[21. 7. 2025] Summerschool Theology and Religious Studies 18-22 May 2026

1. Religija i umetnost otpora
2. Uloga žena u sukobima i pomirenju
3. Taboizirani religijski tekstovi
4. Tumačenja u konfliktu i pomirenju
5. Ćutanje i konkurentske naracije o sukobima
6. Religija, trauma i empatijsko iscrpljenje
7. Sukobi oko svetih i identitetskih prostora
8. Religija, pravda i restauracija u sekularnim kontekstima
9. Religijska previranja i alternativne duhovne prakse
10. Religija u savremenim sukobima i mirovnim procesima

• Prijave slati na: geert.vanoyen@uclouvain.be
• Rok za prijavu: 15. decembar 2025.
• Obaveštenje o selekciji: do sredine januara 2026.

This is a save the date announcement with some substantial information about an upcoming event in Circle U. I am fully aware that we are in the period of Summer holidays, but I just wanted to communicate this already now. We will come back you during the month of September.

I am happy to announce you a PhD-Postdoc Summerschool project with our Circle U – faculties that will be organized in Louvain-la-Neuve from 18 till 22 May 2026. The topic will be “Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Religion, Conflict and Reconciliation: Uncovering Taboos”.

The intention of this message is that you will let you know to the PhDs and the Post-docs of your institution (also outside your faculty) that this event will take place. While we are preparing a website for this event, we can already send you the following information.

Conceptualizing conflicts

Conflicts take many forms – some visible and violent, others hidden and prolonged. They can be political, religious, ecological, or cultural, but they often share common features: strong identities, historical wounds, and unresolved trauma. Some conflicts become “cold,” sustained through silence, taboos, or unspoken rules (omertà), while others remain “hot,” erupting in violence or open confrontation. Religion plays a complex role – sometimes fueling division, sometimes offering tools for healing. At times, the call for peace masks deeper tensions that remain unaddressed. Fatigue (moral, emotional, and spiritual) can set in, especially when conflicts seem endless or when justice remains out of reach. Understanding conflict today means looking not only at acts of violence but also at the conditions that allow them to persist: forgotten memories, blocked dialogue, and the fear of naming uncomfortable truths.

Religion and Taboos

Taboo, a word and concept borrowed from Polynesian cultures and whose meaning remains polysemic, may be used to refer to a set of prohibitions, often unspoken, that forbid certain actions or restrict discussion of particular topics, typically on the grounds of decency, morality, or justice. Religion, in particular, has been a significant source of social taboos, especially those related to sexuality, gender norms, and blasphemy. These sensitive subjects frequently provoke intense debate, both within religious communities and in broader public discourse. Furthermore, wars and large-scale conflicts with religious dimensions have themselves become taboo topics. Critics point out that it has become fashionable to claim that religions only promote peace, making it increasingly difficult to openly discuss the violent or divisive roles religion can play. Conversely, religious movements have often played a crucial role in challenging existing taboos, especially those surrounding civil disobedience under authoritarian regimes. Likewise, various theological currents seek to „desacralize“ or dismantle entrenched societal taboos, advocating for reform or meaningful change. This summer school aims to uncover contemporary taboos surrounding religion, conflicts, and reconciliation. What are the topics we cannot openly talk about? What are the unspoken prohibitions that are uncritically accepted?

Target audience and topics of engagement

Early career researchers – PhD students, as well as post-docs – are invited to submit proposals employing a variety of methods and approaches in disciplines that include, but are not limited to, theology, exegesis, literature, philosophy, anthropology, history, art history, law, media studies, political and social sciences, etc. If you are aware of excellent MA students who could present a research project, we could think of including them as well (if the maximum of participants is not reached).
In particular, we encourage submissions that engage with the following topics :

• Art, Religion, and Resistance:

Critical uses of arts vis-à-vis political and religious establishment; committed arts and minorities; arts as pacific weapons; theological interpretations of protest art; art as a medium for memory, healing, or reconciliation in post-conflict societies; challenges faced by artists working within or against religious traditions.

• Women in Conflict, Beyond Gendered Myths: 

Challenging the gendered stereotypes of victimhood; Challenging the gender-based divisions of roles in conflict and reconciliation processes; Addressing the often taboo position of women as political, ideological, and even violent actors in conflict.

• Taboo Religious Texts:

Processes of canonization or exclusion of certain texts as apocryphal or heretical; Marginalization and exclusion of certain religious texts; Religious conflicts based on various choices in the selection of texts.

