CEU Doctoral Conference: Enchantments, Disenchantments, Re-enchantments

The Center for Religious Studies
Central European University

First Annual Doctoral Conference in Religious Studies

Enchantments, Disenchantments, Re-enchantments: Religion, State, and Society through History

29 June - 1 July 2017

Keynote Speaker
Guy Stroumsa
(Hebrew University Of Jerusalem) 

This conference, featuring the work of prospective doctoral students and young researchers from around the world, engages in a discussion on the role of religion and secularization in the modern world from a variety of academic disciplines, time periods, and geographical locations.

Between secularism on one hand, and the disenchantment with secularism and a re-created model of sacral governance on the other, there lies a rich pool of experiences that is highly relevant for various fields of research today.

The aim of this conference is a more fruitful discussion on the relationship between religion, the state, and society, often defined in terms of a sort of “enchantment”, in a historical context.

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Thursday, 29 June – Day 1

17:30 – 19:00 / Opening Keynote Address

  • Judaism and Islam in the Mind of Europe: Studying Religion in a Secular Age
    Guy Stroumsa (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Location: CEU, Nador utca 15, Auditorium (N15/B)

19:00 – 20:00 / Welcome Reception

Location: CEU,N15/2nd floor, Marsbéli Cafeteria

Friday, 30 June – Day 2

9:00 – 11:00 / Session I /Panel 1: Philosophical Perspectives on Secularism and Disenchantment

Chaired by: Guy Stroumsa (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Panel Speakers:

  • We Trust in God – or rather not? Ancient and Modern Views on Religion and Secularism
    Rogier Van der Wal (VNG International the Hague)
  • Revenge on Initial Disillusionment: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Charm of Disenchantment
    Herbert De Vriese (University of Antwerp)
  • Disenchantment, Enchantment and Enlightened Modernity
    Guy Vanheeswijck (University of Antwerp)
  • Why Be an Atheist Catholic? Stanisław Brzozowski’s Marxist Anthropocentrism: Between Dis- and Re-enchantment
    Aleksandra Konarzewska (University Of Tübingen)

Location: CEU, N15/Quantum Room 101

9:00 – 10:30 / SESSION I / PANEL 2: NATIONAL AWAKENINGS BETWEEN THE SACRED AND PROFANE

Chaired by: Vilius Kubekas (CEU)

Panel Speakers:

  • Re-Sacralizing Modern Greek Nationalism: The Deification and Cult of the Modern Greek Nation in Greek Romanticism
    Nektaria Klapaki (University of Washington)
  • Old Exemplars for New Ideals: Medieval Saintly Rulers in Serbian Romantic Literature
    Stefan Trajković Filipović (University of Giessen)
  • From a Nation to a Religion: The Transformation of Jewish Orthodox Self-determination in the Age of Magyarization (1867 – 1914)
    Yoav Sorek (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)

Location: CEU, N15/Room 106

11:30 – 13:30 / Session 2/Panel 1: Religion and Rationality in the Islamic Golden Age

Chaired by: Tijana Krstić (CEU)

Panel Speakers:

  • Critical Approaches to  Religions: the Cases of al-Rāzi and al-Ma‘arrī
    Sona Grigoryan (CEU)
  • Islamic Secular Politics before the Secular? Ḥazm as Defining Concept of Empiricism-based Statecraft
    Stephan Tölke (University of Münster)
  • The Rationality Re-invented: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Myth and History
    Dunja Rašić (Free University of Berlin)
  • Confessionalization and Social-Disciplining in the Early Modern Ottoman Colleges
    Muhammed Seyyit Şen (University of California, Davis)

Location: CEU, N15/Quantum Room 101

11:30 – 13:30 / Session 2/Panel 2: Modern Political Religions  

Chaired by: Vilius Kubekas (CEU)

Panel Speakers:

  • Apocalyptic Trends in Contemporary Politics
    Stella Marega (University of Trieste)
  • Italian Fascism and German Nazism: Political Religions or Political Ideologies?
    Blasco Sciarrino (CEU)
  • The Religious Character of Legal Positivism
    Laura Gheorghiu (University of Graz)
  • Rethinking of the Modern State: In Theory and Practice
    Nicholas Gjorvad (Free University of Berlin)

Location: CEU, N15/Room 106            

15:30 – 17:00/ Session 3/Panel 1: Learning the Secular Nation in Cross-Religious Contexts

Chaired by: Michael Miller (CEU)

Panel Speakers:

  • Religion and the Scout Movement in the Netherlands
    Kristian Mennen (Free University of Berlin)
  • Russia in the Caucasus: Test of Loyalty, Identity Crisis and the Place of Religion
    Turkay Gasimova (European University Institute)
  • Islamic higher education and state secularism in post-Soviet Central Asia: A comparative case study of how Islam-related higher education institutions emerge and evolve in political secular environment
    Jalil Rouslan (University of Kentucky)

Location: CEU, N15/Quantum Room 101

15:30 – 16:30/ Session 3/Panel 2: Enchantment and Empire in Ancient Roman Cults

Chaired by: Guy Stroumsa (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Panel Speakers:

