The European Association for the Study of Religion (EASR) is having its 2017 conference in Leuven, from 18-21 September. This conference, also recognized as special conference of the International Association for the History of Religion (IAHR), is organized by BABEL and the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies (KU Leuven). Theme of the 2017 EASR Conference is ‘Communicating Religion’. Since BABEL is one of the organizers, members are cordially invited to submit a session or paper proposal and inform their colleagues and doctoral students of this opportunity.

Call for session proposals:
1 September to 31 December 2016

Call for individual papers:
15 November to 31 January 2017

Registration:
1 March to 31 July 2017

Communicating Religion
Communication plays a crucial role in religion and religious praxis. Religions claim to be able to create links with the divine and the transcendent, between humans and superhuman agents. But equally important, both for defining religion and for its subsistence, is the communication that takes place between humans. The conference will focus above all on this second aspect and study how a religion is communicated within the own tradition and towards outsiders. The first area deals with how religious traditions have been presented or present themselves to their members. It offers opportunities for studying a wide range of topics, including ways of creating “ideal” types or images of a tradition, handling moments of crisis, establishing and questioning forms of authority and structure, coping with dissidence, or balancing between preservation and renewal, and how all of these are communicated to the faithful. The second area deals with how a religious tradition positions itself towards outsiders. This includes such topics as reflecting on identity, coming to terms with the constant tension between intra- and extravert orientations, or developing modes for reaching out to others.

More information
http://kuleuvencongres.be/easr2017/articles