Conference: Die Dynamik des Religiösen in Prozessen des Politischen

From 8 to 10 March 2022 the conference

‘Die Dynamik des Religiösen in Prozessen des Politischen’ [Engl. ‘The dynamics of religion in processes of politics’]

will take place in Montabaur. The conference is organized jointly by the Cluster of Excellence ‘Religion and Politics’, University of Münster, and the DFG Research Unit ‘Being Catholic in the German Federal Republic. Semantics, Practices, and Emotions in Western Germany’s Society 1965–1989/90’. The conference features numerous members of the Center for Religion and Modernity who will present introductory statements and participate in panel discussions.

In recent years, Christianity has lost much of its political relevance in Western Europe (but less so in the USA and Eastern Europe). The churches are often viewed as strongholds of traditionalism and the steady loss of their societal authority is being reinforced by the churches’ sluggish responses to a staggering number of abuse cases. At the same time, Christian churches have to face the growing presence of Islam as well as the challenge of radical Islamism. In five panels and an evening lecture the conference will tackle issues like these that concern the ‘dynamics of religion in processes of politics’ and – like many other cultural and socio-political issues – have been put into the background by an ever-present pandemic in the past two years.

The puplic evening lecture on Tuesday, 8 March 2022, 7.30 to 9 pm, Prof. Dr. Ute Frevert (Director of the Center for the History of Emotions, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin):

‘Sehnsucht nach dem Gefühl. Subjektivität, ›Betroffenheit‹ und Zivilgesellschaft seit den 1960er Jahren’

was cancelled.