Conference: The Future of the Religious Past

2 mei 2011

From Thursday 16 June - Saturday 18 June 2011, the last in a series of international conferences on religion will be held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. This conference will be hosted by the programme committee of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) research programme 'The Future of the Religious Past'. It will take place in the Beurs van Berlage in the Centre of Amsterdam, no more than ten minutes walking from the station (http://www.beursvanberlage.nl/welcome).

The conference is titled 'The Future of the Religious Past'. The conference will consist of a number of presentations by international guests and members of the groups related to the programme – Program Committee, International Advisory Board, and funded researchers – as well as workshops, organised especially to air the work of senior but also younger researchers and help them to come into dialogue with other researchers taking part in the overall project.

A key note lecture will be given by Sari Nusseibeh. Other lectures will be held by Colin Campbell, Liesbeth van Zoonen, Jeanette Jouili, Thomas Tweed, Galit Hasan-Rokem, Riem Spielhaus, Anne-Marie Korte, Hent de Vries, James Kennedy, and Markha Valente. Speakers and discussants further include Peter Pels, Yolande Jansen, Arie Molendijk, Catrien Notermans, and Hyme Stoffels.

'The Future of the Religious Past'

In the early 21st century we are confronted with continued or renewed participation in religion as we know it, no less than with the even more remarkable invention of seemingly new and unprecedented elements and forms of 'religion', many of which defy traditional and modern tools for interpretation. These novel experiences and experiments require a radical rethinking of the central themes, disciplinary fields and diverse methods that make up the comparative study of contemporary religion. More importantly, they challenge us to answer the question of whether (the very term ) 'religion' may not one day come to be seen as a mere historical category, referring to a well documented and identifiable past, or whether there may still be unanticipated futures for this particular religious past. Both alternatives, which represent complex socio-historical tendencies in their own right, merit further intensive interdisciplinary inquiry.

We would be delighted to welcome you to our conference. Enclosed you will find the provisional programme of the conference. If you wish to attend our conference we kindly ask you to use the registration form before 1 June 2011.

If you have any questions, please contact: