Claiming History in Religious Conflicts

B I B L I O T H E C A H E LV E T I C A R O M A N A

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ADRIAN BRÄNDLI / KATHARINA HEYDEN (EDS.)

CLAIMING HISTORY IN RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS

Bibliotheca Helvetica Romana

Herausgegeben von Joëlle Comé und Adrian Brändli

Band 39

Adrian Brändli, Katharina Heyden (Eds.)

Claiming History in Religious Conflicts

Schwabe Verlag

Published in collaboration with the Istituto Svizzero and the IRC ‘Religious Conflicts and Coping Strategies’ of the University of Bern

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Contents

Adrian Brändli and Katharina Heyden: Introduction

..............

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Wendy Mayer: Religious Conflict and the Dark Side of Historical Reasonings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Özgen Kolasin: Peace Through Violence. The Sacrificial Mechanism as a Religious Resolution of Conflicts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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1 Methodological Approaches

2 Historical Case-Studies

Jessica van ’t Westeinde: Creating an Archive of the Past to Claim History. A Case Study of the Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus (431 CE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Mattias Brand: Ten Steps to Superiority. Manichaean Historical Reasoning and the Formation of a New Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Patrick Bahl: Church History as Decay. Gottfried Arnold’s Historiography as Refutation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Christian Pfordt: Claiming Chinese History to Create Muslim Identity.

The Han Kitab and the Panthay Rebellion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Angela Berlis: Häretische oder unfehlbare Päpste? Der Fall des Papstes Honorius I. in der Unfehlbarkeitsdiskussion des 19. Jahrhunderts . . . . 179 Martina Narman-Berli: Justifying Her Religious Conviction. Emilie Loyson-Meriman’s Use of Historical Reasoning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 David Plüss: Swiss Sermons in Wartime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Gabriele Mastrigli: Roma e il mito dell’Eur. Architettura, Ideologia, Città . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

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Contents

Agnes Schubert und Miriam Löhr: Heilige der Vergangenheit – Held*innen für die Gegenwart. Rituelle Konstruktion religiöser Identitäten im politischen Kontext des Kosovokonflikts . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 Francesca Maria Corrao: The Memory of Oblivion. Italian History and the Lost Memory of Arab Influence on Medieval Sicily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 Lene Faust: Negotiating Social Conflicts within a Religious Cult.

The Role of History for the ‘Ntuppatedde in the Cult of Saint Agatha in Catania/Sicily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 3 Epistemological Reflections

Alessandro Saggioro: I peace studies, la storia e la storia delle religioni.

Alcune riflessioni sulle tracce di Arnaldo Momigliano (e di Angelo Brelich) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 David Nirenberg: The Historian as Theologian. A Conflict of the Faculties? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335 Short Biographies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Introduction Adrian Brändli and Katharina Heyden

Rome is not just any city; its urban fabric takes many forms, comprising complex layers of meaning. Physically enshrined in stone, it does not simply present yet another case study to elaborate on the concept of claiming history but visibly demonstrates the monumental scale of how this phenomenon operates at every turn. One need only think about St Peter’s Square and the adjacent basilica. Upon entering the vast open space of the piazza from Via della Conciliazone – which, in itself, constitutes a claim to history – visitors will immediately spot the Vatican Obelisk, made of red granite. Originally erected in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis, it was brought to Rome by Emperor Caligula in 37 CE, and the bronze sphere that adorned the tip of the monument was said to have contained the ashes of Julius Caesar. Thus, we have already arrived at the first level of claiming history: the Roman emperors staging themselves as the heirs to and overthrowers of the pharaonic tradition. Moving forwards in time, the obelisk’s base was added during its restoration, in 1586, at the behest of Pope Sixtus V, when the monument was viewed through a new interpretative lens. The Popes would adorn the ancient Egyptian and Roman symbols of power and glory with the Christian cross, thus presenting themselves as both the heirs to and conquerors of the pagan past. More impressively, however, when one enters St Peter’s Basilica and walks up the central nave, one becomes rapidly aware of the vertical architectural axis that stretches from the ancient Roman necropolis buried deep below, which is believed to house St Peter’s final resting place, all the way through the old Constantinian church one level below the present-day basilica floor, to the baroque altar and right up to Michaelangelo’s dome suspended high above – again a claim to history, this time in the service of the Roman Catholic tradition and the Popes’ claim to apostolic succession.

