Review article
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF POLITICS AND RELIGION
Hrvoje Špehar
orcid.org/0000-0001-7950-5471
; Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The article deals with the separation of church and state as the key historical
turning point in the creation of one of the fundamental determining factors of
contemporary states and political systems. The author gives an account of the
contributions of the American and European political traditions, and presents
a very comprehensive historical context in which Christianity introduced a
new model of relations between church and state. The Western tradition of
church-state interrelations is essentially characterized by the problem of separation,
and by various legal-political arrangements founded on the principle of
separation of church and state. Consequently, the article aims to put forward
some of the relevant ideas which contributed to the creation of the church
separation principle, as well as some of the basic elements of the relations
between church and state in contemporary political systems.
Keywords
separation of church and state; Christianity; Europe; USA
Hrčak ID:
77799
URI
Publication date:
14.2.2012.
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