Religion and Politics: Interactions and Boundaries

Dear Colleagues,

The focus of this Special Issue will be on the connections between politics and religion, starting from the evolution of the relationship between States and Churches from the late Middle Ages to the contemporary age, in a long-term horizon. This Special Issue will consider the religious crisis of the 16th century as an important watershed, which saw religious confessions, arising from the Protestant Reformation and alternatives to the Roman Church, fighting for their stable affirmation in European territories. If in the context of southern and Mediterranean Europe (Italy and Spain, in particular) the aspirations to freely live an alternative faith to the dominant Catholic one had to deal with harsh inquisitorial and political repression and vanished in a few decades, in the more general European context, the situations of religious matters were different: the outburst of religious troubles led jurists, political theorists and historiographers to reflect on the connection between religious unity and stability of the State and institutions which could no longer be considered essential. Practical reasons and the spread of a new awareness of the rights of minorities eased the birth of a new consciousness. Thus began a long and tormented process of reflection which culminated in the affirmation of the idea of religious freedom and tolerance, which constituted and still constitute a very relevant research starting point for political–religious historiography as well as for legal historiography.

Papers concerning the long history of this path will be accepted, as will ones concerning more specific and singular episodes or questions from the practical and theoretical aspects of the persecutions of Heresy in the late Medieval and early modern periods up to the twentieth-century reflections on religious tolerance and freedom.

Every possible interaction between the political and religious phenomena, including studies in the areas of freedom of religion or belief, non-discrimination, State/Church relations, confessionalization and secularization, also developed from comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives, will be considered.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors first submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200-300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor or to the Assistant Editor of Religions. Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of this Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Daniele Santarelli
Dr. Lorenza Gianfrancesco
Dr. Domizia Weber
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• political–religious conflict
• tolerance
• freedom
• Heresy
• persecutions

Title: Saving Sanctity: The Roman Inquisition and the Investigation of Girolamo Cardano
Author: Anonymous
Highlights: - Places Roman Inquisition's investigation of magic in context of new concerns about saint making. - Explains reason why Inquisition showed renewed interest in philosophical naturalism in late sixteenth century. - Connects developments in the investigation of magic to specific aspects of Catholic reform and reaction to Protestantism.

Title: Martyrdom, self-censorship, and mistranslations in the English Mission reports, 1580-1600
Author: Anonymous
Highlights: - mistranslations of English Jesuit martyrdom reports reveal the Jesuits’ uses of martyrdom accounts in different confessional settings to serve very different aims in different contexts. - self-censorship in Jesuits’ intelligence reports from the English Mission to fathers in Rome and Naples reveals a major structural weakness in the ‘impresa d’Inghilterra’.