PATRONS AND PARTNERS OF THE ACADEMY
IN THE OCCASION OF THE EX NIHILO ZERO CONFERENCE
PATRONS AND MENTORS OF THE ACADEMY
IN THE OCCASION OF THE LAUNCH EVENT
PATRONS
European Parliament
European Commission
Commissione Nazionale Italiana per l'UNESCO
Assemblée parlementaire de la Méditerranée
Camera dei deputati
Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research
Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Consiglio Nazionale Forense
Bologna Municipality
Emilia Romagna Region
Assemblea legislativa dell'Emilia Romagna
PATRONS
European Parliament
Unesco UniTwin
Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research
Bologna Municipality
Emilia Romagna Region
PARTICIPANTS TO THE LAUNCH EVENT
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Francesco Ubertini, Rector of the University of Bologna, Italy
Giuseppe Versaldi, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, State of Vatican City
Patrizio Bianchi, Regione Emilia Romagna, Italy
Massimo Inguscio, President of the CNR, Italy
Carlos Moedas, European Commisioner for Innovation and Research
Jan Figel’, Special Envoy of the European Commission for Religious Freedom
Stefano Manservisi, DG Devco, European Commission
Annette Schavan, Former Federal Minister of Education and Research, Germany
Igor Kitaev, UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe
Kishan Manocha, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
Martina Larkin, World Economic Forum, Geneva
Alberto Melloni, Secretary of FSCIRE, Italy
PARTICIPANTS TO THE LAUNCH EVENT
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Francesco Ubertini, Rector of the University of Bologna, Italy
Giuseppe Versaldi, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, State of Vatican City
Patrizio Bianchi, Regione Emilia Romagna, Italy
Massimo Inguscio, President of the CNR, Italy
Carlos Moedas, European Commisioner for Innovation and Research
Jan Figel’, Special Envoy of the European Commission for Religious Freedom
Stefano Manservisi, DG Devco, European Commission
Annette Schavan, Former Federal Minister of Education and Research, Germany
Igor Kitaev, UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe
Kishan Manocha, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
Martina Larkin, World Economic Forum, Geneva
Alberto Melloni, Secretary of FSCIRE, Italy
OUR LATEST NEWS
Giuseppe Alberigo Award 2019
March 4, 2019
Fscire and Emilia-Romagna Region, together with the European Academy of Religion, are glad to announce the second edition of the Alberigo Award.
Giuseppe Alberigo (1926-2007) was an historian of great magnitude who was able to combine exceptional, exemplary rigour in research and a unique timeliness in the intellectual and theological debate of his time, thereby offering a precious contribution to sowing the seeds of criticism in generations of scholars internationally.
In memory of his fervour and wealth of critical studies, the Region of Emilia-Romagna and the Fondazione per le scienze religiose Giovanni XXIII, to which Alberigo dedicated 54 years of his life, will confere a sum of € 30,000 (Senior Award, € 20,000; Junior Award € 10,000), which will reward scholars engaged in a field of religious science, whether historical, exegetical, theological or other, without any form of limitation concerning the type of study.
Candidacies must be presented by the authors themselves and/or third parties – scholars, centres, journals, editors, associations, academies or departments – provided that they be registered members of the European Academy of Religion (EuARe), by sending a paper or digital copy of their books published within the last three years, or works that have yet to be published, in any field of religious science. Every candidacy must be accompanied by a brief presentation of the particular aspects of the volume or paper, the curriculum vitae of its author(s) and the indication of the category of the Award applied for. Candidacies will be received by July 31st, 2019.
The three finalists in each category will be invited to present a lecture at the annual convention of the European Academy of Religion in 2020, when the President of the Emilia-Romagna Region or his delegate will confer the awards in a special ceremony.
Establishment of the network of European Centers on Religion and Politics
June 16, 2019
Over the past three decades, a significant number of centers for "religion and public life" have emerged in European universities. During the third congress of the European Academy of Religion on March 4 2019, the leaders of some of these centers launched the network of European Centers on Religion and Politics.
This new initiative has two major goals. The first one is to improve communication and to foster inter-disciplinary and comparative approaches on the topic of religion and politics across religious traditions political contexts and historical periods among academic institutions in Europe and beyond. The second one is be a platform to disseminate research findings and projects in order to create a fruitful interactions with media and policy-makers working at the interface of religion and politics.
