Abstract
This final article offers a theoretical complement to the preceding contributions. We have developed our analysis in two sections. First, we look at religious compromise and the Catholic compromise through the relations between religion and the world, and Church and society, with particular reference to the work of Ernst Troeltsch; second, we consider religious compromise and social transactions from the viewpoint of Georg Simmel, who characterized social life in terms of oppositions that are mediated in social forms. Their different approaches allow us to view recent history in a wider perspective, and offer useful frameworks for the analysis and interpretation of empirical data.