Va invitam luni, 16 februarie 2015, ora 18, in sala D 206 (Facultatea de Psihologie), pentru a treia intalnire a laboratorului nostru. Seminarul are urmatoarea tema: The notion of nexus, a form of social thinking in collective action. How the French collective response to the terrorist attacks at Charlie Hebdo and the Vincennes Hypercacher revealed a hierarchy of victimhood si va fi sustinut de dr. Irina Macovei, iar prin videoconferinta va intra in legatura directa Andreea Ernst-Vintila, membra a laboratorului si profesor asociat la Universitatea din Reims.
Conference: ” Politics and Religion in Orthodox Countries “
Venue: Otto-von-Guericke Centre, Magdeburg; 07. and 08. October 2015
Organizer: The Centre of Transformation Research (ZTF) at the Otto von Guericke University
The conference draws attention to the interrelation between politics and religion in Orthodox countries in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. In Orthodox countries this relation is often perceived through the notion of harmony (symphonia), a concept developed in relation with the state-church relationship in the Byzantine state. Is this concept still valid and could be applied to the countries in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe? How does the concept of symphonia relate to notions of a secular state? What forms of secularism governs the politics in these states and how do they differ from their counterparts in the West? How can we differentiate between religious and cultural practice bearing in mind the Orthodox emphasis on practice rather than belief? What is the role of religious values in the political field?
Besides discussing notions of secularism in the Orthodox world we want to draw attention to processes of transformation. Although most of these countries experienced official atheism in socialist times, they underwent a revitalization of religion in the aftermath. Looking at the political sphere we saw relatively stable developments in most Orthodox countries before 1989/91. The following decades, however, bear witness of fundamental changes. One way to understand these changes is to use Max Weber’s political sociology and to perceive these processes of transformation to oscillate between loose structures of power (Macht) and more stable structures of authority
(Herrschaft). Here we emphasize the importance of religious charisma for the political sphere: first, the charisma of the church as an institution and, second, the personal charisma of religious ascetics. Thus, within these transformations we draw special attention to the role of Orthodox religion and examine its role in current policies, in processes of state formation or in the de-legitimization of state politics.
In the last part of the conference we want to discuss empirical examples showing the interrelation between Orthodox religion and politics in different countries of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.
Where and how do the spheres of religion and politics influence, reinforce, contradict or complement each other in multiple ways? In order to answer these questions we seek to develop a comparative perspective on the role of Orthodoxy and emphasize its peculiarities.
Contributions from social anthropology, sociology, political science, history, theology and religious studies are welcome. We invite empirical or theoretical papers elaborating on the interrelation of politics and religion in different fields of society, e.g.:
– in education,
– in the armed forces,
– in property relations,
– in charitable activities,
– in the cooperation between the state and respective national Orthodox Churches,
– for the development of an ethnic and national identity or
– in other fields of social life.
Contributors should send their proposal with a maximum of 500 words by email to the organizers by 31 March 2015. The program will be finalized by 30 April 2015 and guests will be invited by the organizers. Costs for traveling and accommodation of invited speakers will be reimbursed.
The Centre of Transformation Research was founded in 2012 as a scientific unit of the Faculty of Humanities of the Otto von Guericke University in Magdeburg but its activities date back to the 1990s. The Centre hosts disciplinary and interdisciplinary research projects and provides a platform for researchers to discuss their research and to organize conferences, public lectures and post-graduate schools.
Tobias Köllner is part of the Centre since 2013 with the DFG-funded project “The interrelation between Orthodox religion and the sphere of politics in contemporary Russia” and contributes to the Centre’s current research topic “Transformation of power, governance and structures”.
Contact: Tobias Köllner (tobias.koellner@ovgu.de)
+49 / 151 22 08 73 23