Maurizio Pagano is Professor of Theoretical Philosophy at the Università del Piemonte Orientale in Vercelli, Italy. His major areas of of study and research include classical German philosophy (with special emphasis on Hegel) and contemporary philosophical and religious thought. He is the author of two volumes on Hegel, devoted to Hegel's philosophy of religion and Phenomenology of Spirit respectively, and of various essays. "Contemporary Italian Philosophy: The Confrontation Between Religious and Secular Thought", published in the volume Contemporary Italian Philosophy: Crossing the Borders of Ethics, Politics, and Religious, is scheduled to appear in April 2007 with SUNY Press.