Our researcher Debora Tonelli to talk about religious communities and the civil society in Europe at

Our researcher Debora Tonelli will take part to the international conference Religious Communities and Civil Society in Europa organized by Maecenata Institüt (Berlin) at Pontifical Gregorian University (Rome). Debora Tonelli will discuss a paper on The Socio-Political Role of the Hermeneutic of Sacred Texts: the aim is to discuss the way religious practice and personal religiosity promotes (or impedes) civic engagement. The possibility of the interpretation of sacred texts having an effect on society is shown in 1) the narrative (for example, the liberation of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt used to promote social revolution); and 2) the power of religious images to effect a transformation of values that promote social change. Trying to explain the text, the interpretation of sacred texts explains an actual situation by means of it. In contemporary Europe, the hermeneutic of textual traditions is also an important tool to counter religious violence and fundamentalist interpretations of sacred texts, regardless of religious belonging or not. This is a kind of civic engagement.