United through Diversity

The book analyzes the Europeanist and federalist thought of Italian Protestants in the 19th and 20th centuries. Such investigation revolves around two distinct guiding arguments: a political one, focused on the analysis of political thought; and a historical one reconstructing the most recent events in the struggle of Italian Protestants for the political unification of Europe. The essay retraces the developments of federalism within the Protestant world from the 16th century to the 20th century by referring to the bond between federalism and ecumenism. The volume is divided into three parts and provides a historical overview of federal thought within the Protestant world from the Reformation to the Enlightenment. This theoretical background paves the way for the contribution of the Italian Protestants to the international peace movement and to the confessional reconciliation among the churches in the 19th and 20th centuries. Finally, the essay highlights the practical and theoretical contribution of the Italian Protestants to the cause of a European unification. Notably, it delves into the collaboration with Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi, and focuses on the militancy of the Italian Protestants within the European Federalist Movement until the 1950s, as well as on the ecumenical effort of the World Council of Churches to foster a Christian unity.