Herrenhausen Conference: October 4-6, 2016, Hanover, Germany
The long-held belief in the secularization thesis and the subsequent expectation that religion would gradually lose its societal relevance in public and scientific discourse led to religion being treated rather as a side issue. This has changed fundamentally in the wake of growing religious pluralization. In this respect, both the destructive potential of religion as well as initiatives designed to promote understanding between people of different religions and worldviews play a significant role. In view of these ambivalences, a need has arisen for clarification in the area of societal as well as scientific discourse. The planned conference will debate the challenges of religious pluralization and the contribution to be made by interreligious dialogue in five thematic areas – theology, politics/civil society, education, Communication/ media and contexts. The aim of the conference is to describe innovative scientific approach- es and broad political and social scopes of action for addressing religious plurality.
We invite all researchers and experts working in this field. There is no fee for the attendance, but registration is essential. www.volkswagenstiftung.de/pluralisation
Note: Special travel grants for young scholars (no more than 5 years out) are available, application deadline is March 30th.