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Religious Experience, Socialisation and Gender Differences among Millennials: Recent studies on young people conducted at national and international levels have shown an increasing trend towards individualised and plural forms of religious involvement inside and outside the institutional contexts of churches and religious groups. In the last decades, the debate on religious socialisation has been intertwined with the changing gender roles and stereotypes and with the increased level of women's emancipation in society. This paper focuses on young people, their religious experience and their relationships with adults, paying specific attention to the Millennial generation (women and men between the ages of 20 and 36). The main hypothesis is to verify the persistence and breadth of a diversification between women and men, especially among young Millennials, in relation to specific dimensions of the religious experience (belonging and practices) and to religious socialisation. With regard to gender differences, the paper will reflect on the role played by women/mothers in the intergenerational transmission of religious beliefs and on how religious socialisation is still linked to the family and to religious figures or associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Millennials and Religion: Divergence or Continuity Compared to the Generation of their Parents? This paper deals with the relationship between Millenniab and religion with the aim at determining whether this generation diverges from that of their mothers and fathers cdso from the point of view of religious identity and experience. The paper is divided into two parts: a literature review on the theme of generational differences in religious identity and experience with reference to the Italian context and a second part dedicated to data analysis. We analyse approximately, joo questionnaires on this issue completed by students attending the University of Milano-Bicocca. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses some issues with regard to isis as part of an evolved Radical Political Islam and its effects on the Middle East region and perhaps also on the Israel-Palestine conflict. The paper looks at how the economic, social and political frustration of younger groups, men and women, in the Arab world with the help of social media catapulted the Middle East into a region of turmoil, divisiveness and chaos without a solution in sight. The paper looks at the causes of this situation highlighting the long search for an identity by the Islamic world and how the new phenomenon of isis could also implicate the Israel-Palestine conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cu Doamne ajuta. Religious Action and the Transfiguration of Politics in the Orthodox Moldova. This paper discusses an ethnographic research carried out in the Republic of Moldova, within an eparhia of the Moldovan Orthodox Church. In this local scenario of insecurity and political disenchantment, Orthodox Churches appear as social protagonists and their observation as a possible pivotal point in the analysis of this post-Soviet region, politically and religiously divided between Bucharest and Moscow. The role played here by the resurgence of religion will be therefore briefly explored both as an individual and social instrument of adaptation and as a governmental instrument, through three different lenses: ritual, identity, politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth and Social Capital: The Religiosity Horizons · This paper aims to study the relationship between religion and social capital considering young people living in Naples. The article discusses how the combination of different levels of social capital and religiosity can help us to identify profiles of religiosity. Technique of multivariate analysis was used to reach these scopes. The results compare the level of conceptualisation and the level of religious practices detected in the profiles, allowing to highlight the continuity and discontinuity in practices, identification and positioning of the young people in the local sample with respect to religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religion and Innovation Society The paper analyses the relationship between young people, religion, and innovation. Our main assumption is that religious traditions are embedded in the digital society, too. Findings underline a relationship between religion and the digital society: results show that digital innovation modifies the religious practice among youths. The clash between tradition and innovation is an empirical evidence. The data were collected through the survey «Young People and Religion», promoted by the University of Milano-Bicocca and refer to a non-probabilistic sample of students (n -- i 86)from the University of Cassino and Southern Latium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While Weber implicates the body in his descriptions of charismatic qualities and actions it is surprisingly underdeveloped in his own work on the sociology of religion. However, perhaps more surprising is that, while a range of classic sociological theory has been considerably recast in light of the generally agreed 'reemergence of the body' in sociological thinking over the past two decades, the concept of charisma has, been largely neglected. This paper starts to redress these lacunae by revisiting several key characteristics of Weber's sociology of charisma that strongly imply embodiment. It argues that an embodied perspective of charisma is a significant channel of inter-corporeal communication through which (religious) leadership and forms of continuity and change are Enacted and maintained over time. In illustrating this argument the paper draws on empirical illustrations taken from the examples of Jigoro Kano (1860-1938: Founder of Judo), Morihei Ueshiba: 1883-1969: Founder of Aikido) and Bruce Lee (1940-1973: Founder of Jeet Kune Do). These have