The European Dream and the Importance of Religion (s) in Pluralistic Societies and Migration Contexts

In today's secular Europe with its pluralistic societies, a renewed and intense, but also conflict-filled, interest in religion can be observed:especially since the “Christian West” is confronted with migratory movements from the Global South, which are accompanied by a multiplicity of denominational affiliations - with a constant wave of leaving and criticizing churches - but also because of the confrontation with Islamic terrorism and the associated fear of extremism.In this context, this volume raises, from a historical perspective, the question of the epistemological potential of engaging with religion (s) in the literatures and expressions of Romance languages, their contribution to discursive diversity, and the function of the “sacred,” or holiness, in relation to the construction of a European identity that stands up to the future.The thematic areas in which the meaning of religion and spirituality are explored are national or European cohesion on the one hand, discourses of exclusion on the other, Europe's relationship to Islam, and the mutual state of spirituality and aesthetics.