Spheres of Christian Belief in the 20th Century From the current perspective, religion, Christianity and the Church have been gaining greater importance for 20th century European history than had been accorded them for a long time by contemporary historians. The articles in this periodical take up some key themes of the history of religion: A primary dimension addresses interrelations of religion and politics, the state and Christian Churches, political and religious movements; the presence of religion and the Church in the new media of the century, that is, radio, film and television, opens up a second dimension. A third key topic of a history of European religion of the last four decades addresses the interaction of social change with the genesis of new forms of belief and religiosity. Investigating all these subjects as well as numerous other themes requires opening up the methodology of the study of the history of religion to approaches of «religious economics», the precise knowledge of theological approaches to and interpretations of problems and the intensive intellectual exchange with the other disciplines of religious scholarship.