Examples of this kind can be found around every corner just by taking a stroll through the city. It is, therefore, no wonder that the German theolo-

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gian, Martin Walfraff, referred to Rome as a “city of self-citation”.1 Similarly, the art historian, Horst Bredekamp, while writing about the reconstruction of the St Peter’s Basilica in the Renaissance, coined the term “productive destruction” to capture the complex nature of Rome’s continued ideological reframing.2 This volume comprises the collected papers of the international conference, “Claiming History – The Role of Historical Reasoning in Religious Conflicts”, which was hosted in Rome in October 2019, as a collaborative project between the Istituto Svizzero in Rome and the Interfaculty Research Cooperation “Religious Conflicts and Coping Strategies” of the University of Bern.

The Bern-based research project grew out of an awareness of the complex nature of religious conflicts and the many different ways with which they are dealt. The initiative posits that any adequate understanding of the underlying dynamics of conflict must take a holistic approach, which, in the spirit of scientific cooperation, works at the intersection of different academic disciplines by combining emic and etic perspectives on religion. “Coping” is the shared key concept defining such an approach. This concept has its origin in psychology and it aims to try to understand and describe how people actively react to stressful situations. This can be either on an emotionbased, problem-oriented or meaning-focused level. Transferred to social conflicts, the concept of coping allows us to focus on the dynamics of conflicts rather than the solution. This is particularly important for conflicts with religious dimensions, because strong feelings and persuasion oftentimes play a dominant role in conflicts of a religious nature – arguably, more so than in other conflict situations.3 Thus, religions play an ambivalent role in conflicts. Not only can religious rhetoric cause conflict, it can also help to pacify such situations. Moreover, as the French philosopher, René Girard, states, religious rituals can be seen as a coping strategy to address social conflicts.4 The overall goal of cooperation is to better understand how and

1 2 3 4

Wallraff 2015, 829–843.

Horst 2008.

Heyden/Mona 2021.

Girard 1972, and idem, 2003.

Introduction

when religion comes into play in conflicts and how and which coping strategies are appropriate to manage these conflicts.

What do we mean when we speak of “religious conflicts”? Conflict researchers disagree on whether there is such a thing as a “religious” conflict at all. Does it refer to forms of conflict where the key actors belong to certain religious communities? Or is it in relation to conflicts over religious content, dogmas, rules or rituals? From a philosophical-theological point of view, the question does not yield an easy answer – and this is primarily why conflicts involving religion are so difficult to deal with. Again, Rome can help us understand the complexity involved. The city’s history and historiography in late antiquity also spark reflection on the nature of religious conflict. Take, for example, the conflict concerning the Altar of Victory in the Roman Curia during the last decades of the 4th century CE. This period is sometimes referred to as “the last generation of pagans”, in stark contrast with the more imposing demeanour of the newly strengthened Christian Church.5 The Victory Altar had been established by Emperor Octavian-Augustus in the Roman Senate House and bore a gold statue of the goddess Victory. It became, in the words of the historian James Sheridan, “one of the most vital links between the Roman state and Roman religion and also a tangible reminder of Rome’s great past and her hopes for the future”.6 The Altar was not simply a place at which to offer sacrifice and prayers for the welfare of the state, but it had a more profound significance as senators pledged themselves to the emperor. However, participation in the cult of the Roman gods was forbidden to Christians. Therefore, Emperor Constantius II removed the altar from the Curia in 357 CE. Over the next 50 years, each new emperor would take turns removing and reinstalling the statue. The speeches and texts in favour of and against the statue of Victory are full of references, citations and claims to history.

