Never Again? The Return of Antisemitism
Date: May 21-23, 2024
Place: Palermo, Italy
The horrors of the war in Gaza have triggered a global explosion of antisemitism, the like of which the world has not known since World War II. Concomitantly, heightened tensions around the war intensified Islamophobia. Both antisemitism and Islamophobia seem to issue from racist populist nationalism, which universally attacks the norms of civic discourse and religious life that made pluralism, coexistence, and dialogue possible. The religious zealot, hostile to other religions, may feed antisemitism and Islamophobia, but, at least as typically, the European antisemite is anti-Christian and an Islamophobe – a secular xenophobe. The secular xenophobe is unwilling to extend the hospitality and compassion that Christianity, Islam, and Judaism have traditionally shown each other when they were at their best.
The International Network for Interreligious Research and Education (INIRE), a collaborative global project of universities and institutions over four continents, has been organizing an annual summer school and conference to support interreligious dialogue and promote scholarly and public understanding of the major challenges facing religion. The recent conference at Duke University has generated unprecedented dialogue with African and South Asian theologians and historians and addressed also the war in Ukraine. https://jewishstudies.duke.edu/inire-2023-name-god-voice-war-call-peaceINIRE has been collaborating with the Fondazione per le Scienze Religiose Giovanni XXIII (FSCIRE) in the framework of the European Academy of Religion (EUARE) to promote their shared goals.
ANTISEMITISM will be the focus of INIRE’s 2024 annual conference and summer school, as part of EAURE in Palermo, May 19-24. The INIRE conference will take place on May 21-23. We hope to host about 30 faculty and 25 students, from the Europe, the US, Chile, Israel, and several African and Asian countries. Our program will underscore the global intersections of antisemitism, islamophobia, and anti-Christian hate, highlighting their secular and religious manifestations, and current developments in antisemitism. We will seek ways for interreligious dialogue to advance a joint platform to combat antisemitism, Islamophobia, and the diversity of secular and religious xenophobia.
The conference is multidisciplinary and interreligious. Among the topics:
- New scholarly and theological explanations and contextualizations of antisemitism
- Historical roots and contexts of antisemitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Christianity
- Christiam theology, anti-Judaism and antisemitism
- Islamophobia and Muslim rejection of the West
- Jewish hostility to Christianity, Islam, and other religions
- Secularization, antisemitism, and Islamophobia
- Religious strategies to combat antisemitism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia.
In the Name of God: A Voice for War, a Call for Peace
Date: July 4-6, 2023
Location: Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States.
An interdisciplinary workshop, exploring the role of religion in political and social disputes over war and peace. Workshop is organized by INIRE – the International Network for Interreligious Research and Education: https://sites.duke.edu/inire/
Many think of religion as a major cause of global conflicts while others see religion as promoting harmony. Holy texts provide support for both war and peace. In recent decades especially, religion has been viewed as contributing to global strife. The war between Russia and Ukraine has become also a battle between Ukraine’s claim for spiritual independence and Russia’s vision of salvation for ethnic Russians. In fragile states, such as Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sri Lanka, religious divisions exacerbate strife. Yet, religion has also played a major role in peace-making and conflict resolution.
Our conference will look at the question of religion and conflict. We are cognizant of the gravity of the moment: Religious voices compete in supporting peace and war. Religion is at the heart of political decision.
The conference is multidisciplinary and interreligious. Among the topics:
- Why and how do religious activists deploy belief to harm and heal?
- Why do so many perpetrators think their actions are just and holy?
- How should religious communities remember their violent past or confront their violent present?
- What, if anything, separates scholars of religious violence from perpetrators?
- Is secularism the solution to religious violence or part of the problem?
- How can religious extremism best be met – religious critique or secular argument?
- Is a commitment to religious pluralism a requirement for a peaceful interpretation of religion?
- How might believers be equipped to respond to religious violence harder?
