Kurzus nemzetközi vendég- és részidős hallgatóknak
- Kar
- Bölcsészettudományi Kar
- Szervezet
- BTK Történeti Intézet
- Kód
- BA-ERA-IHS-S-17
- Cím
- Enchanted Lands: Religion, State, and Society in Habsburg Central Europe, 19th & 20th Centuries
- Tervezett félév
- Őszi
- Meghirdetve
- 2024/25/1
- ECTS
- 6
- Nyelv
- en
- Tantárgy tartalma
- kurzus címe: Enchanted Lands: Religion, State, and Society in Habsburg Central Europe, 19th & 20th Centuries kurzus oktatója: Christopher Wendt This course explores the often-overlooked relationship between religion, state, and society in the late Habsburg Monarchy and its successor states. It seeks to respond to common narratives of the region that focus heavily on the region’s ethnolinguistic diversity, the rise of its national movements, and ultimately, the destruction wrought by its violent nationalist ideologies. While acknowledging that such histories are necessary and important, this course argues that focusing on religious actors, institutions, and mindsets across a period of immense change provides an instructive alternative framing of the region’s history that, moreover, does not make the region appear to be any less diverse. Although Roman Catholicism prevailed in Habsburg Central Europe as the most practiced religion, diverse communities of Jews and Muslims, as well as a wide range of Protestant and Orthodox Christian denominations, all had their place within the empire. After 1918, these faithful and their institutions continued to shape the empire’s twentieth-century successor states in meaningful ways. Indeed, as this course means to show, peering through the lens of religion helps one to grasp the complex dynamics of state-building, the resonance of imperial and national symbols, the shifts brought by the rise of mass politics, and the friction-filled establishment of post-imperial “nation states” in Central Europe. Through the length of the course, students will grapple with questions at the heart of the history of religion and its social and political significance in Central European. These include: How much should we consider religion distinctive from other forms of affiliation, such as those based on estate, class, or nation? How did religion serve to consolidate power and authority for secular authorities, and when did it serve as a point of conflict and friction? To what extent can we see the advance of “secularization” over this period; conversely, what do we make of viewing this same period as a “second confessional age”? How did religious groups relate to various forms of nationalism and radical political ideologies? Finally, in what ways does a focus on religion help us to rethink the history of Central Europe?