been selected for the varied insights each has to offer the idea of embodied charisma. In conclusion the paper reflects on how a more developed idea of embodied charisma might be useful in providing a renewed focus for the sociological study of established, new and also what we refer to as emerging 'secular' religions of which martial culture is a prime example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses both the concepts and phenomena of «medianity» and «mediaticità» relating to the Brazilian Spiritism, from an anthropological and interpretative perspective. The terminological meaning of «medianity» and «mediaticità» is here described through an interpretation which is as close as possible to the «native» or Dottrinary vision. The aim of this paper is to show the topicality of the Espirita belief with regards to the current religious phenomena, and relating to the socio-anthropological research methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the socio-political and religious dialectics of spirituality in post-communist Romania. Starting from a statistic evaluation of the distribution and subdivision of the Churches on Romanian territory, the paper studies the religious factor as a systemic element for understanding the deep relationship between people and "national belonging", understood as a relevant key of social self-representation. The close link with the historic-religious past of Romanians, partly obscured during the years of socialism, re-emerges after the collapse of the communist regime through specific forms: the monastic life, studies on the lives of saints, the history of Romanian Orthodoxy, are used for strengthening the bond between people and tradition in a new context, coinciding with the entry into the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The word and concept of life style have by now entered the language and the interpretive models of the Social Sciences, in particular in the researches about the condition of the young. The aim of this paper is to verify the utility of the concept of life style, not only in relation to standing, social classes and consumer goods, but also as a project of identity building of a group or a subculture. The aim is also to verify whether the concept of life style could represent an analytical category of interest even for the analysis of religious phenomena. In this context, a life style is a set of practices to which an individual gives unitary meaning, a distinctive model shared inside a collectivity. A model that does not have its genesis either in a pre-existing cognitive-value frame or in a pre-determined socio-structural condition. This paper examines life style forms in new religious movements, big happenings, Catholic militancy or participation, new spiritualities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on what Turkish sociologist Hakan Yavuz called the «internal migration» of Islam during the years when public religious activities were severely restricted by the Kemalist regime. Religion survived by becoming spirituality, both in families and in small groups. While the most studied forms of Turkish spirituality include various Sufi brotherhoods, the paper argues that the circles of 'readers' of the Epistles of Light of Kurdish-born mystic Bediuzzaman Said Nursi were at least as important, despite the fact that Nursi himself spent the years of the Kemalist limitation of religious activities forcibly confined to small villages and even later did not often speak in public. Eventually, after Nursi's death in 1960 and the religious deregulation in the new Turkish democracy,from the circles of readers of Nursi's works several branches of a Nur movement grew up. They now include several million members both in Turkey and abroad, and are a key feature of Turkey's contemporary religious scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Religious Experience of Roman Catholics In the present paper the Author discusses the lived religion of 29 Roman Catholics resident in Rome. The analysis focuses, in particular, on the interviewees' perceptions of God, good-evil Furthermore, attention was paid to the socialisation and the link between family and religion, the conception of sin, the beliefs about Hell-Purgatory-Paradise, eternal life. These points were foregrounded because characteristic of the entire experience of belief and because, in some ways, they manage to account for mutations in religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Evidence of Agapic Interactions The article proposes a visual empirical research of the Jubilee of Mercy announced by Pope Fran-cis. In particular, the paper illustrates the way in which the empirical research was organised on the Days dedicated to illness and disability. Visual analysis focuses attention on micro-relational dynamics, on gestures, on the meta-communicative elements captured between the jubilant and those around them. It emerges that the actions and interactions of thejubilants are configured as agapic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By means of a hermeneutic approach that revisits Émile Durkheim and sets his work within the theoretical framework of cosmopolitanism, our article aims to provide scholars and readers with new arguments to support the ever pertinence of this 20th century intellectual. In our paper, through a new and original analysis of his work, or at least the part which rejects the vision of a conservative Durkheim, we re-evaluate from a cosmopolitan standpoint, the scholar's contribution to the interpretation of a world open to globalisation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We here present some results of a wider research about the representation of sexuality on the Italian Catholic press. Specifically, the paper analyses four magazines, different for editorial characteristics and ethical approach: to stratify the phenomenon we used the typology proposed by Garelli (1991), with the goal to test it and to determine whether the