The Cluster of Excellence at the “European Academy of Religion”

Annual conference in Bologna with contributions to the “Public Understanding of Religion”

Next week, scholars from the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” will present their research findings at the second annual conference of the “European Academy of Religion” (EuARe) in Bologna. Scholar of religious studies and theologian Prof. Dr. Perry Schmidt-Leukel will give a lecture on questions of interreligious theology, medieval historian Prof. Dr. Sita Steckel will comment on medieval discourse on religious diversity and scholar of Islamic studies Dr. Dina El Omari on the feminist exegesis of the Qur'an. Moreover, Perry Schmidt-Leukel and Viola van Melis, Head of the Centre for Research Communication of the Cluster of Excellence, will talk on a panel about “Fostering the Public Understanding of Religion in Europe”. Representatives of different European research institutions and the European Union will exchange their experiences in interdisciplinary religious research and in the public transfer of their research findings. The aim is to strengthen networking in research and research mediation.

The “European Academy of Religion” (EuARe) was founded in 2017 with the involvement of the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” and Protestant theologian Prof. Dr. Hans-Peter Großhans from the University of Münster is a member of its board. The aim is to network individual researchers but also university and non-university research centres, academic expert associations, journals, publishers and the media. At the same time, thanks to the academy, research findings are expected to be shown even more clearly in politics and society. It is modelled on the renowned American Academy of Religion (AAR), which brings together scholars of religion from all over the world in North America. This year's annual conference will take place in Bologna from 4 to 7 April 2019 under the motto “Empowering the Individual, Nurturing the Community”. (sca/vvm)