Pluralism & Paganism

European Identity Politics and the Memory of Paganism – a conference panel in Amsterdam, 20 April 2012

The identity of Europe has typically been built on the two pillars of Christianity and Enlightenment secularism. Consequently, religious alternatives are always positioned in systems of pluralism where “Christianity” and the “secular society” are seen as hegemonic. Other religious identities (e.g. Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist) are thus typically seen as additions to the main stream of European culture, rather than integral parts of the development of European culture itself. This monolithic view of European identity is however increasingly being rejected by scholars: not even in the Middle Ages was “Christianity” a monolithic entity, nor was it the only religious identity available. READ MORE

Also of interest:
Radical Platonism in Byzantium : Illumination and Utopia in Gemistos Plethon
Niketas Siniossoglou, University of Cambridge