Religion, Conflict and Peace U4 Summer School
14-18 August 2017
University of Groningen
The presence of religion in the public realm has become commonplace. The prediction of the
secularization thesis advocates that religion would disappear from socio-economic, cultural
and political issues has proved to be faulty if not false. Religion is deployed in local, national
and international level conflicts and peacebuilding activities worldwide. This
acknowledgement of the vibrancy of religion has been addressed by sociologists, historians,
political scientists, anthropologists amongst many other scholars of different disciplinary
inclinations. Conflict and peace are two dimensions associated with religion that continue to
be critiqued by both scholars and practitioners. Numerous theses, including the clash of
civilizations, ambivalence of the sacred, de-secularization inter alia, have attempted to
account for the intersection between religion, conflict and peace.
However, many questions remain unanswered: How adequate is the current conception of the
categories of religion, peace and conflict? What are the implications of the religious/secular
binaries in interrogating conflict and peace? How are and can these categories be understood
from different geographical and disciplinary perspectives (e.g. anthropology, history,
sociology, religious studies, political science, gender studies)? What are the historical
trajectories of the relationship between religion, conflict and peace? How can we account for
the contemporary religiously articulated conflicts and violence evidenced by violent
extremism and fundamentalism? To what extent do religious views and ideologies provide
cognitive, emotional and moral meaning to communities and societies? How does lived
religion influence local and global religious conflicts? What new alternative approaches can
be developed to further the discourse of peacebuilding, conflict transformation and
reconciliation in response to direct, cultural, structural and symbolic violence?
That religion as a category is not ahistorical and cannot be decontextualized intimates that an
interdisciplinary, contextualized discursive approach is imperative to eschew an essentialist
and simplistic treatment of religion in relation to conflict and peace. This summer school will
provide a platform for theoretical, comparative and practical reflections and discursive
critique on religion, conflict and peace. It will interrogate how religion, conflict and peace are
conceptualized and applied at local, national and international level. Thus, while considering
politically inclined conflicts and violence at the levels of the nation-state, international
systems, global governance institutions that dominate the media, this summer school is broad
in its understanding of conflict. It will treat conflict and violence at the local, cultural and
societal level as well as measures of its solution and prevention. It takes a socio-cultural and
socio-political approach and aims to provide an opportunity for junior and senior scholars to:
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Investigate the relationship between religion, conflict and peace from various
disciplinary perspectives and through various case studies.
Interrogate how local, national and international conflicts are interwoven with
religion, identity, ethnicity, and nationalism.
Examine the conflicting dynamics of religion and politics, gender, migration,
peacebuilding, daily lives
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Discuss the historical and contemporary trajectories and implications of religion in
conflict and peace across various religious traditions and geographical countries and
regions.
Programme Content
Cognizant of the fact that the interaction between religion, conflict and peace is multilayered,
the summer school lectures are organized around certain guiding themes to ensure a
multipespectival and pluriversal approach. These broad categories include historical
approaches and perspectives, inter-religious conflicts and dialogues, religion and identity,
gender, sexuality and family studies, and sociological studies. These sections are not
exhaustive. Since scholars working at the intersection of religion, conflict and eace are often
interdisciplinary, participants will reach out to other themes and perspectives in the course of
presenting their research projects.