four magazines express actually different conceptions on the topic of sexuality, whether there are instead convergences and whether the representations of sexuality on the Catholic press are congruent with the official positions promoted by the Holy See in its documents. To achieve our purpose, we adopted a Foucaltian perspective (1976) assuming that, in the Catholic propaganda, sex is not only the object of taboos, prohibitions and complaints, but is also framed in a positive discourse that highlights some of its attributes, components and contexts: in particular, sex is dislodged from its biological value to confer it an higher meaning tied to the conditions of its lawful exercise, namely a stable heterosexual relationship within marriage. From our empirical analysis emerged that the four magazines express aligned positions, even if with some relevant differences that reflect, in the way they speak about sexuality, the pluralism within the Catholic associationism identified by Garelli. The official Magisterium is embedded in substance, but declined according to different accents and sensitivities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the relationship between interreligious dialogue, gender and generational change. Gender and generational changes are challenging religious institutions and traditional ways to worship and express one's faith. Recent studies have shown that there is a strong connection between social change -- such as the impact of ICTS, globalisation, increased intercultural and transcultural interaction and exchange, migration processes -- and religious identities. Recent literature has overall revealed a great complexity and often contradiction in late modern negotiations of religion and secularism by girls and women, and a range of possibilities for change. Based on these premises, this article explores the role played by interfaith dialogue in promoting gender equality and empowering women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an anthropological reflection on the connection between social inequality and Roma/ Gypsies’ religious experience in Italy, focusing on religious practices between Orthodox Christians and Muslims Roma groups living in marginal conditions. The essay, finally, refers to the way in which the Italian state does not consider the religious practices of the Roma and the issue of human rights, stressing that the religious dimension is totally ignored at government level because of harmful categorization and discriminatory attitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role o f museums in promoting interreligious dialogue through the analysis o f the exhibition «Jerusalem, a thrice-holy city» organised by the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (MuCEM) in Marseille. It argues that the interpretation of religion as an inalienable freedom and a daily practice creates a communicative code that fosters the mutual enrichment among different religious affiliations. In the exhibition, the narrative of the three monotheisms according to the «day-to-day religion» approach is evident in 1) the typology of religious objects, 2) their display and 3) the language used. These elements make the museum a place for experiencing the religious practices other that one’s own. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present a scientific debate on the role that religion plays in modern society. On one hand, many scholars believe that religion has historically been a fundamental institution of social acting and as such it has determined the succession of the founding values of the daily life that continue to be passed down from generation to generation. On the other hand, several other scholars point out how modernity is changing the social role of religion because it is reduced to a simple privatisation of the faith and is far from its original features. Starting from a sociological point of view, this reflection on the matter is exactly half way between the above-mentioned ones, proposing a model of analysis that sees religion both changed compared to the past and still fundamental to individual's social acting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper focuses on the research of perception of Croatian public opinion pertaining the election of Pope Francis. The research is based on quantitative and qualitative method which analysed the Croatian national newspapers during the first four months of papal service. The newspapers taken in consideration bears the title «Vecernji list» («The Evening Journal» - more oriented to the right) and «Jutarnji list» («The Morning Journal» - more oriented to the left). The incipient hypothesis of the authors is that «Vecernji list» pays more attention to the issues that have to deal with the Pope and is more focused on a positive image of the Pope and of the Church. Contrasting «Vecernji list», «Jutarnji list» wrote much less on the theme of Pope while devoted more space to the problems within the Church and ecclesial scandals, and also often occupies a neutral position and suggest more a negative image of the Church. Research results have confirmed both assumptions. Apart from these facts, other indicators relevant to the perception of Pope Francis and journalism in general come out, such as the overall quality of the state of journalism in Croatia, and other. Both newspapers in the first place have focused on changes on the symbolic level regarding the conduct of Pope Francis (such as the exchange of the gold cross with the silver one, the preference of St. Martha as his primary residence, a replacement of the popemobile car with one of the brand 'Skoda', and so on) and also have addressed poverty as the strong hallmark of this Pope. «Jutarnji list», however, was more focused on the controversy relating to the question of whether the Pope will pass from symbolic level of reform to concrete actions, first of all with respect to the issues of divorced and remarried, paedophilia, LGBT rights, the ordination of