Perspectives on Civil Religion

This work introduces the concept of civil religion, examines the use of the concept in recent scholarship and investigates examples of civil religion in the contemporary world. The book sets out to explore tensions and complexities in the relationship between the "sacred" and the "secular", and draws on two major case studies for in-depth illustration of key issues. It looks first at the development of rituals of remembrance from the American Civil War, British and American responses to the two world wars and the controversial Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. It then considers civil religion in the Italian city of Siena, especially in relation to the Palio of Siena and Sienese devotion to the Virgin.