Religion und Politik in Deutschland und Grossbritannien (German, Hardcover, Reprint 2012 ed.)

Since the Middle Ages the relationship between religion and politics has been one of the great themes of European politics. The path followed by European societies and states can very largely be read as a history of the forms this tense relationship took and of the problems it raised. Central to them, since the period of the Reformation at least, was the problem of how society and government dealt with religious and confessional pluralism. Even today -- especially in respect of the increasing number of Muslim fellow-citizens in the European Union -- this theme has considerable significance, even if it manifests itself in various different ways in each particular country.

The Prince Albert Society (Coburg) and The Centre for the History of Religions, Inter-Faith Dialogue and Pluralism (Leicester) address the history of the problematic relationship between religion and politics and the treatment of religious pluralism in politics, state and society. Taking Britain and Germany as examples, both historical and contemporary aspects of this theme are discussed. Five areas of interest offer a comparative perspective from a British and a German point of view. The themes are defined by various epochs which range from the period of the Reformation up to the present: state and church, tolerance and politics, colonialism and mission, totalitarianism and antisemitism, and co-existence today. Two essays present a historical survey over a long period of the past and offer the prospect on probable future developments in the 21st century.