Possible panels:
- Texts of violence/peace
- Causes of religious violence/religious rescue or pacification
- Holiness and justice in the minds of perpetrators/pacifiers
- Teaching about religion and violence/peace in the classroom
- Critiquing one’s own tradition/voice of pluralism in religious traditions
- Characteristics of religious peacemakers
This conference is being cosponsored by Bar-Ilan University (and especially the Judaism and Society Chair), Duke University (the Duke Center for Jewish Studies, Duke Islamic Studies Center, Franklin Humanities Institute, Duke Divinity School, and Religions and Public Life at the Kenan Institute for Ethics).
Religion and Immigration Date: June 7-9, 2022
Location: Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
An interdisciplinary workshop, supported by the Israel Science Foundation, exploring the role of religion in the social and cultural integration of immigrants. Cosponsored by INIRE – the International Network for Interreligious Research and Education: https://sites.duke.edu/inire/
Conference will follow Covid safety regulations. Online presentation may be possible.
Send title and a short abstract (150 words) by 22/2/2022 to hilda.nissimi@biu.ac.il. Acceptance letters will be sent out by March 7, 2022.
In the aftermath of the refugee crisis that shook European societies in the last decade and the divisive debate on migration to the United States, the prospect of cultural and religious conflict has increased and extremist politics now threaten to undermine democratic cultures and processes. Yet, religious communities also extend hospitality to immigrants and often lead the way in cultural and civic integration. Migrant religious leaders provide their communities with a sense of continuity of tradition, and local religious activists provide bridges to the new societies. The multifaceted roles religion plays in immigration are at the center of this conference.
Immigration has radically reshaped the global religious landscape throughout history. As religions enter new and unfamiliar territories, new religious, linguistic and cultural bridges form, and questions of religious change, conversion and secularization become acute. Theologies are transformed. Immigrants retain religious leadership or develop a new one, and both can enhance or disrupt integration. Religions often provide immigrants with the major channel for cautious adoption of local habitus, norms and ideas and negotiation of religious and cultural ideas into the hosting culture. They are a medium for major cultural encounters.
We hope to explore the role of religion in immigration from a post-secular perspective, that is, with the presumption that religions are key social players even in Western “secular” societies and that they should be explored both institutionally as diverse culture.
Our preferred format is a workshop, but participants may choose their mode of delivery (including PowerPoint). If you choose the workshop format, please note that full papers will be expected one month before the conference and presentations will be no longer than 15 minutes.
The conference is multidisciplinary and interreligious. Among the topics:
- Religious leaders as sources/purveyors of continuity.
- Theologians as cultural bridge-builders
- Religious activists as socializing agents
- Religion’s impact on integration: case-studies
- Religious activism, religious institutions and immigration.
- Religious communities facilitating integration.
- Religious organizations and refugees
- Religious sensibilities and humanitarian ideologies
- Religious organizations, lobbying, and immigration policy making
The list is not exclusive. Feel free to add.
This conference is being cosponsored by the Israel Science Foundation, Bar-Ilan University (School of Social Work), Duke University (the Duke Center for Jewish Studies, Franklin Humanities Institute, and Religions and Public Life at the Kenan Institute for Ethics), and The Chair for Judaism and Society.
2020
Religion and Authority: Contest and Legitimacy
July 5 – 10, 2020, Palermo, Sicily, Italy – POSTPONED
Political and transcendental authority are problematic in themselves and at odds with each other. Each religion has defining moments when the core questions become contested and are opened for debate, modification and change. Where is authority coming from or based upon? How is authority defined, invested and limited? Who wields authority, and how does it become legitimized and delegitimized?
In our post-secular society, the questions of religious authority and its relation to the secular, of religious canon and literature, religion and nationalism, and religion in the public sphere remain the focus of public attention, debate and research. The conference in Palermo will provide a multidisciplinary framework for academic discussion of these questions by looking at the three Abrahamic religions and especially their interrelationships.
