Emotion and Religion in Times of Crisis
International Conference at the Cluster of Excellence
Religion is commonly associated with emotions – whether this is just or unjust depends on the concept of emotion used. The interdisciplinary conference explores this question as part of the annual theme “Religious Dynamics” at the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”, and discusses the complex relationship between emotion and religion. It works on the premise that in times of crisis, in which political and ideological orientations lose their uniting force, religion and religiosity undergo an emotional dynamization. Conversely, it also considers that religion itself becomes a crisis factor and a discrete phenomenon itself.
One example is the Thirty Years’ War, which plunged Europe into violent political turmoil and thereby functionalized religion – itself both a motor and a trigger of the confl ict – in such a way that people’s certainties of faith were challenged. Literature and the visual arts depict this in striking images. Another example is classical modernity, during which scientific progress, industrialization, colonization, and the experiences of the First World War disrupted assumed European worldviews providing opportunities for new religious aspirations beyond the established churches.
In contemporary society, perceptions of crisis – for example in the context of climate change, migration, or pandemic – lead to new emotional dynamics in relation to religion. Simultaneously, the abuse of power and child abuse scandals in the Christian churches contribute to the emotionalization of public consciousness. The crisis of the Christian churches, caused by a loss of members and prestige, is contrasted by assumptions of a world-wide political presence of religion and associated threats. This conference aims to understand the role of emotions in the dynamics of these processes. Accordingly, the conference aims to systematically and historically critique the complex concept of emotions (‘feeling’, ‘emotion’, ‘aff ect’), and to reconceptualize emotions in relation to processes of religious change. (exc/sca)