women and so on. « Vecernji list», moreover, published more articles about the Pope in general including his election, and its articles were written by experts and scientists and in the most cases pointed to positive attitudes and positive expectations of Pope Francis. All in all, newspaper articles that the authors examined for the most part reflect positive approaches and express high hopes relevant to the reforms inside the Catholic Church. They abo demonstrate a sort of hope that these concrete changes will influence the global Church, including also the Catholic Church in Croatia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his exhortation Evangelii Gaudium in 2013, Pope Francis sharply criticised an economy that kills, the idolatry of money, money that does not serve but governs, and the inequalities that generate violence. Francis rejects these idols of the modern world in the name of the pre-eminence of the human being, a pre-eminence established by God, who outlines the path of man on earth. And to build a better world injustice and peace the Pope is in favor of inteifaith dialogue, since all religions, especially the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) are obliged to defend the people against modern idols. This paper illustrates the position of Pope Bergoglio, stressing that never before has a pope gone so far in criticising the capitalist market as practiced in many areas of the world today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognising the important changes that are taking place in both Peruvian political and religious realms, this article has as a main hypothesis that some religious variables (in this case, religious affiliation and individual level of religiosityj are associated to some key political, social and economic preferences and orientations; in turn, that these individual preferences and orientations have or might have a significant impact on the Peruvian political system. The empirical data that is analysed here comes from the Americas Barometer by the Latin American Public Opinion Project. Specifically, this paper analyses the impact of religious affiliation (Catholic vi. Evangelicals and Pentecostdls) and individual religiosity on three indexes that are defined as «political liberalism», «economic liberalism», and «social liberalism». Finally, this article shares the belief that political analysis has a lot to gain if it includes different religious dimensions as explanatory variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper stresses the role played by Arnaldi Nesti as one of eminent sociologists of religion (and religions, mainly) not only in Italy. His scientific work concerns five decades of activity since 1963. Starting from an approach to Catholic religion in Italy afterwards he has enlarged his perspective towards Latino-American world. Preferred topics are ecclesiastic system, role of priests, popular religiosity, relationship between Church and State, political and religious culture, implicit religion, religious behavior of different social classes, local culture (Florence, and Tuscany, namely), world religions, Utopian movements, multiculturalism, religious pluralism. But his most relevant contribution is perhaps the foundation of Religioni e Società, ajournai in many languages, published 3 times per year during 28 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Pentecostalism is a religious movement, spreading, from its origins in the early twentieth century and more strongly since the 1950s, to the entire Latin American continent, mainly through ethnic and class segments located in the lower parts of the social pyramid. With the pass of the time, Pentecostalism showed a great capacity for theological and organisational recreation, but did not cut, despite this, its basic ties with evangelical heritage. This dynamism has strengthened its public presence from the religious point of view while its civic impact is still in great part unknown, and led to various hypotheses that present this movement as associable to democracy and, conversely, as opposed to its founding values and to the change of social structures in a 'progresist' sense. It is clear however that the Pentecostals have been the excuse to debate the issue of 'invasion of the sects ' by those who stigmatised its churches, especially in the 80's. This paper works these aspects and presents methodological demands that seem appropriate to take into account in friture compara-tive studies in Latin American countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports the first results of a comparative research on Pentecostalism that involves scholars in Europe, Asia, Africa, South and North America. The author focuses on the characters which, in his opinion, are responsible of the success of this religion in various parts of the world: the internal differentiation that allows Pentecostal churches to intercept different tastes of the public, the doctrinal and liturgical innovations, the role of music in the liturgy, as a factor of seduction, identity and loyalty. The author than raises the issue why in Latin American and in Europe Pentecostalism is spreading especially among the popular and impoverished classes and concludes that its development is linked to the opening of the religious market that has enabled these churches to catch that part of the religious demand that for various reasons, the traditional churches were predisposed to accept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the essay, the emphasis is on the Critical militant practices and categories, starting with the ethnographic participation in the last World Congress of Spiritualism in October of 2010 in Valencia (Spain). Objective of this paper is to put in question the reality of the myth-historical and current practice within the activist Critics Spiritualism, starting from the convintion that what Cavalcanti (1983, 1985) defines 'centripetal force' is adopted to reinforce and deepen their worship espírita. