NOSTER Spring Conference 10 & 11 APRIL 2017 Conference Hotel Kontakt der Kontinenten Soesterberg Conference Handbook 1
Programme NOSTER Spring Conference Welcome to the NOSTER Spring Conference, the highlight of the NOSTER academic year. During the first day of the conference, Monday 10 April 2017, NOSTER junior members will present their recently started and advanced research projects. Tuesday 11 April we will pay attention to the role of scholars in our fields in explaining their research to the wider public and there are workshops that contribute to more general research skills that will be helpful during your PhD. In this conference handbook, you will find the extended program for the conference, abstracts of the presentations and table sessions and further practical information. If you have any questions, please don t hesitate to contact the NOSTER office at noster@ru.nl. We are looking forward welcoming you in Conference Hotel Kontakt der Kontinenten in Soesterberg and we wish you a very informative and inspiring conference. Prof. dr. Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte (president) Prof. dr. H.L. Murre-van den Berg (director) Dr. Mariecke van den Berg (executive secretary) Nina Pennock (secretary) Jorien Copier MA (curriculum coordinator) 2
Conference Programme Monday 10 April 2017 9:30 10:30 Arrival, check-in, coffee and tea Hotel Lobby 10:00 10:15 Welcome and introduction of the programme Steylzaal 10:15 11:15 Presentations of advanced research with senior researcher response I Parallel sessions 11:30 12:00 Presentations of recently started research I Parallel sessions 12:15 12:45 Presentations of recently started research II Parallel sessions 12:45 14:00 Lunch Restaurant 14:00 15:00 Presentations of advanced research with senior researcher response II Parallel sessions 15:15 15:45 Presentations of recently started research III Steylzaal 16:00 16:30 Presentations of recently started research IV Parallel sessions 16:30 17:30 Annual NOSTER PhD Consultation organized by the NOSTER PhD Council (NL)1 Steylzaal 17:30 18:15 Drinks Café de Wereld 18:15 20:00 Diner Restaurant 20:00 23:00 Evening programme Steylzaal 1 The common language of the conference will be English. However, some parts of the programme will be in Dutch. These are marked as (NL) in the programme. 3
Presentations of advanced research Presentations of advanced research address a (concept) chapter or article of the PhD candidate s dissertation. Please read the text of the presentations you are planni ng to visit in advance. The texts are available at the NOSTER website on the Spring Conference page: http://noster.org/curriculum/noster-phd-spring-conference/ (N.B., you need to be logged in to be able to access the texts). Time Presentation by Title Respondent Location Abstract 10:15-11:15 Daan Oostveen (VU) 10:15-11:15 Suzanne Roggeveen (UvA) Hybrid religiosities and multiple religious belonging Israeli-Palestinian conflicts: tensions between Jews and Muslims in Amsterdam 10:15-11:15 Jos Moons (UVT) The Spirit as Actor in the Curch 10:15-11:15 Christiane Alpers (RU) 14:00-15:00 14:00-15:00 Kees van der Knijf (PThU) Caroly van Oostende (RU) 14:00-15:00 Iris Speckmann (VU) Edward Schillebeeckx s Christology for an unapologetic public theology Wisdom and Discernment: Crucial Elements of a Reformed View on Divine Guidance. Marcolf: een wijze dwaas? (NL) Eten met betekenis: een vergelijking tussen een doopsgezinde avondmaalsviering en een clubmaaltijd (NL) dr. Ernst van den Hemel (Meertens Institute) Steylzaal 11 dr. Bart Wallet (VU) Tanzania 11 Prof. dr. Henk v.d. Belt (RUG) Prof. dr. Anne-Marie Korte (UU) Mozambique 12 Kenia 12 t.b.a. Mozambique 12 Prof. dr. Heleen Murre-van den Berg (RUN) Prof. dr. Marcel Barnard (PThU) Steylzaal 13 Kenia 13 4
Presentations of recently started research Presentations of recently started research don t require readings in advance. Time Presentation by Title Location Abstract 11:30-12:00 Koos Tamminga (TUK) Church and Inclusion: What the Ontmoetingskerk can teach Ecclesiology Steylzaal 14 11:30-12:00 Clemens van den Berg (UU) Spiritual Blueprints of Europe, 1930-1963 5 Tanzania 11:30-12:00 Anke Liefbroer (VU) Interfaith Spiritual care Mozambique 14 11:30-12:00 Fokke Wouda (TiU/TST) Eucharistic hospitality in ecumenical communities Kenia 15 12:15-12:45 Martina Oldhoff (PThU) Soul searching with Paul: Human Life as Distinct from and Related to God Steylzaal 15 12:15-12:45 Lieke Schrijvers (UU) Negotiating Secular and Religious Gender Discourses: Women Converting to Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the