The Roman senator and prefect of the city, Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, argued in his famous speech in defence of the Victory Altar in 384: “if a long time gives a religion prestige, then we should be faithful to so many human ages and follow our fathers who – for their salvation – followed their

5 6

Watts 2020; Cameron 2013.

Sheridan 1966, 187.

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fathers”.7 Here ancestral lineage, along with all the military and political prowess it entailed, is staged as an argument to preserve a venerable religious custom, which had long secured the empire’s success and prosperity. This was Symmachus’ strongest argument for the rebuilding of the Altar of Victory in the Curia and the preservation of religious tolerance.

Symmachus is at his most effective when he prepares the stage for Roma to appear. The personification of Rome addresses the Roman nobility directly, reminding her audience what is at stake here: “this worship subdued the world to my laws, these sacred rites repelled Hannibal from the walls, and the Senones from the Capitol”.8 Roma highlights her adherence to the traditional values and customs that had never disappointed in the past. As proof of the gods’ benevolence and the efficacy of the pagan cult, she cites the dominion of the Romans over the world. Two historical examples support her argument, proving that the gods stood by the city and its inhabitants even in times of immediate threat: on the one hand, Hannibal, the ingenious Carthaginian general, who surprised the Romans during the Second Punic War (218–201 BCE) in a swift move over the Alps, which subsequently inflicted devastating defeats on the Romans near Trebia, at Trasimenian Lake and Cannae. On the other hand, the Senones who under their legendary commander, Brennus, came close to conquering the city at the beginning of the 4th century BCE. They made it up to the Capitoline Hill when their approach – according to legend – was betrayed by the honking of holy geese. The example of the Senones, in particular, must have made a persuasive case, since the miraculous salvation of Rome occurred right on the threshold of what was considered the holiest of holies in the city.

It was precisely this connection between religion and history that was attacked and denied by the Christian Bishop Ambrose of Milan in his reply to Symmachus. He claimed history as evidence that there is no connection between religion and success. Ambrose saw no divine intervention at work in the cited examples. Rome had always suffered defeats by foreign peoples and the honking of the geese was not a sign of Jupiter; at most, it was nothing more than a lucky coincidence. “See what guards the temples have! Where Symmachus, Relatio 3.8: Iam si longa aetas auctoritatem religionibus faciat, servanda est tot saeculis fides et sequendi sund nobis parentes, qui secuti sunt feliciter suos.

8 Symmachus, Relatio 3.9.

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Introduction

was Jupiter then? Did he speak through a goose?”, he exclaimed satirically and triumphantly.9 A few years later, the idea of secularising history was taken up, expanded and systematised by Augustine of Hippo (356–430 CE) in his monumental work De civitate Dei, which strongly influenced Western politico-theological thought. Augustine struggled for an explanation for the plunder of the city of Rome by the Visigoths in August 410 CE. The conservative senatorial elite saw the reason for the tragedy in the apostasy from the traditional cult and, therefore, blamed the Christians for the city’s devastation. In rejecting these accusations, Augustine responded with a double claim to history.

On the one hand, Augustine, very much like Ambrose, declares any explanation of historical events based on religious causes illegitimate – namely, the interpretation that the plundering of Rome was caused by turning away from the traditional gods. In De civitate Dei, Augustine then systematically reviews the entire history of Rome and shows that the success and failure of the city of Rome and its people had their causes solely in the actions of human beings, not gods. His main point is that earthly events can only be analysed and explained in a worldly or, to put it differently, empirical way, by understanding the motives and actions of human beings and the consequences that follow from human activity. Some have described such a line of argumentation as a fundamental “secularisation of history”.10 Naturally, this observation is correct but it comprises only one half of the truth. For, on the other hand, in Augustine’s work, history becomes a battlefield for hidden religious identities and claims to truth. Very subtly, almost invisibly, world history gets enmeshed in an epochal struggle between good and evil.

The citizenship of God, civitas Dei, stands in a conflictual relationship with earthly citizenship, civitas terrena, which was also referred to as citizenship of the devil.

