ファシズム期におけるペッタッツォーニの活動を分析することで、戦間期の宗教研究を明らかにする。宗教史学を単独で立ち上げた彼は、この学問を定着させるために、大学講座設置と学術誌創刊を望んだ。しかし、カトリックの近代主義者達とともに始めた雑誌は教皇庁から発禁処分を受け、講座設置も容易には実現しない。そのようなペッタッツォーニに手を差し伸べたのがファシスト政権である。ペッタッツォーニは政権によって講座と学術誌を得たことから、新アカデミー、政権への忠誠宣誓、百科事典といったファシズムの文化政策に関わることになる。さらに彼は、宗教史学におけるヴィーコの功績を強調したり、ローマを世界の宗教史の中心として理解することを提案したりするなど、ファシズムに迎合するような文章を発表する。生涯を通じてさまざまな社会運動に参加した彼であったが、ファシズム期はその空白期となっている。彼のこうした態度から、戦間期のイタリアがいかなる時代であったかを窺い知ることができる。

There exist in the world today conflicts among religions, especially those between religious fundamentalisms, lying at the root of the ‘clash of civilizations’ following 9.11. The concept of ‘global spirituality’ would be proposed as one key for the resolution of this problem. It is necessary to cultivate a sense of global identity of individuals as human beings on the Earth by introducing the idea of global spirituality in order to attain the planetary objectives such as global peace, welfare, and environmental sustainability. This article would examine Robert Bellah’s theory of religious evolution and John Hick’s theory of religious pluralism, and try to combine their insights. As a result, the prospect for ‘glocal’ religions or spirituality would be presented from the point of view of a pluralistic theory of civilizations.

The conceptualization of such spirituality philosophically requires a holistic theory of multi-layered pluralism: this enables us to mediate the historical conflicts between monotheism and polytheism. Some theologists argue for ‘one world faith’, but it is almost impossible to realize the dream. It is really important to make an endeavor to achieve the dream, but it is necessary to be conscious of the ultimate impossibility:there can be only the perpetual and unattainable aspiration towards a ‘global religion’ from the perspective of a neo-dialectical philosophy, which takes the finiteness of human being seriously.The concept of religion is not necessarily an appropriate form for a global spirituality because the concept is closely linked to the historical forms, such as Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, which were born in the Axial age. Thus, the global form might be called a global supra-religion or spirituality, and four requirements will be enumerated for this: the existence of transcendent reality, spiritual growth, global public orientation, and holistic theory of multi-layered pluralism.