Netherlands, Belgium and Great Britain Tanzania 12:15-12:45 Theo Zijderveld (VU) Branding of Religious Leaders on Instagram Mozambique 16 12:15-12:45 Ayhan Aksu (RUG) Literary Heterogeneity, Religious Diversity and Individual Scribes in the Dead Sea Scrolls Collections 15:15-15:45 Erik Meinema (UU) Youth Involvement in Establishing Peaceful Interreligious Relations in Kenya Steylzaal 16 15:15-15:45 Jelle Wiering (RUG) The Sexular man Tanzania 17 15:15-15:45 Marianna Kuipers (TiU/TST) A new apologetic approach to the new atheism, based on G.K. Chesterton s apologetics 15:15-15:45 Inge Schippers (VU) Across the borders of belief. Dutch Reformed migrants and confessional boundaries in the duchy of Cleves, ca 1550-1600 16:00-16:30 Kirsten Smeets (RU) Cultural Memory and the interpretation of religious texts advocating violence in Judaism, Christianity and Islam Kenia Mozambique Kenia Steylzaal 16:00-16:30 Elza Kuijk (VU) The Breath of the Church Building Tanzania 18 16:00-16:30 Lydia Leersum- Bekebrede (PThU) Liturgical Rituals With Children 16:00-16:30 Peter Gorter (VU) The religious identity of Dutch Reformed refugees in Cologne, Aachen and Frankfurt (1550-1600) Mozambique Kenia 14 15 16 17 17 18 18 19
16:30-17:30 Annual NOSTER PhD Consultation organized by the NOSTER PhD Council The PhD-Council will organise a consultation round on the workings of NOSTER. We invite all PhD-candidates to explore how you experience your participation at the NOSTER-seminars, to learn how other seminars are organised and to exchange ideas on how to improve these seminars. In October, NOSTER collaborated with NISIS in organising a joint conference. We welcome feedback on this collaboration and would like to see whether future collaboration with other research schools could benefit us as well. Also, we are curious about what seminars might be added to the curriculum, and how the PhD-Council can serve the students better in the board of NOSTER. Furthermore, we will release a call for candidates to serve in the PhD-council. Especially enthusiastic PhD-candidates in the second year of their PhD-track are invited to put themselves up. 20:00-23:00 Evening Programme The PhD-Council presents the screening of American director Martin Scorsese s Silence (2016), the film adaptation of the eponymous book by the Japanese writer Shūsaku Endō. The main performers include Andrew Garfield as Rodrigues, Adam Driver as Garupe, Liam Neeson as Ferreira and Issei Ogata as Inoue. The film tells the story of two Jesuit priests on a mission to retrieve the purportedly apostate priest Ferreira in 17th Century Edo Japan. Plagued by severe persecutions, the furtive Christian Japanese communities welcome the Western arrivals, who represent their last connection with the mother church. The film explores the psychological and theological struggles of Rodrigues, and the encounter of two very different religious worldviews. Sigrid Coenradie (1961), studied theology and philosophy at the UvA. She acquired a PhD at the University of Utrecht on the work of Endō. Coenradi will introduce us to the most important theological, philosophical and literary themes in the film. 6
Tuesday 11 April 2016 08:00 09:00 Breakfast Restaurant 09:00 10:30 Plenary Programme: Explaining the humanities in times of repression Steylzaal 10:30 11:00 Coffee and tea break 11:00 13:00 Workshop I Good Question?! The art of academic debate. Steylzaal Workshop II Verdedigen van je proefschrift (NL) Tanzania Workshop III Opiniestukken schrijven over je promotieonderzoek (NL) Mozambique Workshop IV Personal branding: using social media to present yourself and your research Kenia 13:00 13:15 Plenary closing and farewell Steylzaal 13:15 14:15 Lunch Restaurant 7
09:00-10:30 Plenary Programme: Explaining the humanities in times of repression Are academics politically leftish and therefore biased? Can we still formulate trustworthy public knowledge in the face of competing alternative facts and make people believe in and accept this knowledge? In his lecture, historian Jona Lendering will introduce us to some of the underlying issues that have resulted in the increasingly problematic public presence of the humanities, and in particular religious studies and theology, in public debates. Based on his experiences in translating his results in Antiquity studies he will explain the mechanisms underlying the general distrust in academic research outcomes, but also the pitfalls that keep humanities scholars from communicating their methods and results in a credible way. 8