• Conflictual and/or Reconciling Readings and Interpretations:

(Im)possibility to reconcile conflicting methods or hermeneutics; Conflicting interpretations of the same text among various religious traditions or within the same; The reading experience as resistance to and conflict with the text; Interpretation as a process of conflict and reconciliation with the text.

• Memory, Silence, and Conflicting Narratives: 

Taboos surrounding the roles of churches and religious institutions under authoritarian regimes (colonialism, fascism, communism, apartheid, racism, etc.).;  Silence around faith-based violence in ostensibly secularized societies; Competing narratives between established religions, minority faiths, and marginalized spiritualities.

• Empathic Fatigue and the Religious Management of Trauma: 

Spiritual and humanitarian exhaustion within host communities for migrants and refugees; Identity withdrawal among religious groups in response to growing cultural and spiritual pluralism in Europe; Discrediting or delegitimization of religious rituals in care or mourning contexts.

• Ecologies of Conflict and the Sacralization of Space: 

Urban conflicts often center on places of worship, cemeteries, and symbolic sites where identities and memories collide. Religious actors play opposing roles in environmental struggles; either promoting ecological ethics or supporting extractive and nationalist agendas. These dynamics expose deep tensions between spiritual values and political or economic interests.

• Justice, Repair, and Restoration in Secularized Contexts: 

Dissonance between religious calls for forgiveness and the absence of institutional justice (e.g., sexual abuse scandals, political complicity); Controversies over the restitution of sacred or liturgical objects displaced by war, colonialism, or museum acquisitions;  Failures and reinventions of interfaith reconciliation mechanisms.

• Religious Transgressions and Spiritual Reconfigurations: 

Emerging forms of religious dissent in European societies: faith-based feminisms, ecospiritual activism, queer theologies; Internal taboos within traditions: discussions on sexuality, apostasy, or individual belief; Alternative spaces of interreligious dialogue: prisons, hospitals, schools, or zones of conflict.

• Role of Religion in Contemporary Conflicts and Reconciliation Processes: 

Religion as main causes of conflicts, as secondary reason, as a pretext; Religion as instrumentalized; Place and roles of religion in peace and reconciliation processes.

Application procedure

We invite (advanced MA students,) PhD candidates, and early-career researchers from relevant fields (e.g., theology, religious studies, anthropology, philosophy, history, political science, conflict studies, etc.) to apply for participation in the 2026 edition of the international summer school, which will take place from 18 to 22 May 2026 in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.

To apply for the summer school, please submit the following documents in a single PDF file to geert.vanoyen@uclouvain.be

1. A short abstract (max. 300 words) of your proposed paper, clearly outlining your research question, methodology, and how it relates to the themes of the summer school.
2. A short bio (max. 150 words), including your institutional affiliation, level of study, and relevant research interests.

The deadline for application is 15 December 2025.

Selected participants will be notified by mid-January 2026.

Participants are expected to actively engage in all sessions and present a paper during the summer school. They will have to read contributions from the keynote speakers and be invited to respond to at least one other paper.

Practical information

The international summer school will take place from 18 to 22 May 2026 in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. With the support of its partners, the research institute Religions, Spiritualities, Cultures, Societies at UCLouvain will provide accommodation for the duration of the summer school (four nights) for 15 international participants from our Circle-U partner universities. During the program, breakfast and lunch will be provided, and all scheduled social events will be free of charge. Priority will be given to Circle U members, but participants not affiliated with Circle-U universities are also eligible for some financial support (to be determined).

The total number of participants in the summer (spring?) school is limited to 25.

For any questions, please contact the summer school administrative liaison: amata.mbani@uclouvain.be

Thank you for your collaboration!

I wish all of you a very nice Summer!

Friendly greetings,

Prof. Geert Van Oyen
Faculté de théologie et d’étude des religions (THER)
Président de l’institut Religions Spiritualités Cultures Sociétés (RSCS)
Professeur Nouveau Testament
Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain)

Adresse THER | Grand Place, 45, bte L3.01.01 | B-1348  Louvain-la-Neuve | bureau d145 | uclouvain.be/teco
Téléphone (+32) | 0104 73606 (direct) | 0104 73641 (secrétariat)
Email | le meilleur contact se  fait par email | geert.vanoyen@uclouvain.be
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1162-3361