die Einführung von Verfahren aus dem New Public Management erhoffen sich Kirchenleitungen beider Konfessionen eine innerkirchliche Personalentwicklung, die vor allem das hauptberufliche Seelsorgepersonal neu motivieren soll. Insbesondere in der katholischen Kirche soll so - in Verbindung mit einem möglichst missionarisch wirksamen Neuaufbruch - die Transformation der ehemals volkskirchlich geprägten Pfarrgemeinden in eine sich neu abzeichnende Sozialgestalt von Kirche als Netzwerk größerer pastoraler Einheiten unterstützt werden. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht an der interdisziplinären Schnittstelle von Organisationforschung und praktischer Theologie, inwieweit die Einführung von Zielvereinbarungsgesprächen (ZVG) führungsverantwortliche Priester in der Wahrnehmung ihrer Leitungsaufgabe stärkt. Über 300 leitende Priester aus den Erzbistümern Freiburg und Paderborn hatten an der empirischen Studie mit zwei Messzeitpunkten teilgenommen. 73 Priester waren an beiden Messzeitpunkten A (2007) und B (2008) beteiligt. Unmittelbar nach dem Zeitpunkt A besuchten die befragten Priester der Erzdiözese Freiburg eine ZVG-Einführungsschulung, der sich eine einjährige Gesprächspraxis anschloss. Die in der Erzdiözese Paderborn befragten Priester bildeten die Vergleichsgruppe (ohne entsprechendes Treatment).rn rnWesentliches Ergebnis der Studie sind empirische Hinweise auf signifikante Zusammenhänge zwischen dem priesterlichem Leitungsselbstverständnis, der ZVG-Umsetzung und der Einschätzung der eigenen Führungsqualität.rnrnIn den Selbsteinschätzungen der leitenden Priester (z.B. im Hinblick auf Leitungszufriedenheit, Bedeutung bzw. Gelingen von einzelnen Leitungs- und Gesprächsaspekten, etc.) zeigten sich zum Zeitpunkt A im Vergleich zwischen beiden Diözesen nur geringe Unterschiede. Dies gilt auch für die in A erfolgte Auswertung offener Fragen zum priesterlichen Selbstverständnis, welches als leitungs-amtliche Handlungs- und Objektorientierung in beiden Diözesen am wenigsten stark ausgeprägt war.Zum Zeitpunkt B verdeutlichte die Untersuchung des Tätigkeitsfelds Gemeindeleitung, dass dessen Bedeutung in Freiburg größer war als in Paderborn. Der hierfür erbrachte Kraft- bzw. Zeitaufwand war in Freiburg jedoch niedriger als in Paderborn, was als eine Frucht der verbindlichen ZVG-Einführung in Freiburg interpretiert werden kann. Deutlich wird auch, dass Priester, die der ZVG-Einführung eine hohe Bedeutung beimessen, mit ihren Mitarbeitern viele Gespräche planen. Weil Folgegespräche zum Zeitpunkt B im gleichen Umfang wie schon zum Zeitpunkt A geplant wurden, müssen die konkreten Gesprächserfahrungen in der A-Phase hinreichend positiv gewesen sein. Die Umsetzung zum Zeitpunkt B war jedoch nicht in dem zum Zeitpunkt A geplanten Maß erfolgt, was sich mit Prioritätsverschiebungen erklären lässt. Interessanterweise korreliert die Anzahl der geführten Zielvereinbarungsgespräche mit dem Dienst- und Lebensalter der Priester. Erfahrene Priester, die sich auf eine Mitarbeiterführung durch Zielvereinbarung einlassen, machen demnach gute Erfahrungen mit diesem Personalentwicklungsinstrument. rnrnInsgesamt können die Ergebnisse der Studie zu einer weiteren Kultivierung der Zielvereinbarungsgespräche im kirchlichen Dienst ermutigen. Bistümern, die noch keine Zielvereinbarungsgespräche eingeführt haben, kann eine Implementierung angeraten werden. rn

Religion and assisted and non-assisted suicide in Switzerland: National Cohort Study