Workshops and participants If your name is underlined, we unfortunately had to place you in the workshop of your second choice, based on your date of registration. Tuesday 11 April 11:00 13:00 Location Good Question?! The art of academic debate. Steylzaal Prof. dr. Heleen Murre-van den Berg. Martine Oldhoff (PThU) Nelleke Honcoop (UvA) Femke Siebesma- Mannens (VU) Suzanne Roggeveen (UvA) Anke Liefbroer (VU) Elza Kuijk (VU) Chigemezi Nnadozie Wogu (VU) Lydia van Leersum- Bekebrede (PThU) Meinema, Erik (UU) Nelleke Honcoop (UvA) Verdedigen van je proefschrift (NL) Prof. dr. Ab de Jong (UL) dr. Mariecke van den Berg (NOSTER) Homework: send in a chapter or article that will be part of your thesis before April 5 so critical questions can be prepared. When you already have submitted a text for a presentation of advanced research during the conference, this text will be used. Tanzania Kees van der Knijff (PThU) Peter Gorter (VU) Jos Moons (TST) Marinka Verburg (PThU) Jeroen Jans (RUN) Inge Schippers (VU) Daan Oostveen (VU) Christiane Alpers (RU) 9
Opiniestukken schrijven over je promotieonderzoek (NL) Monic Slingerland (Trouw) Mozambique Koos Tamminga (TUK) Lieke Schrijvers (UU) Stephie The- Mertens (TST) Matthijs Dekker (TUK) Fokke Wouda (TST) Gerard van Es (UU) Marianne Kuipers (TST) Debbie den Boer (TUK) Personal branding: using social media to present yourself and your research Mark van der Zwan (ElroyCOM) Kenia Homework: participants of this workshop will receive an intake form that should be sent in before 5 April 2017 to the NOSTER office at noster@ru.nl. Theo Zijderveld (VU) Ayhan Aksu (RUG) Suzanne van der Beek (TiU) Clemens van den Berg (UU) Kisten Smeets (RUN) Robin ten Hoopen (PThU) Jonathan Pater (TiU) Miriam Adan Jones (VU) Martijn Stoutjesdijk (TST) Jorien Copier (RUN) 10
Book of Abstracts Presentations of advanced research address a (concept) chapter or article of the PhD candidate s dissertation. Please read the text of the presentations you are planning to visit in advance. The texts will be available at the NOSTER website: http://noster.org/curriculum/noster-phd-spring-conference/ (N.B. You need to be logged in to the website to be able to access the texts). 10:15-11:15 Daan Oostveen (VU) Respondent: dr. Ernst van den Hemel (Meertens Instituut) Hybrid religiosities and multiple religious belonging 11 Steylzaal In the context of globalization, cultural diversities give increasingly rise to hybrid religiosities and multiple religious belonging. Some people say they identify or belong to two or more religious traditions equally, something which we will call "hard multiple religious belonging". But from the perspective of lived religion and anthropology of religion, we see that many people often unconsciously mix elements from various religious traditions, something which we will call "soft multiple religious belonging." If we look interpretations of religious diversity in East Asia, we see that religious traditions are not understood as exclusively as religions are in the West. Therefore, East Asian religion shows how various currents of religious teachings often flow together in rhizomatic religiosity, in which the source of religious expressions is not always clear anymore, though people still have a very deep feeling of belonging. 10:15-11:15 Suzanne Roggeveen (UvA) Respondent: dr. Bart Wallet (VU) Tanzania Israeli-Palestinian conflicts: tensions between Jews and Muslims in Amsterdam In the summer of 2014 and the spring of 2015, pro-israel and pro-palestine protests and pro- and anti-towntwinning protests were organized in Amsterdam. These events were heavily debated during debate nights and in the media. The tensions arising from these events were often described as problems between Jews and Muslims. However, from this research it became clear that these tensions were more complex and included a diverse range of different actors. Moreover, some Jews and Muslims expressed that they did not want to pick a side, did not want to get involved, or did not support one of the parties, but had other views on the issue. In this paper the goal is twofold. Firstly, it will provide
