This volume is the definitive version of Il Senso Religioso.

The book opens with the Preface by James Francis Stafford (translation into Italian by Laura Tasso, pp. V-IX) followed by the author’s Introduction (p. XI), both specially written for this edition.

The author had dealt with this topic in December 1957 in a booklet (Il senso religioso, GIAC) addressed to the adult members of the Gioventù di Azione Cattolica in Milan, whose subject was partly dictated by the pastoral letter of Archbishop Montini for Lent 1957 titled Sul senso religioso.

In 1966 Jaca Book first published the volume Il senso religioso which is a coherent series of notes, revised by the author, of lessons held at the Berchet high school in Milan between c. 1954 and 1960 (in the series Note e Sintesi). The text explores the topics dealt with by the author in 1957. The 1966 edition is now published in Il Senso di Dio e l’uomo moderno. La “questione umana” e la novità del Cristianesimo (BUR, 1994, pp. 7-75).

In 1977 the text was reissued without variations in the Jaca Book series Già e non ancora. The “Nota di edizione” (pp. 7-10), however, anticipated a new editorial project: the themes dealt with were to be developed in the volumes of Il perCorso (Il senso religioso. Volume primo del perCorso, 1986; All’origine della pretesa cristiana. Volume secondo del perCorso, 1988; Perché la Chiesa. La pretesa permane. Volume terzo del perCorso, tome 1, 1990; Perché la Chiesa. Il segno efficace del divino nella storia. Volume terzo del perCorso, tome 2, 1992).

In 1994 Opere 1966-1992 was published: this was a miscellaneous of writings in two volumes that contained all of Giussani’s writings published by Jaca Book. The first volume reissued Il PerCorso (pp. 1-618) and in particular Il senso religioso in the 1977 edition (pp. 619-682).

In 1995 the volume Senso Religioso, which had sold out in the 1986 Jaca Book edition, was republished by the Cooperativa Editoriale Nuovo Mondo.

In 1997 Rizzoli began republishing the work in its definitive format (1997-2003).

The first volume, Il senso religioso, compared with the previous edition, was enlarged with footnotes and misprints had been corrected.

Since 2003 the Volume primo del PerCorso has also been available in an economical edition (BUR).

Senso Religioso (Rizzoli, 1997) was also the subject of reflection in conversations between the author and some members of the association Memores Domini (Tischreden) which were collected principally in L’autocoscienza del cosmo (BUR, 2000, T188-191, T196-197, T200), and also in other volumes in the same series: ”Tu” (o dell’amicizia) (BUR, 1997, T202), L’attrattiva Gesù (BUR, 1999, T195) and Dal temperamento un metodo (BUR, 2002, T198).