What began as a coal and steel compact among six Western European states has evolved over the last fifty years or so into an economic and political “union” spanning twenty-five states from each of the four corners of the European continent. Along with the fits and starts of this remarkable evolution have come recurring debates about the definition of Europe, and about the inclusiveness of the term “European.” These debates are about matters of identity as much as they are about economics, or politics, or law, and these debates tend to be most acutely conducted around periods of expansion and growth. It is no surprise, therefore, that issues of identity and definition are being raised today with such clarity as the European Union expands from fifteen to twenty-five, and as it faces the apparently inevitable prospect of opening its doors to every polity and every society that can make a legitimate claim to being “European” in nature.

Current discussions center around two issues, both of which are closely related to religion and to the social and political role of religious communities. The first issue involves the question of how Europe and the European Union are defined at this moment of unprecedented expansion. Is “Europe” merely a geographic space? A polity? A legal compact? As Peter Katzenstein states in his introduction, the usual categories of integrative tissue may not be enough to hold the new, ever-expanding Europe together.