Twenty years ago, the Center for Religious Studies (CRS) was established as a forum which fostered the study of religion as a social, cultural, historical and political phenomenon, across the CEU’s departmental structure. With an initial interest in the three monotheistic religions, in comparative and historical perspective, CRS has over the years addressed, in research and in teaching, a broad swathe of topics relevant to its purpose. Much of it reflected changes in both the world and in the international study of religion. It covered scripturalism no less than themes of religion and science, the phenomenon of fanaticism no less than Late Antique religious developments and 21st century religious movements, in addition to a host of other points of interest.
Twenty years after the foundation of the Center, we had the opportunity to look back at the way in which the study of religion has changed internationally since CRS’s foundation. Professor José Casanova accompanied us as an interlocutor on this celebrative occasion.