Belief. An essay by Jocelyne Cesari
February 6, 2020
The Immanent Frame publishes interdisciplinary perspectives on religion, secularism, and the public sphere. Founded in October 2007 in conjunction with the Social Science Research Council’s program on Religion and the Public Sphere, The Immanent Frame features invited contributions and original essays and serves as a forum for ongoing exchanges among leading thinkers from the social sciences and humanities.
We are pleased to share the link to one of the latest contributions: an essay on Belief, by Professor Jocelyne Cesari: https://tif.ssrc.org/2020/01/31/belief-cesari/.
EUROPEAN ACADEMY OF RELIGION EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
EUROPEAN ACADEMY OF RELIGION EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
EUROPEAN ACADEMY OF RELIGION STATUTE
AS APPROVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON JUNE 21, 2017
EUROPEAN ACADEMY OF RELIGION STATUTE
AS APPROVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON JUNE 21, 2017
PARTICIPANTS TO THE LAUNCH EVENT
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Francesco Ubertini, Rector of the University of Bologna, Italy
Giuseppe Versaldi, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, State of Vatican City
Patrizio Bianchi, Regione Emilia Romagna, Italy
Massimo Inguscio, President of the CNR, Italy
Carlos Moedas, European Commisioner for Innovation and Research
Jan Figel’, Special Envoy of the European Commission for Religious Freedom
Stefano Manservisi, DG Devco, European Commission
Annette Schavan, Former Federal Minister of Education and Research, Germany
Igor Kitaev, UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe
Kishan Manocha, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
Martina Larkin, World Economic Forum, Geneva
Alberto Melloni, Secretary of FSCIRE, Italy
PARTICIPANTS TO THE LAUNCH EVENT
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Francesco Ubertini, Rector of the University of Bologna, Italy
Giuseppe Versaldi, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, State of Vatican City
Patrizio Bianchi, Regione Emilia Romagna, Italy
Massimo Inguscio, President of the CNR, Italy
Carlos Moedas, European Commisioner for Innovation and Research
Jan Figel’, Special Envoy of the European Commission for Religious Freedom
Stefano Manservisi, DG Devco, European Commission
Annette Schavan, Former Federal Minister of Education and Research, Germany
Igor Kitaev, UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe
Kishan Manocha, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
Martina Larkin, World Economic Forum, Geneva
Alberto Melloni, Secretary of FSCIRE, Italy
European Academy of Religion
EUROPEAN ACADEMY OF RELIGION MEMBERSHIP
NEWS FROM THE NETWORK
Research news from Münster
May 12, 2021
Find out the latest research news from the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” at the University of Münster:
Protestant parliamentarians not predominantly left-wing
According to researchers, a long-term perspective shows that Protestant parliamentarians cover the entire political spectrum and are by no means predominantly left-wing. “The cliché of the bearded clergyman at anti-nuclear demonstrations, for example, is in need of revision. Although party affiliation has moved a little towards a more social-democratic and green outlook during the past 170 years, it would be going too far to speak of a red-green turn in the spirit of 1968”, explain social ethicist Arnulf von Scheliha and theologian Uta Elisabeth Hohmann, who are researching the parliamentary activities of Protestant theologians from the 19th century to the present day.
Read the full article here.
Cluster of Excellence’s new research podcast “Belonging or Excluded?” sheds light on 1,700 years of Jewish life in Germany
According to Jewish scholars, remembering one’s own history, as is the case in the nationwide year of celebration “1,700 years of Jewish life in Germany”, has always been an integral part of Jewish life. “Jewish culture has always had a close relationship with its own history, and not only since the Shoah, and is strongly defined by its collective memory”, say Jewish scholars Regina Grundmann and Katrin Kogman-Appel from the University of Münster’s Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”. They were speaking at the start of the Cluster podcast series “Belonging or Excluded? 1,700 years of Jewish life in Germany”.
Read the full article here.
“A database for the future” - Religious scholar Perry Schmidt-Leukel on the late Swiss theologian Hans Küng
Not only a critic of the pope and the church: the religious scholar and theologian Perry Schmidt-Leukel pays tribute in an article to the work of the well-known Swiss theologian Hans Küng to mark his death on 6 April. Küng was concerned above all with “what is actually still credible about the Christian faith today”. He also created “foundations for dialogue between the world’s religions that are far from being exhausted today”.
Read the full article here.
