Maria-verschijningen in Medjugorje. Rivaliserende religieuze regimes en staatsvorming

Samenvatting

This article has been retracted by the editors. Marian Apparitions in Medjugorje; Rivalling Religious Regimes and State Formation in Yugoslavia. Apparitions and subsequent pilgrimages are often explained in terms of tensions within the community of the faithful laity. This approach could well be correct: but it is also one-sided, for it leaves out the religious specialists or at best credits them with a passive and marginal role. Consequently, a number of relevant aspects concerning the evolution of apparitions and pilgrimages remain almost untouched. The present article attempts to overcome this one-sidedness by adopting a different perspective. It describes and explains the Marian apparitions in Yugoslavia' Medjugorje in terms of rivalling religious regimes; processes of state-formation play an important conditioning role in this context.