Participation and Beliefs in Popular Religiosity : An Empirical-Theological Exploration among Italian Catholics

Brill's Chinese - English Dictionary Online starts off with the Student's Dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese, compiled by Paul W. Kroll et al. It is a practical lexicon of more than 8,000 characters in alphabetically arranged Pinyin romanization. In short, an essential tool and the English-language resource of choice for students of pre-Song texts, and far beyond. Many academic disciplines have contributed to the study of popular religiosity, but the definition of this phenomenon and of its relation with official religion still remains a problematic topic. This book offers an empirical-theological investigation of popular religiosity by exploring among Italian Catholics the relation between popular religious participation (processions, pilgrimages, vows, et cetera) and religious beliefs. The investigated beliefs are beliefs about God, about human suffering in relation to God, about Jesus Christ, and about the church. The results indicate that popular religious participation influences some of these beliefs. This study contributes to an empirically based picture of a complementary relation between popular religiosity and official religion within the Catholic Church in Italy. Exploring the relation between popular religious participation and beliefs about God, human suffering, Jesus Christ and the church, this empirical-theological study offers the picture of a complementary relation between popular religiosity and official religion within Italian Catholicism. By Francesco Zaccaria. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [297]-308) And Index.