Religious Heritage in a Diverse Europe

The Centre for Religion and Heritage at the University of Groningen invites advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students to explore a new domain of inquiry in the study of religion, namely religious heritage. This summer school of Groningen’s Centre for Religion and Heritage will introduce students from around Europe and beyond to the field of heritage studies with a focus on religion. Heritage will be explored as a form of religious memory that is mobilized in cultural and political contests and interactions, as well as a new force in theology and religious practice. In particular, we will ask what role heritage plays in interactions between religious communities in history and in the present.

The 2019 summer school will be integrated into two related conferences. The first is a three-day international conference on “Religious Heritage in a Diverse Europe” that the Centre is organizing with leading Dutch heritage organizations such as the Jewish Historical Museum (Amsterdam), Museum Catharijneconvent (Utrecht) and Future of Religious Heritage (Brussels). Students will attend selected events of the conference, meet managers in European and Dutch heritage organizations and museums that are attending the conference, and take part in excursions to local religious heritage sites. In seminars, they will discuss what they have observed in the conference and study key texts in heritage studies.

The second conference is a one-day meeting of scholars from the International Network for Interreligious Research and Education (INIRE), which was cofounded by universities in Israel, Germany, UK, the Netherlands and the USA in 2017. INIRE partners will provide core staff for the duration of the one-week summer school, making this the third INIRE Summer School. The previous summer schools took place in Bar Ilan in 2017 and Leipzig in 2018.