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/