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been widely argued that during the nineteenth century the English public schools and the Protestant church in Britain played a formative and innovative role in the growth of modern sport through what has been termed «muscular Christianity» an ideology subsequently exported around the globe via British Imperialism. The emergence of neo-muscular Christian groups during the latter half of the twentieth century can be seen as a direct consequence of this historical legacy. Modern-day evangelical Protestant organisations such as Christians in Sport (CiS) in the UK and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) and Athletes in Action (AIA) in the US, have resurrected many of the basic theological principles used to promote sport and physical fitness in Victorian Britain. This paper examines the historical and theological development of muscular Christianity and how this has impacted the relationship between sport and religion in twenty first century Britain and North America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution proposes the opportunity to put in action an institutional course about the history of religions in the Italian secondary school. The twofold starting point is the inadequacy of the formative offer about religions in Italy and the existence of different teaching methods and subjects in many European countries. Taking in account these experiences, aim of this paper is to define a didactic plan in order to make suitable for young people knowledge, instruments and approaches which own to academic disciplines about religion(s). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, dedicated to cultural festivals, I have tried to show that they are the product of processes of socio-economic and cultural 'global' policy involving our country. In particular, the paper suggests that they may be regarded and interpretated as 'places' of the ambiguous "vitality" of our democracy that the text calls, «mall-democracy». [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the XIX and XX centuries, European urban squares have been privileged places of memory and identity for institutions and citizens of modern Nation-States. Squares have been at the very hearth of a new civil and nationalist religion made up of symbols, epic narratives, ritual and commemorative performances. Such ceremonial style was aimed to open a space of politics as dramatic action, shared by both governments and oppositions, hegemonic and subaltern social groups. However, in the late XX century this frame begins to fade, as a consequence of factors like globalization and the crisis of nationalism, individualization of social life, the role of new electronic media in communication and in politics. Is there no more role for public squares and mass political rituals in contemporary society? This paper suggests a more complex answer, from the standpoint of an anthropological approach to mass culture and ritual performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between religion and cultural traditions through the specific case and controversial issue of Female Genital Mutilation, in particular in the Muslim context. Relating to this practice, the religious interpretations, intertwined with the conceptions of gender and sexuality, reveal a polyvalent discourse among the statement of the values of belonging culture, confrontation with western values, and political contestation. In this debated arena, characterised by a plurality of positions, religion plays a strategic role, both legitimating as delegitimating this cultural practice, taking into account the transnational context and the global flow of meanings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper considers the importance of developing an ecological conscience in order to answer to the challenges of our time. The ecological conscience means abandoning the old paradigm of man dominating nature and the link between progress and constant economic growth through immoderate use of energy and mechanisation (Claude Lévi Strauss defines the West as the Lord of the machines). The ecological conscience cannot be just a political project: it can result only from the questioning roles divisions, functions, world visions and social representations structuring present power. It is not enough to change the political and economic system: the deconstruction of the same basis of power is necessary. One of the crucial expressions of power has been historically and is in fact male domination- the first form of domination of a human group on another. Gender issues are absolutely central to the definition and diffusion of the ecological conscience. Precisely because it has to do with power, gender is a crucial factor to define and redefine the same idea of development and to direct it towards ecology and democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his passionate and moving talk, Leonardo Boff raises the crucial problem of how to devolop a collective perception of enviromental risk and an ecological ethics in the public sphere. It is the problem known in the social sciences, after G. Hardin's phrase, as «the tragedy of the commons». Why doesn't people usually engage in protecting common goods and resources? This paper is concerned with cultural anthropology's view of the problem. I argue, on the one side, that the usual formulation of the a «tragedy of the commons» is biased by ethnocentric and utiliatarian prejudices; on the other side, that ethnography of «altruistic» practices may help to undertand the conditions of a virtuous public morality. As an example, I discuss the institution of blood donation, stressing the link between asocial altruism a and local associative relations rooted in the so-called «civil society». [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author presents some of the most recent analysis of Japanese New Religious Movements (JNRMs) in the perspective of sociology and anthropology of religions. The