The novel opens with the Jubilee of 1900 in Rome, at the height of the dispute between the Vatican and the Italian State over the temporal power of the Church. This context is intertwined with the social demands of the era, animated by a Christian socialism that Caine himself was steeped in. Davide Rossi is a Left-wing deputy who fights for the people and opposes a corrupt prime minister, who will try to prevent the culmination of the love story between Rossi and Donna Roma Volonna. Caine spent a long time in Rome, visiting every place depicted in the novel; his descriptions of Regina Coeli, the Vatican and its ceremonies, the city's fashionable places and its squares teeming with ordinary people, convey the atmosphere of the time. The book is imbued with a religious sense of life and the characters, even the most abject ones, are described compassionately, like a true investigator of the human soul. Reading this text more than a century after its release, one cannot help but be struck by the author's visionary ability: he foresaw for Italy, albeit in terms of "fictional politics", the dictatorship, the abdication of the monarchy, and the birth of the Republic, forty years in advance.
Thomas Henry Hall Caine (1853-1931) wrote about fifteen novels, veritable best-sellers, which earned him the title of "Sir" in 1917. The Manxman of 1894 is the most well-known of his works, thanks to A. Hitchcock's film adaptation in 1929. The Christian (1897) was the first book to sell a million copies in England. Pietro Mascagni set the theatrical version of The Eternal City to music in 1902.
A Japanese Buddhist leader, Daisaku Ikeda, and a British sociologist, Brian Wilson, discuss the role of religion and its connections to the main ethical and social problems of our time. Their dialogue focuses on the role and importance of religion and religious sentiment for both the individual and society as a whole. The positive potential of religious doctrines for the inner development of human beings and the proper functioning of society emerges. However, the authors do not fail to highlight the risks associated with the institutionalization of religious movements and the use of religion as a tool for control and power.
This book is rooted in the need to delve deeper into the historical events that led the Soka Gakkai to emancipate itself from the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood and what its intentions are as a lay religious association that concretely promotes peace, culture, and education worldwide. The first part of the volume offers an overview of the history of Buddhism, Nichiren Shoshu, and its patriarchs up to the present day, with particular regard to the narration of the events that recently led to the separation. The second part, on the other hand, deals with doctrinal aspects, specifically: the Gohonzon as an object of worship for the happiness of all humanity; the Gongyo ceremony, the meaning of daily practice; the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, their composition and translations. The topics covered, also developed based on sources external to the Soka Gakkai, aim to make this text a valuable consultation tool not only for those who wish to have an exhaustive overview of the events with Nichiren Shoshu, but also for those who need to find philosophical-religious information.
The first publication of the Italian Soka Gakkai Buddhist Institute, founded in February 1982, will have a new print version of 44 pages (compared to the current 32 of NR Selezione) and will adopt the current format of Buddhism and Society. It will therefore be a totally renewed magazine, with a greater number of pages and variety of content. It will be published every month and will present everything necessary to deepen faith, practice and the study of Buddhism, and to carry out Soka Gakkai activities. The lesson for the monthly study, until now in Buddhism and Society, will also be published in Il Nuovo Rinascimento.
As Daisaku Ikeda writes:
"Our magazines have the role of transforming despair into hope, pain into joy, the sense of powerlessness into courage, to move from 'a life in which one cries for one's karma' to 'a life in which one lives to fulfill one's mission' by revitalizing oneself and others."
Peace, culture, and education are the three founding elements of the activities promoted by Soka Gakkai International worldwide. In this volume, Daisaku Ikeda examines the strengths of the pedagogical thought of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, a pioneer of creative education, and develops the theme of fostering global consciousness in young people. Dialogue and exchange represent valuable opportunities for enrichment for every person, but these must be earned through an effort of spiritual growth. In this sense, creative education and global citizenship constitute solid reference points for the harmonious development of each individual's personality.
