ABSTRACT
In recent decades, the term “identity” has become ubiquitous both within and outside academia. Its proliferation, however, is anything but a sign of its uncritical adoption. Religious identities were complex, layered, and had multiple roots. Membership of a particular church, participation in public or clandestine religious rituals, refusal to act in certain capacities, clothing styles, name-giving practices, and many other things could become markers of religious identity. Traditional church historians tended to focus on the theological building blocks of religious identities. The religious identities that emerged should be seen at least partially as the outcome of a dynamic process of exchange between clergy and laity. Religious identities influenced the attitudes and behaviour of people towards the other faiths and in turn could be significantly influenced by the relationships people had with religious “others”.
