Religious Culture in Nineteenth-Century Europe: Perspectives and Prospects

This roundtable examines the state of historical research on religious culture in Europe during its “long” nineteenth century (c. 1789–1918). “Religious culture” is understood broadly, encompassing religion as a type of cultural system and a component of a “religious field” (Bourdieu). It brings together several contributors to the recently published Handbook of Religious Culture in Nineteenth-Century Europe (De Gruyter 2025). They will draw on their findings and also on their experiences in researching and writing their respective chapters to reflect on the impact of recent research on scholarly understandings of religion and religion’s place in the cultural, political, and social life of nineteenth-century Europe. How has the decline of secularization theory shaped this picture? How have perspectives coming from outside the discipline of history influenced how historians have studied religion and religious culture? What topics are in need of further inquiry?