According to Augustine, nobody in this world can really recognise who belongs to which faction or which historical event is a success for one or the 9 Ambrosius, Epistula 18.5 (= 73 ed. Faller): En quales templa Romana praesules habent! Ubi tunc erat Iuppiter? Ad in ansere loquebatur?

10 Markus 1988. Most recently, a part of Augustine’s De civitate dei was included in a volume that presents the fundamental texts of secularisation: Frey/Hebekus/Martyn 2020, 62–66.

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other side because the two civitates are inseparably intertwined in this world.

The thought that history provides the backdrop of a hidden religious conflict proves to be highly relevant for the analysis of “religious” conflicts. It opens up the debate to the possibility that every conflict, which can be studied in its empirical social, political, familial or cultural manifestation, is at its core religious – or in other words, every conflict has the potential to be interpreted religiously. Augustine’s approach seems paradoxical: on the one hand, he secularises world history by no longer attributing events to the direct intervention of the gods. On the other hand, he evaluates empirical events in terms of a larger but invisible and hidden religious struggle. This paradoxical approach has cast a very long shadow in intellectual history, which is today related to the extremely important, albeit problematic, task of defining religious conflicts or identifying the religious dimensions of social conflicts.

Is there such a thing as religious conflict? The main reason this question is so difficult to answer – even for modern-day conflict research – harks back to Augustine’s attempt to cope with the fall of the Roman Empire in De civitate Dei. The late-antique bishop’s view supports both of the main hypotheses. Firstly, that of the empiricists, who advocate that there are basically no religious conflicts in world history because mankind stirs up and mitigates conflicts for secular reasons. According to this view, it is religious affiliation that defines conflicts as religious, since only conflicts between clearly distinguishable religious groups can be regarded as truly ‘religious’. At the same time, Augustine also holds the key to the counterargument: the hermeneuticists claim that religious convictions, practices, traditions and claims to truth may well provoke or intensify social and political conflicts. In their view, factors that go beyond the empirical, such as beliefs, symbols and interpretations, have the potential to render conflicts religious in nature – either to incite controversy or to take conciliatory steps. What we can learn from Augustine is that the two principal approaches do not necessarily represent incompatible alternatives, but that empirical and hermeneutical aspects are intertwined in conflicts of a religious nature. Rather than asking what a religious conflict is, it would perhaps be better to pose the questions: when and how do conflicts become religious?

Laying a claim to history in order to justify or delegitimise a certain cause can be seen as a means of coping with conflicts. In what way has the

Introduction

past lent credence to religion and how has the formation of and departure from tradition affected claims to religious truth? How can historical reasoning contribute to the unravelling of religious conflicts and what role does history play in concrete peacebuilding processes? The contributions in this volume are dedicated to these questions. Particular attention has been paid to rhetorical strategies, discursive threads and religious practices, identifying certain types and patterns of historical claims that tend to arise in religious conflict situations. The structure of the volume reflects the tripartite nature of the conference. The first part is dedicated to methodological questions of how processes of historical reasoning can be accounted for and what role they play in the negotiation of social conflicts. The second part offers a wide panorama of historical case studies that individually trace the interconnections between history, religion and the construction and deconstruction of truth-claims in the written tradition, religious practices and material culture.

The contributions are arranged in chronological order, covering a timespan from the world of late antiquity to present-day cases of conflict. Equally broad is the spatial scope that gives special emphasis to European continental history but also enquires into aspects of interculturality along the Silk Road and religious plurality in China. Lastly, the volume is concluded with epistemological considerations on the nature and role of historical conflict research at the intersections of theology and history.

Wendy Mayer presents a highly innovative approach to understanding religious conflicts, arguing that they do not constitute a case that should be considered distinct from other types of social conflicts and that, therefore, we should read the concretisation of collective rationalisation processes against the background of neuroscientific findings, notably the complex interaction of conscious and subconscious cognitive processes. A broad survey of cases is offered to put this hypothesis to the test, identifying a number of recurring patterns of historical reasoning, which invite further research. Following this, Özgen Kolasin unmasks the hidden and mysterious workings of the ‘scapegoat’ mechanism. In so doing, she focuses on the role of the religious sacrifice in negotiating social order and conflict. Rereading Walter Burkert and, more prominently, René Girard, she points to the inevitability of violence in society, arguing that every human society requires its own ‘scapegoats’ to redeem itself through ritualised acts of sacrifice.