Historical approach
In discussions on religion and conflict, reference is often made to the crusades, the
inquisitions and the wars of religion in the 16th and 17th century as well as the present day
terrorism committed in the name of Islam and other religious tradition like the attack by
Buddhists monks on Muslims in Myanmar. Such developments bolster the dominant
secularist framework that religion and politics should be separated, what has been called the
charter-myth of the sovereign nation-state. However the tension between group solidarity and
productive relations with 'others' has been part of human history for as long as evidence
exists. Present conceptions of religion, politics and violence have their antecedents in prehistoric, Hellenistic and medieval periods to the present day. The present mix between
religion and violence cannot be fully understood without interrogating this historical
trajectory. This summer school will engage with Hellenistic religion, religion and warfare,
rituals of conquest; Debate and conflict over monastic observance in the tenth- and eleventhcentury West; Jewish - Christian - Muslim coexistence in the Middle Ages; and The study of
religions and the Great War: science, religion, and nationalism
Interreligious Conflicts and Dialogues
Interreligious dialogue became common in describing and prescribing the proper relationship
between religions, since the middle of the twentieth century. Sometimes referred to as
interfaith dialogue, it is a process that allows people of different faiths or religious traditions
to live together or co-exist. This process is expected to result in positive conciliatory and
constructive relations at the individual, societal and institutional levels, without any party
giving up its beliefs, but retaining the freedom to practice its faith without fear. This means
that people of different faiths can occupy the same space and are able to go about their daily
business without fear of retribution. More important about it is not just the discourse of it, but
also the practice exemplified by collaboration in social projects and exchanging views. While
it can take place at an academic level it also can take place at the level of daily life. While its
tenets remain contested, generally speaking, it is focused on increasing mutual understanding
and good relations, identifying root causes of tensions, building understanding and
confidence, and breaking down barriers and stereotypes. It is not about taking away or
brushing aside differences, coming to a common belief, a way of converting the other or a
space for arguing, attacking or disproving the beliefs of the other. This theme shall be
investigated in this summer school through a presentation on Interreligious encounters and
theology of religion;
Religion and Identity
Religion has been accused of being absolute, irrational and divisive. It’s alleged divisive
nature emanates from the fact that it organizes people into religious groups according to
religious traditions. Thus, it allegedly divides people into ‘them’ and ‘us’, with ‘them’ being
associated with all the negative and ‘us’ all the positive. It is also the ‘us’ who are victimized
by ‘them’ the perpetrators. This perspective is linked to the way religion is understood. A
substantial understanding of religion often conceives religion as inherently good or bad and as
having an agency. If a religious tradition is perceived as inherently bad, all the people who
identify with it are automatically labelled bad and bent on executing bad deeds and in this
case violence. A communitarian approach is thus taken, sidestepping that people have
multiple identities and have the freedom to choose which one to accentuate depending on
circumstance. Accompanying the negative perception are also negative stereotypes that are
applied to all the people who identify with a particular religious tradition and belief system.
As is the group, is the individual, becomes the operational principle. The opposite is true of a
positive perception of a religious tradition or belief system. In this summer school, the
interaction between religion and identity will be discuss through presentations on Christian
exegetical antisemitism in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; Religion and racism,
white supremacy movements, right-wing radicalism; Religion, Conflict and Competitive
Victimhood
Gender, Sexuality and Family studies
Religion plays an explanatory role is certain cultures. It provides societal cognitive, emotional
and moral meaning. It explains, thus legitimate and justify societal structures, including the
role and position of men and women in society. For the most part this has landed women in
disadvantaged positions with little if any agency socially and politically. The contestation
over the role and position of women across cultures has spilt into the political domain,
especially in relation to liberal values, human and sexual rights as well as sexual and
homonationalism. Based on the understanding that reality is socially constructed, it has
become imperative to take a critical deconstructive critique as well as an imaginative and
constructive analysis of the dynamics of how men and women are socialized and positioned
and the role of religion therein. The summer school will engage with this theme through
lectures on 'New spiritualities and the resolution of gender conflict'; Religion, Conflict,
Gender, and Sexuality; Religion, Conflict and Child marriages
Sociological studies
That religion is healthy and alive in present day’s public domain ranging from religiously
articulated terrorism, migration and refugee issues is now commonplace. In addition to other
perspectives, the summer school shall take a sociological perspective to understanding the
intersection of religion and the public domain. Our concluding lecture will be on a theme that
is currently topical not only in Europe but across the world: Refugee camps as sites of
religious diversity and practice
PhD presentations
At the centre of the summer school are the PhD/MA students. In addition to the lectures
which will be delivered by different scholars, there is space for PhDs to present their projects.
In addition to gaining from rich lectures, PhD students have the opportunity to receive
feedback from senior as well as junior scholars.
Religion, Conflict and Peace U4 Summer School
Faculty of Religious Studies, Oude Boteringestraat 38,
9712 GK, Groningen
Room: Oude Zittingzaal
Monday, August 14 – Chair Joram Tarusarira
14.00-14.30
Registration and Introduction to the Summer school by Joram Tarusarira
Welcome: Prof. Marjo Buitelaar: Director of Graduate School, Faculty of
Theology and Religious Studies, University of Groningen
Prof. Joost Herman: Director of Globalisation Studies
A) Historical Approaches
14.30 – 15.15
Lecture 1 and Discussion – Steven Vanderputten, Professor Professor in the
History of the Early and Central Middle Ages, Ghent University.
