ECCLESIASTIC LAW
- Overview
- Assessment methods
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Full programme
- Delivery method
- Teaching methods
- Contacts/Info
Useful is the knowledge offered by the private law and, especially, constitutional law courses in the first year. The interdisciplinary nature of ecclesiastical law will make it necessary to anticipate some content that will then be adequately explored in subsequent courses.
Joint attendance of the course in Canon Law and Comparative Law of Religions, of which Ecclesiastical Law is the "natural" complement, is recommended.
For attending students, there will be an intermediate written test at the end of the first part and an oral interview, from the topics of the second part, at the end of the course.
The intermediate written test (and also the final oral interview) will focus on the contents of the lectures and the study of Alessandro Ferrari, Libertà religiosa in Italia. Un percorso incompiuto, Carocci, Roma ult. ed.
In particular, the written test (lasting a maximum of three hours) will include a first part with 20 multiple-choice questions and a second part with 5 open-ended questions, 3 of which are aimed at assessing the development of critical skills: 1. commentary of newspaper headline; 2. analysis of a short passage 3. completion of a text.
Non-attending students take the exam through the study of Alessandro Ferrari, Libertà religiosa in Italia, Carocci, Roma ult. ed.; Andrea Bettettini, Alessandro Perego, Diritto ecclesiastico, Cedam, Padova 2024 and Marcello Toscano (ed.), I simboli contesi. Simboli religiosi tra rappresentazioni pubbliche e conflitti giuridici, UTET Università, Torino 2024.
Students taking both courses (Church Law and Canon Law) are exempt from studying the Bettettini-Perego Handbook (Church Law) and the Silvio Ferrari Handbook (Canon Law).
This course deals with Italian law on religious freedom and conscience. In contemporary globalized societies where religious identities and rights play a central political role, the analysis of state rights (starting with Italian law) in religious matters is essential for the full understanding of both the problems related to the application of fundamental rights and the socio-political dynamics at work. Knowledge of the norms of ecclesiastical law will then be coupled with the study of both their concrete jurisprudential application and their social transposition, including through concrete cases that will allow the metabolization of the contents learned to be essayed. Class discussion around court cases and specific issues will then allow students to develop argumentative skills to justify their positions.
Students will develop the critical sense necessary to read and interpret legal events concerning religious groups in contemporary plural societies, competently selecting among the multitude of information from social and mass.-media.
These modes enable the application of the Dublin descriptors and in particular: 1. knowledge and understanding; 2. applying knowledge and understanding and 3. making judgments and 4. communication
In A.Y. 2024-2025, the course will be divided into two parts: a general part and a special part. In the general part, the basic contents of the subject will be provided with the aim of achieving both an analytical and synthetic look at the Italian system of the sources of the right to religious freedom, with particular attention to the constitutional system and its effects on different religious affiliations. Also in the first part of the course, a number of more specific topics will then be addressed (religious teaching and religious symbols; public financing of religious denominations; religious buildings; civil relevance of religious marriages).
The second part of the course will focus on analyzing, in seminar and laboratory form, some specific topics chosen together with the class.
Program of Part One
- The origins of the right to religious freedom: liberal Italy and fascism
- The constitutional model: articles 7, 8, 19 and 20;
- The supreme principle of constitutional secularism;
- The application of the constitutional model: agreements with religious denominations and legislation on "admitted cults";
- European models of religious freedom;
- The Muslim question in Italy;
- Religious instruction in public schools and religious symbols in public and work space;
- Public financing of religions;
- The right to the temple: housing for worship.
The course, in each of its two parts, is intended to stimulate the active participation of students. Some seminars with external guests are also planned.
Group work and reports are planned in the second part of the course.
Prof. Ferrari will announce at the beginning of the course the time for in-person meetings at the Manica Lunga room and can always be reached for meetings via Teams at alessandro.ferrari@uninsubria.it