NEWS FROM THE NETWORK
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/.