After moving for ten plus years towards an ever closer union, the European Union and its citizens now face the choice whether to establish a full-fledged common polity. This decision requires a Europe-wide debate that includes the candidate states. European citizens must discuss what (if any) common values, principles and basic policies they share. A European identity involves the Union's institutions becoming rooted in the "soul" of the citizens, whatever its relationship might be to the existing national and local identities. Only then will the EU possess democratic legitimacy and support. These two volumes are written by authors with a political and intellectual interest in the European process. They discuss the EU's unprecedented character as a peacefull and voluntary union of peoples, its understandable obstacles encountered along the way to further integration, and the Union's less acceptable shortcomings. The first volume is written for the general reader. It examines the essential components of a European political identity in relation to democracy, citizenship, social justice, war and peace, freedom and borders. It also explores the history of this identity. The second volume is a collection of scientific essays. These provide in-depth analysis of fundamental aspects of European cultural identity such as religion, art and economic culture, myth and civil society. The two volumes can be read independently. However, we hope readers of either one will feel stimulated to reach for the other.

What binds contemporary Europeans together in terms of cultural values that go beyond a common interest in economic growth? In a time of resurging nationalist movements all over Europe, the need for what former President of the European Commission Jacques Delors called a "soul for Europe" has become more urgent than ever. In this volume, Delors's 25 years old appeal to the churches is taken seriously. In particular, contributions to a common sense of belonging that have been made by the traditions of European Protestantism are carefully investigated. In nineteen case studies, topics and areas as varied as theological identity, religious tolerance, political philosophy, ethics, the arts, the scientific mentality, and the economy are covered. It appears that despite the rise of religious pluralism throughout Europe, aspects of the Protestant ethos continue to be key to societal cohesion in many places. Mit Beiträgen von Ibolya Balla, Henk van den Belt, Jasper Bosman, Gijsbert van den Brink, Ad de Bruijne, Gerard den Hertog, Zsolt Görözdi, Theo L. Hettema, Hans-Martin Kirn, Jenö Kiss, Leo Koffeman, Henri A. Krop, Yelena Mazour-Matusevich, Olga Navrátilová, Henk P. de Roest, Herman Speelman, Willem van Vlastuin, Pieter Vos und Heleen Zorgdrager. [Protestantische Traditionen und die Seele Europas] Welche gemeinsamen Werte verbinden uns im heutigen Europa über ökonomische Interessen hinaus? Vor dem Hintergrund der heute vielerorts in Europa aufflammenden nationalistischen Bestrebungen ist der Bedarf nach einer "Seele für Europa", wie der frühere Vorsitzende der Europäischen Kommission Jaques Delors es nannte, drängender denn je. In diesem Band wird Delors' vor einem Vierteljahrhundert geäußerten Appell an die Kirchen darum ernst genommen. Besonders Beiträge zum gemeinsamen Bewusstsein der Zusammengehörigkeit in der protestantischen Tradition werden sorgfältig untersucht und geprüft. In neunzehn Fallstudien werden Themen und Bereiche wie theologische Identität, religiöse Toleranz, politische Philosophie, Ethik, Kunst, wissenschaftliche Haltung und Ökonomie in den Blick genommen. Es zeigt sich, dass trotz des Anwachsens eines religiösen Pluralismus überall in Europa, Aspekte des protestantischen Ethos wesentlich zur gesellschaftlichen Kohäsion beitragen.

This volume is about the partnership of the Christian churches in their dialogue with the European Institutions. In a context of plurality the discourse between religion, society and political institutions requires a descriptive and reflective theology that is both informed by the received tradition and provisional enough to share the universal quest for truth and justice. Contributors represent many aspects of European culture, history and recent political development. The book confronts European history, the contribution of civil society in gaining freedom from political oppression and the experience of the churches in victory and defeat. In treating discourse between and among people of political conviction and religious faith it adopts an accessible method and addresses politicians, religious leaders and thinkers in a common framework and language.

Fosco speaks as a member of Post-Christian Society that has emerged from the Great Walk-Out from established religion but as one who cannot subscribe to the Economic Myth of Rational Humanism. Fosco's text, which he dubs My Reality, is republished in this volume, accompanied by six exploratory essays, ranging from the supportive to the dismissive, which seek to open up debate on the issues which he poses. Can we work towards a society in which humane values prevail, or must we accept that ours is, for lack of a better, the best of possible worlds?

Now in its third year, the Best European Fiction series has become a mainstay in the literary landscape, each year featuring new voices from throughout Europe alongside more established names such as Hilary Mantel, Jean-Philippe Toussaint, Ingo Schulze, George Konrad, Victor Pelevin, and Enrique Vila-Matas. For 2012, Aleksandar Hemon introduces a whole new cross-section of European fiction, and there are a few editorial changes as well. For the first time, the preface will be by an American—Nicole Krauss—and the stories, one per country/language, will be arranged within themes (love, art, war, the body), to facilitate book club and reading group discussions.

John Hope (1868-1936), the first African American president of Morehouse College and Atlanta University, was one of the most distinguished in the pantheon of early-twentieth-century black educators. Born of a mixed-race union in Augusta, Georgia, shortly after the Civil War, Hope had a lifelong commitment to black public and private education, adequate housing and health care, job opportunities, and civil rights that never wavered. Hope became to black college education what Booker T. Washington was to black industrial education. Leroy Davis examines the conflict inherent in Hope's attempt to balance his joint roles as college president and national leader. Along with his good friend W. E. B. Du Bois, Hope was at the forefront of the radical faction of black leaders in the early twentieth century, but he found himself taking more moderate stances in order to obtain philanthropic funds for black higher education. The story of Hope's life illuminates many complexities that vexed African American leaders in a free but segregated society.