Religious and Political Identities: The Mediterranean Since 1492

At the first Berkley/Van Leer workshop, participants engaged the theme "Religious/Political Identities in the Mediterranean" from a variety of historical perspectives. The first session reviewed "The Mediterranean from Late Antiquity to 15th Century: Empires, World-Systems, Civilizations, Religious Regimes," with papers on Catholicism, Islam, and the great capital cities of the era. The next session focused on the region's four major religious traditions: Latin Christianity, Eastern Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The third session considered patterns of interaction and modes of religious pluralism and included a discussion of convivencia in medieval Spain. Further topics of discussion included the emergence of the modern national territorial state, the rise of the Ottoman Empire, and Eastern Mediterranean Christians.