Proposals on any aspect of Religion and Authority: Contest and Legitimacy are welcome. Suggested topics include:
- Authority of interpretation and canonization of holy texts
- Secularization and issues of religious vs. state authority
- Religious texts and political debate
- Conflicting ideas of supreme authority
- Heritage, patrimony and cultural capital
- Authority performed, ‘staged’ and ‘established’
- Who owns religious property and endows it with meaning?
- Controversy on holy places, objects and their meaning
- Totalitarian regimes and religious authority
- Religious authority and minority rights
- Moral authority and human autonomy
- The authority of sacred rites
- Ideological belief systems
- Musealization of religion as an authority issue
Please send paper proposals of 300 words (plus 150 bio) by 1 February 2020 to religion.authority@gmail.com
(Paper presentations should be limited to twenty minutes.)
2019
Religious Heritage in a Diverse Europe
June 19 – 21, 2019, Groningen, Netherlands
Heritage Partners: Stichting Oude Groninger Kerken, Museum Catharijneconvent, Future for Religious Heritage – Europe (Brussels), Jewish Cultural Quarter (Amsterdam)
Immigration and secularization are changing the religious makeup of European societies. While more people identify as non-religious, new arrivals and conversion mean that the religious landscape is becoming increasingly more complex. This presents new challenges to the organizations, government agencies and scholars engaged with maintaining and promoting cultural heritage. How should Europe’s plural religious pasts be represented? How can heritage be translated for audiences who may not identify with local religious traditions? Should heritage organizations address believers and non-believers? These pressing questions are at the heart of the conference “Religious Heritage in a Diverse Europe”.
This conference will bring together leading scholars and professionals in the fields of religion and heritage studies to explore this question. The challenges of dealing with religious heritage in a diverse Europe will be approached from the perspectives of the academy, education, museums, preservation societies, as well as religious and secular organizations.
The conference will take place in Groningen, a northern Dutch province that plays a leading role in European heritage work. It has a wealth of medieval churches and modern synagogues that are increasingly cared for by secular heritage organizations, the largest being the Stichting Oude Groninger Kerken (SOGK). The Centre for Religion and Heritage (CRH) at the University of Groningen has long provided expertise and training in heritage studies. The SOGK and CRH partnered up with Museum Catharijneconvent, the national Dutch museum for Christian heritage and history, and the Jewish Cultural Quarter in Amsterdam. European support is granted by the Future of Religious Heritage, the Brussels-based network for historic places of worship.
The conference will have a festival format with a variety of activities planned for participants. In addition to professional presentations, there will be excursions to local heritage site, an international summer school for BA & MA students, a children’s university conference, and art projects in the city center.
2018
Normative Religious Traditions and their Authority
July 23 – 24, 2018, Leipzig University
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: these religions rely on normative religious traditions, sometimes called ‘Holy Scriptures’. Today, late-modern or post-modern societies often ask if these normative texts are still meaningful and relevant.
The questions asked will include: What roles do “Torah”, “Bible”, and “Quran” play in the three monotheistic religions in the past and present? How are the old texts interpreted today? And how are they used in religious and political discussions? Are ‘holy texts’ relevant for ‘secular people’? And what role do ‘holy texts’ play in the dialogue of religions and discourse in our societies?
2017
Interreligious Dialogue in the Post-Secular Age
April 23 – 25, 2017, Duke University
In the twenty-first century, religion has made a surprising and powerful return, and has had major impact on public affairs, domestic and international alike. Scholars are still scrambling to understand the phenomenon’s significance, and those concerned for the preservation of constitutional norms and civility have been searching for new forms of interreligious dialogue. Do we live in a post-secular age? Has the Weberian concept of modernity proved inadequate? Does postmodernity open new opportunities for religious dialogue? Scholars at five Israeli, European & American universities explored these questions with a view to launching a long-term international collaboration that will result in the establishment of a new institute.
