Près de cinquante ans après Vatican II et face à une multiplication des formes de la foi, l’institution catholique reste traversée par de fortes tensions, qui la font osciller entre changement et maintien de la tradition. Dans un monde où tout monopole religieux est exclu, elle se trouve confrontée à un double défi, celui de la perte du contrôle de la société et d’une réforme interne.Prenant comme terrain d’enquête la France et d’autres pays autrefois marqués par un catholicisme majoritaire – Espagne, Italie, Canada (Québec), Argentine –, Catholicisme en tensions dessine un panorama des principales mutations qu’il connaît au tournant du xxie siècle. Après une recension des contextes nationaux, les évolutions les plus récentes sont analysées tant par le haut, à travers le discours magistériel romain, que par le bas, au plus près des petits arrangements ordinaires effectués par les croyants. La variété des sujets abordés – clergé, pratiques, croyances, genre, sexualité, culture, etc. – renouvelle les approches, grâce aux lieux d’observation souvent inédits retenus par les contributeurs.Issu de travaux pluridisciplinaires, cet ouvrage permet de confronter les acquis de recherches récentes, innovantes, témoignant d’un renouveau d’intérêt des sciences sociales pour le catholicisme.

The volume AL-KHARJ II presents the results of the French-Saudi archaeological mission in the Al-Kharj oasis, Saudi Arabia, obtained during the third and fourth field seasons (2013, 2015). This research aims to elucidate the settlement dynamics and the environmental context in which they occurred in a key region of Central Arabia, from prehistory to the Islamic period.The geomorphological studies (Chapter 1) conducted around the paleolake of Al-Hayāthim confirm significant climatic fluctuations, correlated with sporadic human occupations.Surveys and excavations in the Rufāʿ graben (Chapter 2) led to the discovery of a series of Middle Paleolithic sites, including a stratified site, Umm al-Shaʿal (AK-31). The dominant industries (Nubian-type Levallois) support the hypothesis of an early dispersal of Homo sapiens in Central Arabia, within a then more humid environment.The Bronze Age necropolis of ʿAyn al-Ḍilaʿ 1 (Chapter 3), the largest in the oasis, comprises over 3,000 tombs of various types. Five tombs were excavated, revealing primary burials from the Early Bronze Age and the reuse of tombs during the Iron Age.A significant portion of the volume is dedicated to the site of Al-Yamāma (Chapters 4–6), identified as the medieval city of Jaww al-Khiḍrima. The excavation of the great mosque and its immediate surroundings reveals the presence, beneath a mosque dated to the 16th–18th centuries, of one of the earliest mosques in the Arabian Peninsula documented in an archaeological context (late 7th–early 8th century CE). Pre-Islamic domestic occupation of the area (4th–3rd century BCE) confirms the long-term settlement of the site and sheds light on the emergence of the first sedentary establishments in the region. A similar chronological sequence is evidenced in a more southern test pit of the Al-Yamāma site (Chapter 6).The archaeobotanical (Chapter 7) and zooarchaeological (Chapter 8) analyses conducted at Al-Yamāma provide insights into an oasis economy that emerged in the mid-1st millennium BCE and remained relatively conservative over the long term.Complementing the elements presented in a previous volume (AL-KHARJ I), these discoveries illuminate a region that remains, to this day, one of the least studied in the Arabian Peninsula.