more insight in the involvement of Jews and Muslims in the public events surrounding the conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians. Secondly, it describes how both the public usage of symbols, flags and concepts and the multiple realities lying beneath a dominant discourse are influencing the relations between Jews, Muslims and other actors 10:15-11:15 Jos Moons (UVT) The Spirit as Actor in the Church Respondent: prof. dr. Henk van den Belt Mozambique The Spirit as Actor in the Church. The significance of Grammar and the Problem of Appropriation. The ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), often praised for its pneumatological rediscovery, describes the function of the Holy Spirit in quite diverse manners. Some texts describe the Spirit as actor, eg as leading the Church through charismata. Other texts the Spirit s function is less active, eg in phrases such as unity in the Holy Spirit, in which the reference functions in an adverbial manner. Often, Christ is the acting person. Is that a problem? In this contribution, I would like to explore the significance of grammar and the problem of appropriation. 14:00-15:00 Christiane Alpers (RU) Respondent: t.b.a. Tanzania Edward Schillebeeckx s Christology for an unapologetic public theology In the final chapter of my dissertation, on which this presentation is based, I craft an alternative response to the presently most dominant responses to the question concerning the political role of Christian theology in post-christendom societies. As fourth alternative to public theology, Radical Orthodoxy, and post-liberal Protestantism, I build on Schillebeeckx s Christology, especially its focus on humankind s liability to sin and on God s forgiveness. I argue that instead of primarily challenging or correcting the surrounding society s political projects, Christian theology should learn from those non-christian politics and serve the continuous conversion of the church. 14:00-15:00 Kees van der Knijf (PThU) Respondent: t.b.a. Mozambique Wisdom and Discernment: crucial Elements of a Reformed View on Divine Guidance In contemporary popular Christian spirituality, a lot of interest is paid to 12
extraordinary experiences of God and of divine guidance. Yet from a more robust theological perspective, not these singular events are central to the idea of divine guidance, but the qualities of wisdom and discernment. These are acquired through common Christian practices and nurtured and sustai ned by the Christian community. In this paper the ideas of Christian wisdom and discernment are described in interaction with recent developments in theological ethics and discipleship studies and with special reference to the idea of divine guidance. 14:00-15:00 Caroly van Oostende (RUN) Marcolf: een wijze dwaas? Respondent: prof. dr. Heleen Murre- van den Berg Steylzaal Salomo en Marcolf is een laatmiddeleeuwse satire. Hoofdpersoon is de boer Marcolf, die een verbale strijd aangaat met koning Salomo. Marcolf wordt de winnaar. De wetenschappelijke literatuur plaatst Marcolf in de traditie van de schelmenroman. Deze interpreteert hem als een opstandige boer, een listige schelm op het randje van boosaardigheid of een van de duivel afgeleide figuur die de moderne tijd aankondigt met zijn individualisme en egoïsme. Hiertegenover zet ik het type van de wijze dwaas, een archetype dat in vele religies voorkomt en een aantal basiskenmerken heeft. Met deze kenmerken kan Marcolf beter begrepen en geïnterpreteerd worden. 14:00-15:00 Iris Speckmann (VU) Respondent: prof. dr. Marcel Barnard Eten met betekenis: een vergelijking tussen een doopsgezinde avondmaalsviering en een clubmaaltijd. t.b.a. Welke relatie kan er worden gelegd tussen het Avondmaal en de maaltij den búiten de kerkelijke liturgie? Op het eerste oog gaat het om twee heel verschillende typen maaltijden, maar toch zijn theologen geboeid door de overeenkomsten tussen beide. Dit artikel doet verslag van etnografisch onderzoek van enerzijds het doopsgezinde Avondmaalsritueel en anderzijds de clubmaaltijden van een roeivereniging. Via interviews en participerende observatie wordt een schets gemaakt van de betekenis en beleving van beide maaltijden. Welke betekeniselementen verschillen van elkaar, welke overlappen? Een eerste vergelijking van deze twee maaltijden laat zien dat er een overlap is in de beleving. Deelnemers ervaren verbondenheid en zij genieten, maar ook is er bij beide maaktijden sprake van ambivalente gevoelens. 13
