Lucian N. Leustean. The Ecumenical Movement and the Making of the European Community

The emergence of the European Community (EC) in the aftermath of the Second World War is commonly described as a secular phenomenon. The various blueprints for European federalism issued before and during the war barely mentioned religion, and churches remained for the most part silent on the prospect of European unity. Faced with the daunting challenge of economic reconstruction, French, German, and “Benelux” leaders initiated the process of European integration by first pooling coal and steel resources. The other impetus behind the Schuman Declaration of 1950, the Coal and Steel Community of 1951, and the Treaty of Rome in 1958 was reconciliation with Germany in a pacified Europe. And in the context of the Cold War, the EC project also aimed to contain communism through the achievement of prosperity and higher standards of living across the western part of the continent. Lucian N. Leustean challenges this foundational narrative in a thorough and detailed account of the interaction between churchmen, ecumenical leaders, and the pioneers of European integration. As he shows in this meticulously researched book, the idea of a unified Europe also included a spiritual dimension. Many churchmen and political leaders entered into a long-lasting dialogue on the role of religion in the new Europe. But as Leustean points out, “the political history of relations between churches and European institutions is a history of struggle” (7). Roman Catholic churches had better relations with “Christian Democrats” such as Robert Schuman (a devout Catholic), Alcide de Gasperi, and Konrad Adenauer than their Protestant and Anglican counterparts. The World Council of Churches (WCC), the predominantly Protestant ecumenical organization created in 1948 and hailed then as “the greatest event since the Reformation” (10), ultimately carried little weight with respect to European unification. The WCC mobilized its member churches for the European project, but its impact was limited. In five chapters organized chronologically, the author attempts to explain the failure of ecumenists to leave their mark on European institutions.

Archaeology · Context (archaeology) · Economic history · European integration · European union · Political science · Politics · Protestantism · Sociology · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Multiculturalism, Politics, Migration, Gender