On the 27th and 28th of March 2008 the Leiden Institute for the Study of Religions (LISOR) is holding a conference with the title Religion, Public or Private? 

Keynote speakers include: 

• Prof. Meerten B. ter Borg, Leiden 
• Dr Bart Labuschagne, Leiden 
• Prof. David Novak, Toronto 
• Dr Armando Salvatore, Berlin 
• Prof. Linda Woodhead, Lancaster

The programme and other details can be found on: http://www.leidenuniv.nl/gg/Ficl/index.html

See more on :www.faithandmedia.be

From the 19th – 23rd of September 2007 at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Keynote speakers, among others: Peter Berger and Danièle Hervieu-Léger

For more information, see the website of the conference: http://www.ku.dk/satsning/religion/copenhagenconference/

This one-day conference explores the ways in which religions have contributed to the construction of the European Union, from the establishment of the European Economic Community in 1957 to today. It has been argued that EU enlargement – to countries in Central and Eastern Europe in 2004, the inclusion of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, and possibly Turkey later – is likely through a dynamic of desecularisation dramatically to transform the EU into a multi-religious space. Religions have not only shaped identities but are also influential factors in political discourse. This conference will analyse the activities of religious actors in the context of supranational European institutions and the ways in which they have responded to the idea of Europe at local and international levels.

Papers are invited to address one of the following themes:

• The Europeanization of religions within Europe
• The social transformations of faith communities in an enlarged Europe
• The dialogue about common and conflicting values between Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Humanists in Europe
• Religious lobbies in the European Union
• Religious parties and the European Union
• Political leaders and political religions
• Models of church-state relations in the European Union
• Religion in the EU documents: the European Constitution and national judicial systems
• Religious fundamentalism
• Religious organisations and European welfare
• Religions between national and European identities

Suggestions for panels and additional themes are also welcome. The conference aims to be an interdisciplinary discussion between established scholars and advanced doctoral students.

Please send your abstracts (500 words maximum) and brief c.v. to Lucian Leustean (l.n.leustean[at]lse.ac.uk) by 23 February 2007.

Papers should be of 15 minutes duration. In order to stimulate discussion, the papers will be circulated in advance to participants no later than 1 June 2007. There is no registration fee for attending the conference.

Date: March 19, 2007
Time: 9:30am to 15:45pm
Place: Academiegebouw / Domplein (Centrum Utrecht): Belle van Zuylenzaal

This “Author Meets Critics Seminar” discusses the new book of sociologist of religion Peter Beyer (University of Ottowa) titled Religions in Global Society (London / New York: Routledge 2006). After an opening lecture by Beyer, different experts from Utrecht University will critically engage and reflect upon both, the general ideas and theses brought forward and the particular chapters of the book. The seminar’s target groups are senior and junior researchers from Sociology, Theology and Religious Studies, Cultural and Area Studies in the Netherlands who are interested in the study of formations and restructuring of Religions in Global Society – and willing to read (into) this book in advance.

Programme

The conference features several ‘research networks‘ and ‘research streams‘ that may be of interest for religion researchers.

See http://www.esa8thconference.com/

This is what the Blackwell contents alert says:

Contributors to the issue were asked two very general questions, posed as though they came from a student or a faculty member without a background in their field:

• • “What are some good websites for getting information about your topic of research?”
    
  • “Why are those websites reliable?”

In addressing these questions, some contributors selected three or four websites that they believed were the best for this pursuit. In other cases, the contributors recognized themes or categories of online activities related to their field of study and then chose websites that were best suited for that particular theme. In both cases, contributors reviewed some of the most up-to-date and important websites, explaining why they are good sources, what type of information can be found at the site, and also some of the limitations or cautions that should be taken when using the Internet and the Web for their particular research.

• Biblical studies
• Christianity
• Wicca
• Witchcraft
• Modern Paganism
• New religious movements
• Buddhism
• Judaism
• Islam
• Hinduism
• Religious statistics
• Religion and the media

Browse the abstracts online: www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/rsr/32/4

Op 31 mei 2007 organiseren de Nederlandse Sociologische Vereniging (NSV) en de Vlaamse Vereniging voor Sociologie (VVS) voor de zevende keer ‘De dag van de Sociologie’. Op één dag komt een grote diversiteit aan onderzoeksgebieden binnen de sociologie aan bod. Deze editie zal plaatsvinden op campus Woudestein van de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam.

Religieonderzoekers hebben wellicht voor meerdere subthema’s van de dag belangstelling, o.a. Cultuur & levensbeschouwing, georganiseerd door de Rotterdamse socioloog dr. Dick Houtman.

Meer informatie en de ‘call for papers’ staan op de website van de NSV: http://www.nsv-sociologie.nl/

The conference focuses on the interaction and coexistence of two fundamental rights in the fields of academic teaching and research:
Academic freedom – or the independence of scientific teaching and research and
Religious freedom – or the right to profess, practice and teach the religious tradition adhered to, individually and collectively.
Fifteen scholars from The Netherlands, Egypt, Indonesia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Denmark and the USA will address several of the most “burning issues” that have emerged over the past few years:

• The academic study of sacred Scriptures and Revelations
• The academic training of Muslim clergymen in European societies
• Natural sciences, philosophy and religion
• Current issues in academic and religious freedom

The main organizers are Prof.dr. P.S. van Koningsveld (Islamic Studies) and Prof. dr. W.B. Drees (Philosophy of Religion) of the Faculty of Theology of Leiden University.
Participation
The conference is open for participation for those interested in the subject matter: scholars, professionals, policymakers and students in the field of religion and higher education. It is free of charge. Registration, however, is required.
Please contact the conference coordinator: Anne Marieke Schwencke at a.m.schwencke[at]let.leidenuniv.nl.
For more information: www.leidenuniv.nl/gg/ac/