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The main body of the volume contains eleven cases of ‘religious’ claims to history that highlight the diversity and complexity of processes of historical reasoning, which are firmly tied to specific cultural and sociopolitical contexts. At the same time, the cases presented here also invite a comparative approach across the boundaries of different time frames and with a cross-disciplinary lens. In relation to the ancient world, Jessica van ’t Westeinde and Mattias Brand focus on the early Christian church and Manichaeism, respectively. The former contribution delves into the history of the Council of Ephesus in 431 CE, showing how the actors involved tampered with what the author refers to as the “archives of the past” to impose their doctrinal views onto the future. This serves as an important reminder that the making of Christian theology involved delineating contested ideological terrain that was fraught with a hard-fought struggle for authority and recognition. Rather than looking at internal debates and conflicts, Brand, on the other hand, considers 4th- and 5th-century textual evidence to show how Manichaeism claimed superiority over both past and contemporary religious communities in order to establish itself within the diverse religious landscape of late antiquity. The argument, moreover, suggests a tantalising analogy between the Manichean concept of religion and present-day, new religious movements, which presents the reader with an interesting case for further exploration.

Patrick Bahl’s main protagonist, the pietist theologian Gottfried Arnold, at the dawn of the Early Enlightenment in Germany, developed an intricate narrative that reviews the long run of Church history through the lenses of corruption and decay. Sharply criticising the Lutheran Church of the 17th century, Arnold places the ideal of the communitarian and egalitarian preConstantinian church in stark relief against the agency of clerical power with its insistence on dogmatic boundaries. Against the background of such decay, shining examples of resistance emerge, such as Gregory Nazianzen or Martin Luther, ready to defend the ideals of the early Church.

Moving into the long nineteenth century, Christian Pfordt offers a fresh look at the conflicting nature of Muslim-Chinese interaction, paying particular attention to the Panthay Rebellion of the Hui people and their associates against the Han Chinese. Taking up a specific historical case, Pfordt points to the complexity involved in the formation of cultural identities, which does not follow simple religious or ethnic dichotomies, such as ‘Chinese’ versus

Introduction

‘Muslim’, but encompasses a variety of, at times, converging and diverging dimensions. This claim is corroborated by the writings of the Han Kitab school, the Chinese books on Islam, whose body of thought represents a remarkable attempt at merging Islam with contemporary Confucianism.

Returning to European continental history, Angela Berlis and Martina Narman-Berli devoted their contributions to the conflictual atmosphere surrounding the First Vatican Council of 1869/70. Berlis offers a rereading of the case of Pope Honorius, whose episcopacy had been proposed as one of the main issues in the discussions on the principle of the Pope’s infallibility.

Condemned in 681 CE, by the authority of the Council of Constantinople, the conflict around the bishop’s orthodoxy re-emerged under changed circumstances and was placed in an entirely different interpretative frame that contributed to the intensification of the debate and the polarisation of the parties involved. Martina Narman-Berli, on the other hand, turns her gaze to the sidelines of this conflict with a biographical study on Emilie Loyson-Meriman, who observed the events as they unfolded from a distance.

Rather than focusing on the theatre of the council and its many clerical actors, Narman-Berli provides rare insight into one woman’s struggles with religious identity, discovering that protest and reform hold the key to religious development. History, in this sense, provided her with the lessons to justify her convictions.