Presentations of recently started research Presentations of recently started research don t require readings in advance. 11:30-12:00 Koos Tamminga (TUK) Steylzaal Church and Inclusion What the Ontmoetingskerk can teach theology In this presentation I will describe my recently started practical theological, empirical research in Amersfoort-Vathorst. A congregation there has recently teamed up with some health care and disability agencies and now literally lives together with a large number of people with various disabilities. The study deals with the question of inclusive ecclesiology and uses this local congregation as a case to be learned from, because of the unique project it is part of. In the presentation I will give an outline of the project and the methodology, which includes participatory observation and interviews. 11:30-12:00 Clemens van der Berg (UU) Tanzania Spiritual Blueprints of Europe, 1930-1963 My PhD research is part of the NWO-funded programme Blueprints of Hope: Designing Postwar Europe, 1930-1963, in which we look at the development of plans for European cooperation (we call them blueprints ) in the interwar, wartime, and early postwar years. Central to my own research are networks and working groups of theologians, scholars, and laymen from three of the largest Christian traditions that constituted the World Council of Churches: Protestantism, Anglicanism and Old Catholicism. Specifically, I will try to analyse how documents outlining paths for European cooperation produced by these groups used emotional terms like reconciliation, grace, hope, responsibility et cetera. This way, we hope to discover how and why certain blueprints did eventually shape the principles behind the formation of the European Community, whereas others failed to do so. 11:30-12:00 Anke Liefbroer (VU) Mozambique Interfaith Spiritual Care Over the past decades, the religious and spiritual landscape in Western societies has become increasingly diverse. Although many spiritual care encounters in the Netherlands are thus marked by differences between patients and caregivers religious or spiritual worldviews, hardly any empirical research has been conducted to examine those. In order to address patients diverse spiritual needs, knowledge on the way these encounters are shaped is essential. This project 14
therefore focuses on spiritual care encounters between caregivers and patients/clients who have different spiritual or religious worldviews. A mixed methods approach will be used, combining survey data among chaplains in health care, military and prison, and ethnographic data gathered in health care settings, in order to gain in-depth understanding of how these interfaith encounters are shaped. 11:30 12:00 Fokke Wouda (TiU/TST) Kenia Eucharistic hospitality in ecumenical communities A delicate issue in ecumenical relations is the impossibility (especially from the side of the Roman Catholic Church) to celebrate the sacrament of the Eucharist together. I investigate some ecumenical monastic communities, which in fact do celebrate (Catholic) mass together, as part of their ecumenical process. I want to record their motivations and experiences to add this testimony to the debate on this sensitive theme. My presentation introduces the complexity of the project and focuses on some methodological questions. 12:15-12:45 Martine Oldhof (PThU) Steylzaal Soul Searching with Paul: Human life as Distinct from and Related to God Although the soul causes uneasiness among contemporary theologians, the word is consciously used in contemporary language. An important reason for the return of soul-language might be the ability of the word to express who the human being is in a manner that is more closely connected to the subjectivity of a person and the longing for transcendence than the language of the natural sciences. This interest in the soul poses questions to the criticism on the soul in contemporary theology. In my presentation I hope to explain how my research into contemporary soul concepts is an attempt to re-evaluate contemporary and theological soul concepts. 12:15-12:45 Lieke Schrijvers (UU) Tanzania Negotiating Secular and Religious Gender Discourses: Women Converting to Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the Netherlands, Belgium and Great Britain In post-9/11 Western societies and academic debates, the notion that religion and women s emancipation are fundamentally conflicting has regained plausibility. Consequently, women s deliberate religious conversions are a pertinent academic, religious and socio-political issue. In face of this religion/emancipation paradox, this PhD project researches if and how gender and sexuality become terrains of negotiation for women in the process of conversion and their daily lives. This 15
