Saggioro/Religious Super-diversity, 1.Religious Diversity, Plurality and Pluralism: Towards an Analytical Grid

The aim of this chapter is to provide a survey and to suggest an analytical grid concerning the issue of diversity in religious dynamics. We start with a discussion of a terminological genealogy linked to the concept of “super-diversity”. Then we explore the transfer of this idea in religious domains, through the concept of religious super-diversity. Following, we examine another terminological stream, namely the use of the concept of “new religious pluralism” and, more generally, the semantic sphere covered by the term pluralism. Subsequently, we tentatively propose a new typology based on three key terms: diversity, plurality, and pluralism. After briefly testing its possible relevance on some historical fields, we offer a slightly modified version of the grid in order to capture the main dynamics in the contemporary religious field, mobilising the prefix “hyper” to stress the enormous and multi-layered amount of religious diversity, and the complexity of the mechanisms trying to channel it. In addition to offering a possible tool for linguistic and conceptual scrutiny, this tripartite typology can be useful for analysing – from historical, anthropological, and sociological points of view – the different levels and scales of diversity, focusing on both inter and intra religious relationships.