In the early Middle Ages, Europe’s political landscape was significantly shaped by the emergence of new fundamental modes of identification, both ethnic and religious. These processes created new forms of social cohesion and conflict. With the Bible, Christianity provided a repertoire of patterns suitable to give order and orientation that were significant for the shaping of ethnic identities.
The relation between Christianity, its repertoire of identification, and ethnic identity, both as forms of discourse and as social practices, will be the focus of SCIRE in a number of studies.