paper discusses selected contributions of authors undertaking scientific reflection with reference to that phenomenon. General tendencies in social research on JNRMs were presented and differences between approaches discussed in order to suggest a new approach base on a more strict case-study-based research on 'spirituality' instead of the reference to other categories as 'sect' or 'new religion'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the clearness that the body is a cultural construction, this paper asks what kind of body is the one we have today. This question invites us into a journey thorough western history, pointing out the paradigmatic moments that have forged the principles under which the body is experienced today. The outcome is overwhelming, as we can confirm through images of contemporary art that show, in a most representative way, the ambivalence through which we currently live our own bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The starting point of this paper is the work of Donald Pitkin, an American anthropologist who in the '80 studied family life in Central Italy. Against the thesis of «amoral familism» as the main cause of underdevelopment, Pitkin interpreted «familism» as a virtuous social practice, linked with solidarity and cooperation. I try to support this thesis introducing my fieldwork research in the village of Roccagorga (Lazio). My focus is particularly on the traditional institution of Scagno da renne (exchange to return), a kind of exchange of work performances governed by rules of reciprocity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article applies the theory of religious niches to the intra-Islamic religious markets, with a special focus on Turkey. In normal conditions, these niches conform to general principles of religious economy. The ultrastrict and strict niches are smaller than the 'central' moderate and conservative niches. Distortions in religious economies occur in what the paper calls « religious war economies » (i.e., military conflicts perceived as religious) and « economies of war against religion » (i.e., governmental intervention against all organized religious groups). In the first case (e.g., Palestine, Iraq), there is in fact a war-caused modification of religious demand, with an expanded demand for ultrastrict religion. In the second case (e.g., Algeria, Turkey before 2002), the state effectively prevents moderate and conservative religious supply to meet the demand, with the unintended effect that in part this demand is captured by the ultrastrict groups, which are much more accustomed to operating illegally or against state pressure. Data about Turkey after the 2002 and 2004 elections confirm that when conservative and moderate religious supply is free to operate, ultrastrict alternatives enjoy only limited success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is devoted to a balance. Some years ago the Author suggested to consider the contemporary Italian religious situation as a puzzle within the competition between 'old' and 'new' paradigm. In that occasion was advanced a solution of that puzzle by taking into account an internal competition; in other words, a competition between Catholic religious firms within an only apparent Catholic religious monopoly. Since then, it has been possible to collect much more evidence of this internal religious competitions. The key of this solution of the puzzle involves the adoption of both the luhmannian concept of societal functional differentiation ('secularization' from the religious point of view) and the luhmannian concept of organization (and therefore of the idea of Church as a non-entirely organized social phenomenon). Recent researches offer at least two new opportunities of development: a theoretical reformulation of the secularization concept in order to distinguish between two different dimensions of this process, and a closer connection with the sociological and historical efforts to historicize the concept of secularization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the different spiritualities within the Roman Catholic Church of today as forms of pluralism. After having defined spirituality and exemplified how spiritualities have always represented 'active minorities' within the Church, we will analyse the sympathetic spirituality or solidarism as the latest form of spirituality within the Roman Catholic Church. The conclusion will suggest in general that such intra-catholic pluralism is accepted and supported by the Roman Catholic Church clever pastoral praxis as a form of governance for its complexity and inner differentiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on how, in the post-Vatican II Roman Catholic Church, new religious movements, emotional revivals, and a new role for laity slowly emerged. The methodological scenario includes different theories about the relationship between religion and modernity, and about how the former interacts with the latter, inter alia through secularisation, rationalization, individualisation, and privatisation of individual religion. A case study of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal is of special interest. The movement had a spectacular growth internationally during the last forty years. It derived from Protestant Pentecostalism a religion (and a religiousness) which is highly emotional, and for this very reason quite original, even within the very diverse scene of contemporary intra-Catholic pluralism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To better understand the social integration mechanisms of people in multi-ethnic and multi-religious modern society, we approach the study of the interaction between religion and envy. In fact, religion is considered a potent factor influencing the meaning assigned to envy. In the present paper we assume that a potentially great social impact is embodied by envy, and that this impact is differently emphasized in the different monotheistic religions. The