ethnographic study compares women converting to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I aim to produce insight into the various ways in which gender discourses, encompassing authoritative regulations, representations and bodily practices, are lived, negotiated and shaped by female converts both as individual subjects and as members of religious communities in different national secularized contexts, with the main focus on the Netherlands. 12:15-12:45 Theo Zijderveld (VU) Mozambique Branding of Religious Leaders on Instagram My research tries to uncover the relati onship between the branding of religious leaders on Instagram and the construction of their religious authority in a media context. Social media like Instagram pave the way for new audiences and new interactions between the religious leaders and their audi ences. The importance of images for media personalities shows the importance of the aesthetic dimension of charismatic authority. This will offer new insights in studying the relationship between religious leaders and authority in a media age. 12:15-12:45 Ayhan Aksu (RUG) Kenia Literary Heterogeneity, Religious Diversity, and Individual Scribes in the Dead Sea Scrolls Collections. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has fundamentally changed our knowledge of Jewish and Christian origins. The scrolls are our nearest evidence for the scribal culture that produced the Hebrew Bible, but they have not yet been used to their full potential. This PhD intends to study the literary heterogeneity, religious diversity and scribal practices in the Dead Sea Scroll s from a new perspective. A combined literary and palaeographic analysis will lead to individual scribal profiles that will be correlated to scholarly models of the presumed textual community behind the collections. 15:15-15:45 Erik Meinema (UU) Steylzaal Youth Involvement in Establishing Peaceful Interreligious Relations in Kenya Research on conflict and peacebuilding identifies youth mostly as perpetrators and/or victims of violence. It is also often assumed that youth are easily mobilized for conflicts by religious arguments. Yet, youth from various religious backgrounds are involved in the efforts of three (faith-based) civil society organizations (CSOs) to improve interreligious relations within the multi -religious Kenyan town Malindi. This research aims to analyse how youth involvement in CSOs influences interreligious relations. The project takes a post-secular perspective on multi- 16
religious settings, meaning that it will critically analyse how various secular and religious views, values, and practices, impact possibilities for peaceful interreligious co-existence 15:15-15:45 Jelle Wiering (RUG) Tanzania The sexular man This paper explores the notion of the cultural sexular heterosexual man. Over the past months, I participated in many seminars on sex and sex educations to explore Dutch (health-care) organizations and their notions and advocated practices of both sex and sexuality. In this paper, I take up educational theatre shows as a case study: shows in which professional actors play the roles of teenagers to educate children, migrants, parents, or teachers about sex and sexuality. I illustrate that the educations I attended in my fieldwork entailed an implicit disciplining of heterosexual boys, boys whom were suggested supposedly correct forms of behaviour, language, and appearance. I argue that this suggested ideal image of boys is, in fact, strongly influenced by cultural secular perceptions of both Islam and Christianity. Therefore, this image implicitly designates this ideal boy as a flagship of the cultural secular. This urges us to realize that secularism has absolutely broken out of its political cage: so-called secular notions and practices are being spread as we speak, in many facets of society, and they are backed up by a false cover of neutrality. 15:15-15:45 Marianne Kuipers (TiU/TST) Mozambique A new apologetic approach to the new atheism, based on G.K. Chesterton s apologetics The aim of this study is to develop a new apologetic approach to the new atheism on the basis of the apologetics of G.K. Chesterton. Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was a famous British author, who defended Christianity and Roman Catholicism by his novels, papers and other, nonfictional works. Most of his cases against the heresies of his time are still valid today, which is why I think that his apologetics has the potential to inspire the development of a new approach of apologetics that mainly deals with a trend from the beginning of the 21st century, the so-called new atheists. 15:15-15:45 Inge Schippers (VU) Kenia Across the borders of belief. Dutch Reformed migrants and confessional boundaries in the duchy of Cleves, ca. 1550-1600 This research project examines the experiences and impacts of Reformed 17