“Not only at Easter: all religions are concerned with life after death”
According to scholars, ideas of life after death, as Christians celebrate at Easter in their belief in the resurrection, shape many religions. “Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists have also developed diverse concepts of the afterlife – as an answer to the great human question: Is there something after death? And, if so, what?”, says the religious studies scholar and theologian Perry Schmidt-Leukel from the University of Münster’s Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”.
Read the full article here.
Research project on radicalisation among Muslims acquired
As part of its funding line “Social Causes and Effects of Radical Islam in Germany and Europe”, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has awarded €1.46 million to Mouhanad Khorchide (Islamic Religious Education), Detlef Pollack and Olaf Müller (Sociology of Religion), and Levent Tezcan (Social Science Research on Islam in 20th- and 21st-century Europe) to pursue their research project “Resentment as the affective foundations of radicalization”.
Read the full article here.
“Mount Olympus: populated by gods, but devoid of humans”
On Mount Olympus: according to Greek mythology, the celebrated mountain massif was populated by gods; according to archaeologists, though, it was in real life almost entirely devoid of humans for thousands of years. “The highest mountain in the country has thus been from antiquity to the present day a site for the projection of an unusually large number of human imaginings and appropriations – religious, political, pop-cultural”, says archaeologist Achim Lichtenberger from the University of Münster’s Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”.
Read the full article here.
First episode of the “Religion and Politics” podcast – survey on corona and social cohesion
Despite the Corona pandemic and restrictions on contact, people in Germany are continuing to show solidarity and togetherness, according to a survey by the University of Münster’s Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”. In the non-representative online survey from July 2020 to January 2021, 63% of the good 2,300 respondents say that they show more solidarity and helpfulness in their everyday lives during the pandemic. Also, 45% feel more (and only 17% less) connected to their fellow human beings despite the restrictions on physical contact, as political scientist Carolin Hillenbrand from the Cluster of Excellence explains in the new Cluster podcast “Religion and Politics” (in German).
Read the full article here.
Research news from Münster
February 12, 2021
Find out the latest research news from the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” at the University of Münster:
Society doesn’t really care about people like me
People who perceive their own social group as disadvantaged are more dissatisfied with democracy than others, tend to see migrants as a threat, and are more likely to vote for the AfD. These are the findings of a study from the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” at the University of Münster.
Read the full article here.
Jan Assmann: „Internet unsuitable as a means to store cultural memory“
According to cultural scientist Jan Assmann, the Internet fails to fulfil important functions in the cultural memory of societies. “First of all, it is not suitable as a means to store cultural memory because it is unreliable”, says the Blumenberg Visiting Professor at the University of Münster’s Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”.
Read the full article here.
Jan Assmann: „Nationalisms and religion fuse in authoritarian regimes“
Nationalism and religion are increasingly uniting in authoritarian states around the world, according to renowned cultural scientist and Blumenberg professor Jan Assmann. “Putin’s Russia, Erdogan’s Turkey, Modi’s India, Netanyahu’s Israel, Duda’s Poland, Orban’s Hungary, and even Trump’s USA are examples of this tendency in anti-democratic, authoritarian regimes”, said Assmann at the University of Münster’s Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” on Tuesday evening.
Read the full article here.
New network for African research related to religion
An international network for African research related to religion at the Cluster of Excellence will start next week with a conference on Islam as a source of political mobilization in Mali. Anthropologist Dorothea Schulz and Souleymane Diallo from the Institute of Anthropology at the University of Münster have invited researchers from Africa, Europe, and the USA to look at the influence of Muslim actors on the legitimization of political rule in Mali.
Read the full article here.
New newsletter published
The latest newsletter of the Cluster of Excellence has been published. It informs about the annual theme and about research results, personalities and publications.
Read the full article here.
Jan Assmann is the new Hans Blumenberg Visiting Professor
The cultural scientist and Egyptologist Jan Assmann is the new Hans Blumenberg Visiting Professor at the University of Münster’s Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”, where he will focus on the effects of digitalization on his concept of cultural memory and on the relationship between religion and culture from Ancient Egypt to early forms of Judaism, and to Christianity in the modern era.
Read the full article here.
Germany and the Idea of Belonging in Colonialism and Human Rights Activism
This lecture by historian Lora Wildenthal from Rice University traces themes of belonging, gender, and rights in two arenas of German interaction with the world: colonialism and human rights activism. Debates among Germans in the era of Germany’s colonial empire about how to classify people in terms of “race” rested on ideas of gender. These are briefly compared to racial classification ideas in the French colonial case.