understanding of the limits of envy impact is crucial for the interpretation of social- historical actions as well as for speculation on origins and reasons of these actions. Specific roles of the religious differences have been emphasized retracing the conceptualization and the exteriorization of envy within Hebraism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Islam. Envy seems strongly rooted in all religions but with different value in individuals or groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines different indicators of religious participation in Italy over the 80s and the 90s, suggesting that Italy has experienced a religious revival. This trend is largely due to a catholic revival: it cannot be attributed to the (very limited) diffusion of new religious denominations. This success of Catholicism is largely due to its growing internal differentiation, specifically related to the widespread diffusion of catholic movements in recent decades. Catholicism has been able to meet the increasingly differentiated demand for religion of the Italian population by differentiating its religious supply to a considerable extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Into the general process of crumbling of some institutionalized ways of relation with the sacred in favour of more personalized ways of believing, new modalities of involving are defining also among who continues to live his faith as engagement and life project. Among youth in particular are appearing peculiar and innovative experiences of religious engagement which try to overcome the traditional opposition between personal identity and collective identification, between self-expression and sharing. Focusing the attention to youth catholic associations, the paper tries to analyse their modalities of engagement, and to reconstruct motivations and perspectives they are based on, which seem to compose themselves in two models: witness and intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from the Peoples Temple's mass suicide in Guyana (1978), new religious movements have been repeatedly involved in what criminologists define as «critical incidents», i.e. violent acts resulting in multiple homicides and suicides. The movements involved include Waco's Branch Davidians (1993), the Order of the Solar Temple (1994, 1995, 1997), Heaven's Gate (1997), Aum Shinri-kyo (1995), and Uganda's Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God (2000). The paper criticizes two reductionist interpretations, one based on brainwashing theories, and the other on the idea that most «cult» leaders are mentally disturbed or conscious frauds, suggesting instead that Wessinger's typology of different marginal apocalyptic groups (fragile, assaulted and revolutionary) may offer important insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the attitudes of the Jewish Italian Diaspora towards Israel, seen as a symbolic homeland, are analysed. This analysis is based on the theoretical discourse on Diaspora. Attitudes are analysed through the participation of Italian Jews in the celebration of Yomha- atzmaut. Given the significance the Israeli Independence Day has within the sequence of the three days of civil religious commemoration in Israel, a sort of national narrative, the entire sequence is also considered in the analysis of the Italian Diaspora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the author analyses the presence of Islam in the European public space, and the debates it produces among the populations of Europe. The case of hijab constitutes a significant example of these discussions, and is analyzed extensively. Some conclusions will refer on the process of establishing of forms of reactive identities, and on the role of conflict on symbolic and religious issues in the process of change of European societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tells about the order defined by the islamic law. The speeches about order of the invisible in islam reveal the heuristic weakness of the idea of 'islam', but also reveal the undeniable importance of the relationship between text (in this case the Coran) and reader. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most striking aspects of Biblical Women is their coming to the foreground in `liminal' situations. This paper re-tells the stories ofa particular type of them: those who act as `lightning rods' in particularly dangerous circumstances, when a violence-mechanism has been set in motion but non yet fully enacted (the anonimous `wise woman' of Tecoa; Abigail, the ((woman of good understanding, Ruth, the Moabitess who challenges death; Rivkah, the first `prophetess'). With their ability to intervene, by skillfully using the art of `telling'-like Arabian Nights' Shahrazade-and even defying God's curse, they often succeed in healing the crisis and averting the tragic conclusion. Often, but not always. The final section suggests some embryonal ipotheses about the causes of eventual failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research on religiosity in Italy reveals that although the Italians hardly give up to their Catholic identity, most of them live a subjective religion. Nevertheless, at present we don't have the theoretical instruments to study this complex phenomenon. In this paper, I argue that the religious subjectivism is worth of studying on its own, but not as a deviation from Church religion. I begin by considering the contribution of the Theory of Religious Economics. Then I show that such a contribution is not sufficient, and I suggest that if we want to understand the motivations of subjectivism, we should consider how it answers to some contradictions and weak points of traditional religious offers. I finally posit that we can understand the ideological role of religion today if we study this kind of personal religion. This role can be hardly revealed if we focus our attention only to the main stream Catholic religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]