Afterword: Walking the Edges

Articles in this section embrace different historical periods and contexts, which comprise Latin Christian Middle Ages, Christians and Jews of the early modern period from Northern Europe to the Ottoman Empire, and the modern period that connects continental Europe, Great Britain, India and the United States. It implies that we are dealing with very different notions of “religion” and equally different concepts of the individual self or non individual self. Despite the huge differences in historical and cultural contexts, the papers share common features: they all deal with case studies that move on the sideways of the mainstream. They deal with religious minorities, excluded or expelled people, but also with single exceptions and splinter groups. In different ways they all do walk the edges, either of one or between several religions, cultures or geographical regions.