Read the full article here.
Research news from Münster
December 7, 2020
Find out the latest research news from the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” at the University of Münster:
“Corona pandemic is obviously influencing religiosity” | Initial results of a survey by the Cluster of Excellence on corona and faith
Initial results of a survey conducted by the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” at the University of Münster on the link between the corona pandemic and religiosity are now available. They show that the COVID 19 crisis is having an impact on people’s faith, explains political scientist Carolin Hillenbrand of the Cluster of Excellence.
Read the full article here.
Corona pandemic: wide-ranging research in the humanities and social sciences on epidemics
Since the beginnings of the corona pandemic, members of the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” have conducted wide-ranging research in the humanities and social sciences on epidemics in the past and present.
Read the full article here.
“We are seeing serious conflicts across the world over belonging and demarcation”
First thematic year of the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” sheds light on the social challenges of “belonging and demarcation” – science and politics discuss dynamics and tensions between political, cultural, and religious groups – case studies from antiquity to the present – public annual programme 2020/21 comprises a wide range of event and media formats.
Read the full article here.
“Repercussions of colonial pasts still causing problems for populations today”
An interdisciplinary lecture series organized by the Cluster of Excellence examines the influence of imperial legacies on social, cultural and religious affiliations – examples ranging from the Jews in Ancient Rome, to the multi-confessional Fatimid dynasty in the Middle Ages, and to West Africans soldiers employed in the French army – with lectures by Herfried Münkler, Brigitte Reinwald, Lora Wildenthal, Wolfgang Reinhard – as a prelude to the first thematic year “Belonging and Demarcation”.
Read the full article here.
New research projects expand the range of themes at the Cluster of Excellence
The Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” is expanding its research programme with five projects from the fields of the sociology of religion and political science, as well as from classical studies and history. The new projects deal with themes ranging from “Religious conservatism and the support for right-wing populist parties” and “Localism and religion in ancient Greece”, to “Divination and politics in the early-modern period” and “Ephesus and its cult spaces: projections of political and religious practice”, to “Cross-organizational and cross-national differences in religious accommodation”.
Read the full article here.
International comparison of religious diversity | NRW graduate school on the regulation of religious diversity enters its second funding phase
The NRW graduate school “Religious Plurality” at the universities of Münster and Bochum is to be extended and will in future examine regional religious diversity in comparison with different countries. This was announced by the University of Münster’s Centre for Religion and Modernity (CRM) and the University of Bochum’s Centre for Religious Studies (CERES) on Tuesday.
Read the full article here.
Research news from Münster
October 26, 2020
Find out the latest research news from the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” at the University of Münster:
(In)visibility. Or: visualizing and perceiving an invisible threat
In the new chapter "(In)visibility", the dossier “Epidemics. Perspectives from cultural studies” is devoted to the question of how the invisible virus, the invisibility of epidemics, has been made visible, graspable, tangible, and legible over the centuries, and how the perception of the invisible threat has influenced societies.
Read the full article here.
Important pioneer of European business ethics
The Latin work of an important pioneer of modern business ethics, the Dutch legal scholar and moral theologian Leonardus Lessius (1554-1623), is being made available in German for the first time. The dutch legal scholar and moral theologian Leonardus Lessius developed innovative legal and ethical principles, comments the publisher, legal historian Prof. Dr. Nils Jansen from the Cluster of Excellence. The first of ten volumes will be published by frommann-Holzboog Verlag next week.
Read the full article here.
International comparison of religious diversity
The NRW graduate school “Religious Plurality” at the universities of Münster and Bochum is to be extended and will in future examine regional religious diversity in comparison with different countries. This was announced by the University of Münster’s Centre for Religion and Modernity (CRM) and the University of Bochum’s Centre for Religious Studies (CERES) on Tuesday.
Read the press release in full here.
Research news from Münster. Religion and conspiracy theories in the time of corona epidemic
September 21, 2020
Hardly had people in Germany realized that their lives would be fundamentally changed by the corona crisis than virologists and epidemiologists were on hand to inform us about the new situation and its challenges. Conspiracy theories also sprang up, offering comprehensive explanations for the crisis, providing deeper insights into the connections that lay below the surface, and revealing the true causes of the crisis to the uninitiated. The dossier „Religion and conspiracy theories in the time of the corona epidemic“ explores the connection and difference between religion and conspiracy theories in the time of the pandemic.