Background In the 19th century, eminent French sociologist Emile Durkheim found suicide rates to be higher in the Protestant compared with the Catholic cantons of Switzerland. We examined religious affiliation and suicide in modern Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal. Methods The 2000 census records of 1 722 456 (46.0%) Catholics, 1 565 452 (41.8%) Protestants and 454 397 (12.2%) individuals with no affiliation were linked to mortality records up to December 2005. The association between religious affiliation and suicide, with the Protestant faith serving as the reference category, was examined in Cox regression models. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were adjusted for age, marital status, education, type of household, language and degree of urbanization. Results Suicide rates per 100 000 inhabitants were 19.7 in Catholics (1664 suicides), 28.5 in Protestants (2158 suicides) and 39.0 in those with no affiliation (882 suicides). Associations with religion were modified by age and gender (P < 0.0001). Compared with Protestant men aged 35–64 years, HRs (95% CI) for all suicides were 0.80 (0.73–0.88) in Catholic men and 1.09 (0.98–1.22) in men with no affiliation; and 0.60 (0.53–0.67) and 1.96 (1.69–2.27), respectively, in men aged 65–94 years. Corresponding HRs in women aged 35–64 years were 0.90 (0.80–1.03) and 1.46 (1.25–1.72); and 0.67 (0.59–0.77) and 2.63 (2.22–3.12) in women aged 65–94 years. The association was strongest for suicides by poisoning in the 65–94-year-old age group, the majority of which was assisted: HRs were 0.45 (0.35–0.59) for Catholic men and 3.01 (2.37–3.82) for men with no affiliation; 0.44 (0.36–0.55) for Catholic women and 3.14 (2.51–3.94) for women with no affiliation. Conclusions In Switzerland, the protective effect of a religious affiliation appears to be stronger in Catholics than in Protestants, stronger in older than in younger people, stronger in women than in men, and particularly strong for assisted suicides.

The Little Metropolis: Religion, Politics, & Spolia

There have been numerous councils throughout the Catholic Church?s history. From the First Council of Nicaea in 325 CE to Vatican II in 1962, only a few centuries have passed without any major church doctrinal change. Following hand in hand with changes in doctrine came the bifurcation of the Christian Church into the Roman CatholicChurch and the Orthodox Church. The first split came in 325 CE with Arianism. Arius of Alexandria and his followers did not agree with the Catholic Church?s viewpoint that the son, Jesus, should be on equal footing with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Constantine the Great brought the Arianism debate to the First Council of Nicaea,which declared Arianism a heretical religion. The following Catholic council?s decisions separated the two Churches even more, eventually creating the formal separation of the Church during the East-West Schism in the middle of the 11th century. Although the twoChurches constantly tried to unite, the Churches hit speed bumps along the way. Eventually, the 1274 Second Council of Lyons officially united the two Churches, even if only for an ephemeral time. At first glance, it might not seem that much resulted from the 1274 Second Council of Lyons. Almost immediately after the council?s ruling, the two Churches split again. Little is known as to why the 1274 Second Council of Lyons ultimately failed in its unification attempt. In this thesis, I will examine the churches of the Little Metropolis at Athens, Merbaka in the Argolid, and Agioi Theodoroi in Athens. In detailing the architectural features of these buildings, I will reconstruct the church building program in association with the 1274 Second Council of Lyons. I will also compare these churchesusing historical sources to keep the sociological, religious, political, and historical context accurate.