  • The Cult of Mithras and the Imperial Power of Rome
    Nirvana Silnović (CEU)
  • The Roman Imperial Cult on the Territory of the Republic of Macedonia
    Anita Vasilkova-Midoska (National Museum-Veles, Republic of Macedonia)

Location: CEU, N15/Room 106

Saturday, 1 July - Day 3

9:00 – 10:30 / Session I /Panel 1: Uses and Abuses of the Sacred in South Asia

Chaired by: Csaba Dezső (ELTE)

Panel Speakers:

  • Blasphemy, Law, and Violence in Pakistan
    Menaal Safi Munshey (University of Cambridge)
  • On Humanitarism Beyond Human: Kalighat Home for the Dying Destitutes
    Egor Novikov (CEU)
  • Gods on the Screen: Religion, Politics and the Moving Image in India
    Julia Szivak (CEU)

Location: CEU, N15/Quantum Room 101

9:00 – 10:30 / SESSION I / PANEL 2: REMEMBERING HOLY SAINTS AND DIVINE RULERS IN HELLENISTIC AND MEDIEVAL TRADITIONS  

Chaired by: Martin Pjecha (CEU)

Panel Speakers:

  • The Deification of Alexander the Great
    Cristina García (Complutense University of Madrid and Autonomous University of Madrid)
  • Constantine the Great: A Mythical Ruler of Slavs
    Natalia Naumow (University of Padua and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)
  • The Cult of Symeon the New Theologian as a Political Problem: Clashes of Secular and Ecclesiastical Groups in Constantinople of the XI Century
    Uliana Boyarintseva (CEU)

Location: CEU, N15/Room 106

11:00 – 13:00 / Session 2/Panel 1: Religion in the Public Sphere: Maintaining and Challenging Authority

Chaired by: Carsten L. Wilke (CEU)

Panel Speakers:

  • Rebellion and Resistance: Vodou and the Constructions of Political Theologies
    Marek Iwaniak (CEU)
  • The (Failed) Secularization of the Costa Rican State (1884-2015)
    Jerry Espinoza (University of Costa Rica)
  • Anti-Genderism in Postcommunist Regimes: A New Alliance of Religion and State
    Katalin Fabian (Lafayette College Easton)
  • We Have Never Been Disenchanted: Secular Modes of “the Desire of the Transcendent”
    Ekaterina Nemenko (Ural Federal University)

Location: CEU, N15/Quantum Room 101

11:00 – 12:30 / Session 2/Panel 2: Ancient Greece: Magic and Divine Politics

Chaired by: István Perczel (CEU)

Panel Speakers:

  • Knowledge, Divination, Corruption: An Analysis of Divine (Mis)guidance in Sophocles
    Corneliu Clop (University of Bucharest)
  • Animal Magic in Pliny the Elder’s Historia Naturalis
    Andrea Salayová (Masaryk University)
  • Genealogy and Authority: The Divine Provenance of Noble Men in Greek Epic Poetry
    Katarzyna Kostecka (University of Warsaw)
  • Why Did Christian Conversion Efforts Fail in the Mongol Empire?         Stephen Pow (CEU)

Location: CEU, N15/Room 106

15:00 – 17:00 / Session 3/Panel 1: Early Modern Intellectuals and Elites: Negotiating the Sacred and the Secular

Chaired by: Martin Pjecha (CEU)

Panel Speakers:

  • Reconstructing the Supernatural? Medical Argumentation in Anti-Superstition Writings of 18th-century Vienna
    Adam Mezes (CEU)
  • The Role of the Church in the University Reforms in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century: The Case of Salamanca and Coimbra (1771-1772)
    Carlos Alves (University of Lisbon)
  • Portuguese Bishops in Lands of Foreign Authority: The Bishops of Macao and the Local Authorities – a Clash of Powers? (1576-1623)
    Kevin Carreira Soares (University of Lisbon)
  • The Disciplining of the Sacred: Perspectives from the Early Eighteenth Century Italian ‘Republic of Letters’
    Nicholas Mithen (European University Institute)

Location: CEU, N15/Quantum Room 101

15:00 – 16:30/ Session 3/Panel 2: Christians and Muslims: Modern Contacts and Perceptions

Chaired by: Vlad Naumescu (CEU)

Panel Speakers:

  • Is Islam an American Religion? Muslims in the American Public Sphere
    Valentina Cantori (CEU)
  • Before the Days of Trouble Come: Coptic Christian Youth Struggle for Piety
    Mina Ibrahim (University of Giessen)
  • Olfactory Aesthetics and Social Affordances: The Case of the Greek Orthodox in Beirut
    Roxana Maria Aras (University of Michigan)

Location: CEU, N15/Room 106

17:30 – 19:00 / Closing Keynote Address

  • Padre Pio and Saint Francis of Assisi: The emulation of models in the lives and cults of a contemporary and a medieval saint
    Gábor Klaniczay (CEU)

Location: CEU Auditorium (N15/B)

 

19:00 – 20:00 / Closing Reception

Location: CEU,N15/2nd floor, Marsbéli Cafeteria

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Student Organizers: Martin Pjecha (History), Vilius Kubekas (History), Stefano Xoccato (Erasmus+ Intern 2017) 

Organized by:
The Center for Religious Studies
Central European University
https://religion.ceu.edu/