The religious borders of Europe, which are more evident and controversial than ever, challenge established forms of political legitimacy and the legal requirements for citizenship. Perhaps covertly rather than overtly, they shape politics and policies. While scholars have once again resorted to Edward Said’s Orientalism to describe the dynamic at play, this article argues that the Orientalism narrative of East and West is too simple to capture the actual complexity of Europe’s borders. There are four religious and thus four cultural-symbolic borders, which are increasingly defining the continent: north-western Europe is Protestant, southern Europe is Catholic, the East is Orthodox and increasingly nationalist, and the South and Near East are Muslim. The cultural purity and the values that Europe craves in search of identity and order are simply not available in a world of global interconnectedness and social diversity.

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Das Abendland：欧洲宗教边界的政治

欧洲的宗教边界比以往任何时候都更加明显和争议，挑战了既定的政治合法性形式和公民身份的法律要求。也许是隐蔽而不是公开，它们塑造了政治和政策。虽然学者们再次求助于爱德华赛义德的东方主义来描述正在发挥作用的动态，但本文认为东方和西方的东方主义叙事过于简单，无法捕捉欧洲边界的实际复杂性。有四个宗教边界以及四个文化象征边界，它们越来越多地定义了欧洲大陆：西北欧是新教，南欧是天主教，东欧是东正教且民族主义越来越强，南欧和近东是穆斯林。