The Dynamics of the Policies of Ethnic Cleansing in Silesia in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Through studying German, Polish and Czech publications on Silesia, Mr. Kamusella found that most of them, instead of trying to objectively analyse the past, are devoted to proving some essential "Germanness", "Polishness" or "Czechness" of this region. He believes that the terminology and thought-patterns of nationalist ideology are so deeply entrenched in the minds of researchers that they do not consider themselves nationalist. However, he notes that, due to the spread of the results of the latest studies on ethnicity/nationalism (by Gellner, Hobsbawm, Smith, Erikson Buillig, amongst others), German publications on Silesia have become quite objective since the 1980s, and the same process (impeded by under funding) has been taking place in Poland and the Czech Republic since 1989. His own research totals some 500 pages, in English, presented on disc. So what are the traps into which historians have been inclined to fall? There is a tendency for them to treat Silesia as an entity which has existed forever, though Mr. Kamusella points out that it emerged as a region only at the beginning of the 11th century. These same historians speak of Poles, Czechs and Germans in Silesia, though Mr. Kamusella found that before the mid-19th century, identification was with an inhabitant's local area, religion or dynasty. In fact, a German national identity started to be forged in Prussian Silesia only during the Liberation War against Napoleon (1813-1815). It was concretised in 1861 in the form of the first Prussian census, when the language a citizen spoke was equated with his/her nationality. A similar census was carried out in Austrian Silesia only in 1881. The censuses forced the Silesians to choose their nationality despite their multiethnic multicultural identities. It was the active promotion of a German identity in Prussian Silesia, and Vienna's uneasy acceptance of the national identities in Austrian Silesia which stimulated the development of Polish national, Moravian ethnic and Upper Silesian ethnic regional identities in Upper Silesia, and Polish national, Czech national, Moravian ethnic and Silesian ethnic identities in Austrian Silesia. While traditional historians speak of the "nationalist struggle" as though it were a permanent characteristic of Silesia, Mr. Kamusella points out that such a struggle only developed in earnest after 1918. What is more, he shows how it has been conveniently forgotten that, besides the national players, there were also significant ethnic movements of Moravians, Upper Silesians, Silesians and the tutejsi (i.e. those who still chose to identify with their locality). At this point Mr. Kamusella moves into the area of linguistics. While traditionally historians have spoken of the conflicts between the three national languages (German, Polish and Czech), Mr Kamusella reminds us that the standardised forms of these languages, which we choose to dub "national", were developed only in the mid-18th century, after 1869 (when Polish became the official language in Galicia), and after the 1870s (when Czech became the official language in Bohemia). As for standard German, it was only widely promoted in Silesia from the mid 19th century onwards. In fact, the majority of the population of Prussian Upper Silesia and Austrian Silesia were bi- or even multilingual. What is more, the "Polish" and "Czech" Silesians spoke were not the standard languages we know today, but a continuum of West-Slavic dialects in the countryside and a continuum of West-Slavic/German creoles in the urbanised areas. Such was the linguistic confusion that, from time to time, some ethnic/regional and Church activists strove to create a distinctive Upper Silesian/Silesian language on the basis of these dialects/creoles, but their efforts were thwarted by the staunch promotion of standard German, and after 1918, of standard Polish and Czech. Still on the subject of language, Mr. Kamusella draws attention to a problem around the issue of place names and personal names. Polish historians use current Polish versions of the Silesian place names, Czechs use current Polish/Czech versions of the place names, and Germans use the German versions which were in use in Silesia up to 1945. Mr. Kamusella attempted to avoid this, as he sees it, nationalist tendency, by using an appropriate version of a place name for a given period and providing its modern counterpart in parentheses. In the case of modern place names he gives the German version in parentheses. As for the name of historical figures, he strove to use the name entered on the birth certificate of the person involved, and by doing so avoid such confusion as, for instance, surrounds the Austrian Silesian pastor L.J. Sherschnik, who in German became Scherschnick, in Polish, Szersznik, and in Czech, Sersnik. Indeed, the prospective Silesian scholar should, Mr. Kamusella suggests, as well as the three languages directly involved in the area itself, know English and French, since many documents and books on the subject have been published in these languages, and even Latin, when dealing in depth with the period before the mid-19th century. Mr. Kamusella divides the policies of ethnic cleansing into two categories. The first he classifies as soft, meaning that policy is confined to the educational system, army, civil service and the church, and the aim is that everyone learn the language of the dominant group. The second is the group of hard policies, which amount to what is popularly labelled as ethnic cleansing. This category of policy aims at the total assimilation and/or physical liquidation of the non-dominant groups non-congruent with the ideal of homogeneity of a given nation-state. Mr. Kamusella found that soft policies were consciously and systematically employed by Prussia/Germany in Prussian Silesia from the 1860s to 1918, whereas in Austrian Silesia, Vienna quite inconsistently dabbled in them from the 1880s to 1917. In the inter-war period, the emergence of the nation-states of Poland and Czechoslovakia led to full employment of the soft policies and partial employment of the hard ones (curbed by the League of Nations minorities protection system) in Czechoslovakian Silesia, German Upper Silesia and the Polish parts of Upper and Austrian Silesia. In 1939-1945, Berlin started consistently using all the "hard" methods to homogenise Polish and Czechoslovakian Silesia which fell, in their entirety, within the Reich's borders. After World War II Czechoslovakia regained its prewar part of Silesia while Poland was given its prewar section plus almost the whole of the prewar German province. Subsequently, with the active involvement and support of the Soviet Union, Warsaw and Prague expelled the majority of Germans from Silesia in 1945-1948 (there were also instances of the Poles expelling Upper Silesian Czechs/Moravians, and of the Czechs expelling Czech Silesian Poles/pro-Polish Silesians). During the period of communist rule, the same two countries carried out a thorough Polonisation and Czechisation of Silesia, submerging this region into a new, non-historically based administrative division. Democratisation in the wake of the fall of communism, and a gradual retreat from the nationalist ideal of the homogeneous nation-state with a view to possible membership of the European Union, caused the abolition of the "hard" policies and phasing out of the "soft" ones. Consequently, limited revivals of various ethnic/national minorities have been observed in Czech and Polish Silesia, whereas Silesian regionalism has become popular in the westernmost part of Silesia which remained part of Germany. Mr. Kamusella believes it is possible that, with the overcoming of the nation-state discourse in European politics, when the expression of multiethnicity and multilingualism has become the cause of the day in Silesia, regionalism will hold sway in this region, uniting its ethnically/nationally variegated population in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity championed by the European Union.

