NEWS FROM THE NETWORK
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/.