No Church is monolithic—this is the preliminary premise of this volume on the public place of religion in a representative number of post-communist countries. The studies confirm that within any religious organization we can expect to find fissures, factions, theological or ideological quarrels, and perhaps even competing interest groups, such as missionary workers, regular clergy versus secu…
From the Early Middle Ages onwards, both university and monastic theologians were occupied and concerned with the spiritual struggle against sin. The idea was based on the notion that in this world, people are surrounded by the power of the Devil and are left at the mercy of the Devil’s temptations. The enclosed monastery on the other hand represented a…
For the debates about the ultramontanization of Catholicism in the course of the nineteenth century the contrast of an early example of pilgrimages and a later case during the heyday of ultramontanism can be revealing. Though sim-ilar in social and gender aspects there are differences on the level of organiza-tion, inherent ultramontanism and transnational traits. The phenom…