24.10.2025

New Publication: «Religious Transformations in Europe. Individual Life Paths between Secularism and (New) Religiosity in the 19th Century»

Was the 19th century an age of secularization or the birth of a new religiosity? The recently published book Religious Transformations in Europe. Individual Life Paths between Secularism and (New) Religiosity in the 19th Century" explores this question from an interdisciplinary perspective and sheds light on a century of diverse and sometimes paradoxical developments in religious transformation.
The publication was edited by Alessandro Grazi and Cristiana Facchini and published - also in open access - in the Leibniz Institute for European History's series.

Whether individually or collectively, reformist or radical, secular or spiritual: in the 19th century, quite a few believers reoriented themselves or attempted to transform their religious communities from within. This reflection of cultural, political, and intellectual trends had an active impact on the development of the modern religious landscape. Alessandro Grazi and Cristiana Facchini, together with other experts, ask to what extent cross-border moments can be understood as consequences of secularization, as a transformation of religion, or even as a manifestation of new religiosity. Secularization and religiosity are not simply opposed to each other. Rather, the authors highlight their complex interactions and question the Eurocentric view of secularization as a purely Western phenomenon.
With its interdisciplinary approach, the book is of particular interest to religious scholars, theologians, Jewish studies scholars, and Islamic studies scholars, as well as to modern historians and researchers in the sociology of religion, intellectual history, and the humanities.

Publishers:
Alessandro Grazi holds a doctorate in humanities and works at the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” at the University of Münster. From 2018 to 2023, Grazi was a research assistant for digital Jewish studies at the IEG in Mainz.

Cristiana Facchini is a professor of Christian history and religious studies at the University of Bologna.