Through the back door : Melungeon literacies and 21st century technologies

The Melungeons, a minority recognized in Southern Appalachia where they settled in the early 1800s, have mixed heritage—European, Mediterranean, Native American, and Sub-Saharan African. Their dark skin and distinctive features have marked them and been the cause of racial persecution both by custom and by law in Appalachia for two centuries. Their marginalization has led to an insider mentality, which I call a “literacy” of Melungeon-ness that affects every facet of their lives. Just a century ago, while specialized practices such as farming, preserving food, hunting, gathering, and distilling insured survival in the unforgiving mountain environment, few Melungeons could read or write. Required to pay property taxes and render military service, they were denied education, suffrage, and other legal rights. In the late 1890s visionary Melungeon leader Batey Collins invited Presbyterian homemissionaries to settle in one Tennessee Melungeon community where they established a church and built a school of unparalleled excellence. Educator-ministers Mary Rankin and Chester Leonard creatively reified the theories of Dewey, Montessori, and Rauschenbusch, but, despite their efforts, school literacy did not neutralize difference. Now, taking reading and writing for granted, Melungeons are exploring their identity by creating websites and participating in listserv discussions. These online expressions, which provide texts for rhetorical, semiotic, and socio-linguistic analysis, illustrate not solidarity but fragmentation on issues of origins and legitimacy. Armed with literacies of difference stemming from both nature and nurture, Melungeons are using literacy practices to embrace the difference they cannot escape.

Hans Brun: a Swiss pioneer in the surgery of the spinal cord, brain and herniated lumbar disc

INTRODUCTION Toward the end of the nineteenth century, it was Gowers, Horsley and Macewen who first reported successful surgical procedures for the treatment of subdural extramedullary tumors. Following this, Church and Eisendrath as well as Putnam and Warren reported unsuccessful attempts to treat subpial spinal pathologies in their patients. Only at the beginning of the twentieth century did reports of successful interventions of this type accumulate. In the analysis of these case reports, the authors noticed a certain lack of accuracy about the anatomical allocations and descriptions of intra- and extramedullary spinal lesions. From this, the question of who actually carried out the pioneering works in the early twentieth century in the field of surgery of intramedullary pathologies arose. METHODS Analysis of the relevant original publications of Hans Brun and research on the poorly documented information about his life history by personally contacting contemporary relatives. RESULTS The literature analysis showed that the Swiss neurologist Otto Veraguth and surgeon Hans Brun made fundamental contributions to subpial spinal cord surgery at the very beginning of the last century that remain valid today. According to our research, Hans Brun should be remembered as the third surgeon (after von Eiselsberg and Elsberg) who successfully removed an intramedullary lesion in a patient. CONCLUSION Brun should be remembered as an early and successful surgeon in this specialized field. His operative work is described in detail in this article. At the same time, his achievements in the fields of brain and disc herniation surgery are presented.