Debate and conflict over monastic observance in the tenth- and eleventhcentury West
15.15 – 16.00
Lecture 2 and Discussion – David van Linden, Lecturer in History and NWO
Veni Postdoctoral researcher, University of Groningen, Wars of Religion,
Wars of Memory: An Early Modern Perspective on Transitional Justice
Coffee/tea break
16:00 – 16:30
Key note address
16:30 -17:30
17. 30
Key Note speaker - Bjorn Krondorfer, Director of the Martin-Springer
Institute at the Northern Arizona University and Endowed Professor of
Religious Studies in the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies. – The
dynamics of religion, conflict and peace across disciplines and time
End of Day and City Tour
Tuesday, August 15 Chair: Alexander Nagel
9.00 – 9.05
Introduction to sessions of the day
9.05 –10.00
10.00 - 10.20
Lecture 3 and Discussion
Lena Roos, Professor of History of Religion and Social Sciences of Religion,
Uppsala University
Jewish - Christian - Muslim coexistence in the Middle Ages.
Coffee/Tea Break
10.20 – 12.30
PhD project presentations
12.30 – 13.30
Lunch break
13.30 – 14.10
Lecture 4 and Discussion
Annelies Lannoy, Post-doc, Ghent University:
The study of religions and the Great War: science, religion, and nationalism
B) Interreligious conflicts
14.10 – 14.40
Lecture 5 and discussion
Kajsa Ahlstrand, Professor of World Christianity and Interreligious studies,
Uppsala University
Interreligious encounters and theology of religion
Coffee/Tea break,
14.40 – 15.00
15.00 – 17.00
PhD project presentations
Wednesday, August 16 – Chair Lena Roos
C) Religion and Identity
9.00 – 9.05
Introduction to sessions of the day
9.05 –10.00
10.00 - 10.20
Lecture 6 and Discussion
Håkan Bengtsson, Professor of New Testament studies, Uppsala University
Christian exegetical antisemitism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Coffee/Tea Break
10.20 – 12.30
PhD project presentations
12.30 – 13.30
Lunch break
13.30 – 14.10
Lecture 7 and discussion
Gabriella Beer, Professor of History of Religions, Uppsala University Hellenistic religion, religion and warfare, rituals of conquest
Lecture 8 and discussion
Marjo Buitelaar, Professor of Contemporary Islam, University of Groningen –
Muslim youth in the Netherlands: reflecting on acculturation and
adolescence.
Coffee/Tea break
14.10 – 14.40
14.40 – 15.00
15.00 – 17.00
Workshop/Talk on Publishing academic papers – Julia Martinez-Arino (Coeditor-in-chief of New Diversities)
PhD project presentations
Thursday, August 17 – Annelies Lannoy
D) Gender Studies
9.00 – 9.05
Introduction to sessions of the day
9.05 –10.00
10.00 - 10.20
Lecture 9 and Discussion
Carine Plancke, Post-doc, Research Centre for Culture and Gender, Ghent
University: 'New spiritualities and the resolution of gender conflict'
Coffee/Tea Break
10.20 – 12.30
PhD project presentations
12.30 – 13.30
Lunch break
13.30 – 14.10
Lecture 10 and discussion
Kim Knibbe, Seniour Lecturer in Anthropology and Sociology of Religion,
University of Groningen - Media controversies about Pentecostal healing
practices in the Netherlands: conflicts over modernity, gender and sexual
politics
E) Sociological, Theological and Psychological perspectives
14.10 – 14.40
Lecture 11 and discussion
Joram Tarusarira, Assistant Professor of Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding
– Groningen University:
Religion, Conflict and Competitive Victimhood
Coffee/Tea break
14.40 – 15.00
15.00 – 17.00
PhD project presentations
Friday, August 18 – Joram Tarusarira
9.00 – 9.05
Introduction to sessions of the day
9.05 –10.00
Lecture 12 and Discussion
Christian Polke: "Visions of Peace and the Reconstruction of Conflicts Ethical and theological backgrounds of contemporary Peace Ethics
Coffee/Tea Break
10.00 - 10.20
10.20 – 11.20
Lecture 13 and Dicussion
- Refugees and Conflict experiences - Zoia Albert.
Voorzitter Stichting Groningen Verwelkomt
- Experiences of a volunteer in a refugee camp: Julia Martinez-Arino
11.20 – 11.40
Closing Lecture 14 - Alexander Nagel, Professor of Sociology of Religion,
Göttingen University
Refugee camps as sites of religious diversity and practice
11.40 – 12.30
Final Discussion and Closing remarks