Pluralism that is Not an Ideology: The Phenomenology of Collectivistic Catholicisms in a Small Nation

Abstract

This article addresses the relationship between culturally embedded religious traditions, nationalism, and pluralism by looking at the phenomenology of collectivistic Catholicisms in post-communist Croatia, one of the smallest EU nations. The author argues that, although linked to Croatian national identity, collectivistic Catholicisms in this society do not only present obstacles to the society’s cultural, national, and religious diversity, but also contribute to its complex and embedded forms of, in William Connolly’s terms, “deep” pluralism. The author challenges the modernist readings of religion-nationalism connections as reducible to secularization and anti-pluralism, to uncover the ways in which small nations can develop political and cultural modernity while seeking to articulate and rearticulate their cultural identity. In so doing, the author affirms the insights of Shmuel N. Eisenstadt’s paradigm of “multiple modernities,” focusing especially on the spaces of agency (and responsibility) that religious actors have in their engagement and encounter with religious, cultural, and national pluralism.