Die katholische Kirche und Moralpolitik in Österreich: Reformdynamiken in der Regulierung von Schwangerschaftsabbrüchen und der Anerkennung gleichgeschlechtlicher Partnerschaften

Eine vergleichende Analyse der Regulierung von Schwangerschaftsabbrüchen und gleichgeschlechtlichen Partnerschaften in Westeuropa im Zeitraum von 1960 bis 2010 zeigt, dass katholisch geprägte Staaten diese Bereiche grundsätzlich nicht weniger stark liberalisiert haben als andere Länder. Allerdings drosselt der Katholizismus offensichtlich die Geschwindigkeit von Reformprozessen. Auf Basis einer detaillierten explorativen Analyse der Politikentwicklungen in Österreich, das sehr früh die Gesetzgebung zum Schwangerschaftsabbruch lockerte, jedoch bei der Einführung registrierter homosexueller Partnerschaften lange zögerte, leiten wir induktiv theoretische Implikationen ab: Die katholische Kirche kann permissive Reformen so lange verhindern, wie institutionelle und kulturelle Gelegenheitsstrukturen nicht der säkular-liberalen Opposition behilflich sind, erfolgreiches Agenda-Setting zu betreiben und Mehrheiten für einen Politikwechsel zu gewinnen.

Cleverer than we thought: the change in discourse of the Georgian Orthodox Church

This paper will focus on three episodes of contemporary church-state relations in Georgia, in particular, the conflicting interaction between law and religion in the public space. The first episode will be an open confrontation between the church and the state over the law on Registration of Religious Minority organizations (2011) which allowed the religious minorities to freely register; second: the Law on Self-governance (2013) which Georgian Orthodox Church considered “a threat to territorial integrity of Georgia”; and lastly: the Law on Anti-discrimination (2014) which was deemed “legitimization of Sodomic sin”. By reflecting on the three examples where for the first time after the collapse of Soviet Union, the Georgian state openly confronted the church and made a decision notwithstanding its position, I will attempt to argue that the role of the Orthodox Church in influencing the law making process is in gradual decline. However, on the other hand, by presenting the results of an ethnographic study conducted in 23 eparchies and perishes in 7 regions of Georgia in 2014, I will also show that church has adapted to its declining role over policy making, and to regain its political influence it gradually started to employ a civic rather than ethno nationalist discourse on matters of religious freedom while engaging with government. The paper will suggest that both unilateral decision-making of the state and civic shift in the discourse of the church constitute an important change in understanding church-state dynamics in the post-communist Orthodox Christianity dominated society.

Connecting and Educating Hindus: Hinduism Today and the Mediatization of a Global Hinduism

Hinduism Today is a quarterly magazine that appears in roughly 15.000 copies, shipped to nearly 60 countries worldwide. The majority of readers are Hindus in diverse diaspora countries, mainly Singapur, Malaysia, Mauritius, Trinidad und the USA. Its editors are monks of Kauai Adheenam, belonging to the Śaiva Siddhānta Church, situated in Kauai, Hawai’i, USA. One of the magazine’s declared goals is to foster global Hindu solidarity and educate Hindus worldwide about their religion. In this paper, I want to take a look at the history of this magazine in connection with the Śaiva Siddhānta Church, and at the development of the expressed aims behind its publication. For this, I draw on fieldwork done in Kauai in January, 2014. After a brief introduction to some theoretical and methodological preliminaries of my work, I shall, give an overview of the history of the Śaiva Siddhānta Church, founded by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. Following this, I will deal in more detail with the origins and development of the magazine and the websites connected with it. I will focus especially on the role the magazine was intended to play for global Hindu diasporas. A fourth chapter will analyze the modes of definition employed in order to depict Hinduism as a unified global religion. In conclusion, I shall briefly reflect upon the specific agenda of “Global Hinduism” and the strategies of positioning as followed by the publishers of Hinduism Today.