Protestant migrants who departed for the German Rhineland during the struggles that resulted in the creation of the Dutch Republic. In order to understand patterns of coexistence in religiously mixed communities, I will focus on the process of confessional boundary drawing, and the extent to which the crossing of geographical boundaries shaped these interactions. My research will thus explore how individuals negotiated confessional and geographical boundaries at the level of territories, towns, churches, families and within their own consciences. 16:00-16:30 Kirsten Smeets (RU) Steylzaal Cultural Memory and the interpretation of religious texts advocating violence in Judaism, Christianity and Islam In contemporary Dutch society the relationship between religion and violence is often negatively valued. In the eyes of many, religion is considered to be the source of armed conflicts such as wars and security threats like terrorism. Religious texts advocating violence are seen as legitimizing acts of violence, and are therefore ignored, dismissed as archaic or simply rejected by politicians, the media and even religious leaders themselves. In my research I would like to show that there was often a rationale behind the legitimization of violence within religious texts; not to instigate violence, but rather to steer violence as an inherent characteristic of human nature in the right direction. To this end I will use the cultural memory theory of Jan Assmann. 16:00-16:30 Elza Kuijk (VU) Tanzania The breath of the church building The multiple use and growing interest in old city churches is taken as an example of changes in society and in the role of religion. Four church buildings will be described in their character as complex and rich narratives. The activities (or the fact that the church is accessible) can be seen as responses to specific (e.g. cultural, economic, political, religious) needs in the local context. By studying closely current initiatives these narratives can be analyzed, for what they reveal and what they might hide. Both the church as a building and intervening humans are steering actors in this multifaceted process. 16:00-16:30 Lydia Leersum-Bekebrede (PThU) Mozambique Liturgical Rituals with Children Liturgical rituals with children are forms of worship in which children participate. There are many such forms within the Protestant Church of the Netherlands alone. The first part of this research aims at mapping and understanding those in 18
relation to their contexts. The second part zooms in on specific performances of children during liturgical rituals and on what those reveal about worship and formation. Although volunteers and professionwals in the field know much of specific practices, this research provides both overview and in-depth analysis which will hopefully spark both academic debate and inspiration for people in the field. 16:00-16:30 Peter Gorter (VU) Kenia The religious identity of Dutch Reformed refugees in Cologne, Aachen and Frankfurt (1550 1600) During the Dutch Revolt, thousands of Reformed refugees found a new home in Frankfurt, Cologne and Aachen. In my dissertation, I will describe and explain the development of the religious identities of three Reformed communities in those cities. The aim is to understand the religious identity of the Reformed communities by examining how they organized their churches, what relationships they developed, and how they presented themselves to the outside world. Practical information Directions to Conference Hotel Kontakt der Kontinenten Public transport From railway station Amersfoort busses leave 4 times an hour. Bus 52 leaves in the direction Utrecht. Bus 56 leaves in the direction Wijk bij Duurstede. Travel time: 9 to 11 minutes. Get off at the bus stop "Kontakt der Kontinenten". By car Coming from Amersfoort A28 direction Utrecht, afrit/exit 4 (Soest-Soesterberg), at the end of the exit turn right. Coming from Utrecht A28 direction Amersfoort, afrit/exit 4 (Soest-Soesterberg), at the end of the exit turn left. You are now on the Richelleweg. At two traffic l ights you go straight ahead. After 100 meters you will find the entrance at your left hand. If you use a navigation system we advise you to enter the following address: Richelleweg 1, 3769 AZ Soesterberg. This destination is opposite of our entrance. 19
Floor map of Conference Hotel Kontakt der Kontinenten Contact information: If you have any questions preceding the conference, please don t hesitate to contact the NOSTER office at noster@ru.nl. Telephone numbers for (urgent) matters during the conference: Nina Pennock: 06-36312021 Jorien Copier: 06-15874167 20