LISOR Congress: Religion, Private or Public
27 – 28 March 2008, Leiden University
Announcement
Fourth International Congress of LISOR
Leiden, 27-28 March 2008
Keynote speakers include:
- Prof. Meerten B. ter Borg, Leiden
- Dr Bart Labuschagne, Leiden
- Prof. David Novak, Toronto
- Dr Armando Salvatore, Berlin
- Prof. Linda Woodhead, Lancaster, UK
Congress Theme
In modern and postmodern times, religion is considered by many in our part of the world – Western Europe - as a private affair. Nowadays, this idea is contested, however. Is it true that religion should be a private affair under all kind of circumstances? And which religion, or what type of religion, do we have in mind? Questions are being raised about the role of religion in the public sphere. This is partly due to the religious practices typical of a great number of immigrants in our western societies, the result being that we are living in a multi-religious society and culture.
Questions about religion – public or private – have, of course, to do with the separation between church and state, as well as with concepts of modernization and secularization. Since, however, the public domain is not only a matter of politics, there is also the issue of the influence, or more precisely, of the interaction between religion and culture.
The focus of the Congress will be, first of all, on the way these issues are dealt with from the point of view of various religious traditions – those of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. What kind of challenges are playing a role, and what kind of transformations are taking place? And what, from a comparative perspective, are differences and agreements in these processes as far as the various religious traditions are concerned?
Furthermore, since the phenomenon of religion is in a process of transformation, and is no longer only to be part of institutionalized settings, also the ‘non-institutional’ religion will be part of the programme.
The emphasis of the Congress will be on modern and postmodern times, but not exclusively so. A special section of the Congress will be devoted to the study of ancient religion, particularly Greco-Roman religion, Judaism and early Christianity. Although the character of ancient religiosity in the Hellenistic and Roman periods and the nature of our relevant sources preclude to immediately adopt approaches and methodologies specially designed to comprehend religion(s) in a post-modern world, the distinction between religious activities in the “private” sphere and their position and effect in “public life” and vice versa deserve attention. How did rituals of a particular tradition shape the way how this religion was perceived and labeled by others? How did religious traditions compete with each other for presence in public space and life, or how did they cope with their absence? What strategies are discernible to defend or broaden a tradition’s place in public life?
The relation between public and private aspects of ancient religiosity is no doubt highly complex. Despite all shortcomings the distinction can help understand ancient religions as highly flexible, adaptive and responsive sets of beliefs and activities. It is the task of the antiquity section in the LISOR Congress to further explore this aspect.
Congress Programme
Download the congress programme below.