From Connecting Hindus to Uniting Global Hinduism: History and Guiding Principles of Hinduism Today

Hinduism Today is a quarterly magazine that appears in roughly 15.000 copies, shipped to nearly 60 countries worldwide. The majority of readers are Hindus in diverse diaspora countries, mainly Singapur, Malaysia, Mauritius, Trinidad und the USA. Its editors are monks of Kauai Adheenam, belonging to the Śaiva Siddhānta Church, situated in Kauai, Hawai’i, USA. One of the magazine’s declared goals is to foster global Hindu solidarity and educate Hindus worldwide about their religion. In this paper, I want to take a look at the history of this magazine in connection with the Śaiva Siddhānta Church, and at the development of the expressed aims behind its publication. For this, I draw on fieldwork done in Kauai in January, 2014. After a brief introduction to some theoretical and methodological preliminaries of my work, I shall, give an overview of the history of the Śaiva Siddhānta Church, founded by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. Following this, I will deal in more detail with the origins and development of the magazine and the websites connected with it. I will focus especially on the role the magazine was intended to play for global Hindu diasporas. A fourth chapter will analyze the modes of definition employed in order to depict Hinduism as a unified global religion. In conclusion, I shall briefly reflect upon the specific agenda of “Global Hinduism” and the strategies of positioning as followed by the publishers of Hinduism Today.

Transregional Interactions between Jansenists, other Catholics, and Protestants in Seventeenth Century Northern Europe

This paper discusses the theological and cultural exchanges between Catholic clergy and theologians, and specifically between the neo-Augustinian-minded, the so-called “Jansenists”, and other Catholics, in Northern Europe during the seventeenth century. It also explores the Jansenists’ encounters and theological engagement with Protestantism. In this period, interaction and transfer between French Jansenist Catholics and other Catholics in other countries took place in various ways: 1. Via traveling and migration: French theologians and clergy returned home from their travels with reports about the situation of Catholicism and Protestantism in other countries; moreover, in the second half of the 17th century, French Jansenists fled to the northern Netherlands. 2. Via networking: it is little known that for a brief period on the North Sea island of Nordstrand, adherents to Port-Royal were buying land, and clergy of the Flemish Oratory provided pastoral care for the island’s Catholics. This project was not successful, but at the end it strengthened the network between French “Jansenists” and Catholics in the Dutch Republic. 3. Via publications by leading Jansenists and their counterparts. In this paper, the focus is on the view of Protestantism held by Jansenist writers.

The Role of the European Imperial Powers throughout the Armenian Schism in the 1870s

The Bull "Reversurus" (1867) and its dogmatic legitimization at the First Vatican Council in 1870 caused not only ecclesiastical controversy and Schism in the Armenian Catholic Church, but it had also wide political consequences for the Armenian Catholics in the Ottoman Empire. The conflict originally between the Armenian Catholics and Rome attracted very soon the attention of the European imperial Powers. France, the British Empire, the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and Russia were the main political powers who were involved in the Armenian affair. A full picture of the role of all these powers for the course of the Armenian Schism is missing. Mostly the role of France is foregrounded in the printed sources, as the main power, which supported the papacy to win during the Armenian affair. The role and the motives of the other imperial powers is almost missing. This article will try to describe as completely as possible the historical and political background, which brought to the escalation of the Armenian conflict beyond the national frontiers and led to number of conflicts at the international and transnational level. It will be shown that the imperial policy in Europe in the 19th century have played an enormous role throughout the Armenian Schism. It will be explained that several historical circumstances in Europe, especially the relation of the European imperial powers to each other as well as their expectations from the Ottoman Empire and its Armenian subjects were decisive for the duration and conclusion of the Armenian Schism.