God and Caesar in Motion: Changing Boundaries between Religion and Politics in a Pluralising World

Abstract

This panel addresses the fundamental question of the current shifts in and transformation of boundaries between religion and the (democratic) state in light of ongoing pluralisation in the Western world. Instead of focusing on the usual configuration of church-state relationships the panel suggests to look at more subtle boundaries between the sacred and the secular in religion and politics and to reflect their (changing) characteristics and functions. Contributors should address at least one of the four main questions: (1) how have these assumed boundaries been changing during the last decades and in the light of cultural pluralisation and political transformation? Did e.g. new normative principles perforate traditional boundaries between the sacred and the secular? (2) To what extent do new institutional arrangements with the state in- or exclude certain religions? The third question asks (3) how these different types of boundaries are related to each other. Does e.g. the dissolution of one boundary provoke the emergence/creation of another? And finally: (4) Which internal- or external factors influence the change of boundaries between or within religion and politics? The panel invites theoretical contributions reflecting the discourse on the “return of religion” or the concept of boundaries itself and multiple country-case comparisons which focus on the mentioned questions.

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