Turning their attention to the two world wars and the interwar period, the case studies by David Plüss and Gabriele Mastrigli tackle the intricate relationships between history, politics and religion, approaching the respective subjects from fundamentally different points of view. The former focuses on the use of historical reasoning in Swiss sermons, demonstrating the Protestant Churches’ involvement in the political discourse of the time. The article encourages a reading of these sermons as religious speech acts, with a range of effects that go beyond mere social commentary, rather they were used to inspire the listener to take sides. Mastrigli, by contrast, traces the interconnections between fascist ideology and urban planning, employing the concept of political religion to frame the religious aspects of modern political systems. Taking a closer look at the history of the World’s Fair project E42 in Rome, commonly known as EUR, this contribution provides a careful analysis of the rhetoric of architecture and its connections to the

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political ambition of reviving the glorious past of the ancient Roman empire under Mussolini’s guidance.

Approaching contemporary history, Agnes Schubert and Miriam Löhr take up the example of the Kosovo conflict of the 1990s. The article sheds light on the interaction of religious and political aspects in conflict situations that, in this particular case, were symbolically and ritually intertwined with questions of religious conviction, ethnic belonging and political positioning.

In their analysis, they focus on history as an effective means in the construction and promotion of Serbian and Albanian hero types, such as Lazar and Skanderbeg respectively, or saintly figures, like Mother Teresa who, incidentally, was revered by both ethnic groups.

The last two case studies take us to Sicily: Francesca Maria Corrao propounds the rich and multifaceted history of the Mediterranean island as an example of how to overcome the rhetoric of the Crusades in its many reiterations. Rather than merely a stage of competition and antagonism, she sees Sicily as a place of intercultural exchange and dialogue. In Italian schoolbooks, however, Corrao observes the emergence of a different narrative – a memory of oblivion that suppressed the Muslim presence in medieval society to the benefit of establishing a collective Italian identity. In her perceptive anthropological study, Lene Faust, on the other hand, underscores the significance of existing religious traditions in the process of negotiating social conflicts and gender roles. Looking at the contemporary cult of Saint Agatha in Catania, this contribution seeks to understand the revival of a preexisting, yet temporarily interrupted, religious ritual for the purpose of expressing feminist protest. The tensions arising between tradition and innovation, between catholic practice and the introduction of new performative elements, invite further research on coping strategies and gender positions in paternalistic religious structures.

The last part of this collective volume is devoted to epistemological reflections on the intersections between history and religion from the point of view of established academic fields. Alessandro Saggioro devotes his contribution to the formation of religious history as a line of enquiry within the field of religious studies that is methodologically bound to the principles of conducting historical research and is, therefore, committed to scientific objectivity. Despite religion’s reverberations with value-judgements and ideological claims, the student of religion is given tools to critically and

Introduction

comparatively assess religious objects and their historical manifestations.

David Nirenberg, on the other hand, delves into the complicated relationship between historians and theologians, asking the provocative question of whether this relationship is fraught with a “conflict of the faculties” (closely following Kant’s eponymous work, Der Streit der Fakultäten). Scripture, whether it be for Judaism, Christianity or Islam, is presented as a common ground, manoeuvring contrapositions between the promise of divine truths and the historical constitution of scriptural traditions. Based on this assessment, Nirenberg calls upon historians to explore their often-forgotten potential for theology, which would complement their well-trained scepticism.

Indeed, Nirenberg’s analysis drives home an important point, which has also been highlighted by others, such as in the case of Wendy Mayer’s grappling with the dark side of historical reasoning. The volume as a whole thus testifies to the need to break out of the limiting bounds of one’s own discipline and explore neighbouring and seemingly distant realms of knowledge production. This could be the historian who rediscovers his or her faculty for theology or the scholar of ancient religion who ventures into the field of neuroscience to expound on recurring patterns in religious conflicts.

Just like the visitor who turns their back on St Peter’s Square and sets off to explore the city, the authors of this volume make it abundantly clear that there is a whole world to be discovered or – perhaps more fittingly – many pieces of untold history to be claimed.

Bibliography Primary Sources Ambrosius, Epistulae et acta, vol. 82/1–4, ed. Otto Faller/Michaela Zelzer/Ludmilla Krestan, Vienna 1968–1996.

Q. Aurelii Symmachi quae supersunt, ed. Otto Seeck, Berlin 1883.

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