The dossier is available at this link: https://www.uni-muenster.de/Religion-und-Politik/en/aktuelles/schwerpunkte/epidemien/Epidemien_Religionen_und_Verschwoerungstheorien.html
Research news from Münster
July 29, 2020
Find out the latest research news from the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” at the University of Münster:
Already 300 years ago: Epidemics and conspiracy theories
According to historians, conspiracy theorists who do not believe in the pandemic already existed exactly 300 years ago.
Read the full article here.
Dossier „Hagia Sophia – religious buildings and the history of their conversion“
From a historical perspective, the conversion of religiously and politically charged buildings such as Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is no new phenomenon, branching back to antiquity. A multitude of such cases can be found in all epochs, religions and regions, as the dossier "Hagia Sophia – religious buildings and the history of their conversion" shows. In a further, the dossier traces the eventful history of Hagia Sophia with its interior and exterior changes from the 6th to the 21st centuries.
Read the full article here.
Annual reports
July 9, 2020
On Tuesday, June 23, the members of the network of European Centers on Religion and Politics presented their annual activities reports.
Shared reports are available here below:
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Center for Religious Studies at the Bruno Kessler Foundation
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Research Centre "Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society", University of Vienna
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Edward Cadbury Centre for the Public Understanding of Religion, University of Birmingham
Online meeting of the network of European Centers on Religion and Politics
June 15, 2020
The network of European Centers on Religion and Politics will virtually meet on Tuesday, June 23 to discuss future developments in common activities and communication strategies.
The meeting is scheduled for June 23, 2020, at 1 pm (EST):
https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/99507551449?pwd=U1ZZRFVlZkpVQ2p3WWRqQ0pGUExyUT09
Meeting ID and password have been sent to all members.
COVID-19 and Religion: Between Nationalism and Communal Responsibility
June 8, 2020
Read Jocelyne Cesari's OPed on Politics Today: https://politicstoday.org/covid-19-and-religion-between-nationalism-and-communal-responsibility/
Newsletter of the Cluster of Excellence. May issue
May 29, 2020
The May issue of the newsletter of the Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics" is out.
Prof. Dr. Nils Jansen (Speaker of the Cluster of Excellence), Dr. Iris Fleßenkämper (Managing Director of the Cluster of Excellence) and Viola van Melis (Head of Research Communication) inform us about new working groups, the latest research news from the Cluster and recent publications.
The newsletter is available in German as well as in English.
Research news from Münster
May 6, 2020
First training programme in “Religious Journalism”
The Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” at the University of Münster and the ifp Catholic School of Journalism in Munich will be offering from autumn 2020 the first in-service training programme in Germany in “Religious Journalism”. The programme is designed to qualify media professionals to report on religions in pluralized societies in a nuanced and critical manner.
“Politics and courts need moral compass from us”
In the corona crisis, legal scholar Nils Jansen warns against leaving politics, courts and science to shape our basic normative orientation – medical ethics, rent and travel reimbursement: legal situation is often not as clear-cut as many may believe – “We need a set of common rules and beliefs outside legal norms”
“A leading Arabic poet, who was long virtually unknown”
Researchers associated with the Arabic scholar Thomas Bauer are starting a long-term project to produce a digital edition of the complete literary works of Ibn Nubatah – “Heyday of Arabic literature discovered”
“Towards a pluralistic religious pedagogy”
Jewish, Christian and Islamic theologians and experts in religious pedagogy call for a new way of thinking in religious education – “Embed religious diversity in schools theologically – No exclusivist attitudes”
How religion is transmitted in families
International survey in Europe and Canada: sociologists of religion at the University of Münster in Germany investigate how beliefs and values are transmitted to future generations – No precise explanations provided yet for the decline in religiosity in Western societies.
Belief. An essay by Jocelyne Cesari
February 6, 2020
The Immanent Frame publishes interdisciplinary perspectives on religion, secularism, and the public sphere. Founded in October 2007 in conjunction with the Social Science Research Council’s program on Religion and the Public Sphere, The Immanent Frame features invited contributions and original essays and serves as a forum for ongoing exchanges among leading thinkers from the social sciences and humanities.
We are pleased to share the link to one of the latest contributions: an essay on Belief, by Professor Jocelyne Cesari: https://tif.ssrc.org/2020/01/31/belief-cesari/.