The Religious Studies Working Group brings together scholars from a range of disciplines who share an interest in the religious history, landscape and contemporary cultures of Romania, Moldova and the neighbouring regions. Our aim is to offer a collegial and inviting space for interdisciplinary conversations and to foster new research collaborations. We invite proposals for online and in-person events including book launches, themed seminars and roundtables. The Religious Studies Working Group will also convene a series of panels at SRS triennial conferences. Through these activities, we aim to raise the international profile of research on religions in Romania and Moldova and support the careers of junior scholars in our field.
Active members
Blasen, Philippe
Clark, Roland (convenor)
Dawson, Julie
Kapalo, James
Kontogeorgis, Dimitrios M.
Lupas, Maria
Michelson, Paul
Other members
Biliuta, Ionut
Cindrea-Nagy, Iuliana
Djuric-Milovanovic, Aleksandra
Endresen, Cecilia
Iliescu, Laura
Janosi, Csongor
Komaromi, Tunde
Lisnic, Dumitru
Mate-Toth, Andras
Olar, Ovidiu
Ploscariu, Iemima
Sincan, Anca
Tateo, Giuseppe
Events
The first online event was a book showcase with Marc Loustau, the author Hungarian Catholic Intellectuals in Contemporary Romania: Reforming Apostles (Palgrave MacMillan, 2022) held on 22nd November 2022. Marc gave a brief introduction to his book which was followed by a fascinating discussion with two discussants, Anca Șincan and Csongor Jánosi, both experts on various aspects of religion in Transylvania.
The second Working Group event was an online seminar on the 15th February 2023 entitled “The Archangel Michael in Romania”. The four papers presented were drawn from a forthcoming volume with Bloomsbury edited by Alexandros Tsakos and Marie Steine von der Lippe entitled “The Archangel Michael Beyond Orthodoxies: Here – There – Everywhere”. The following papers were presented: “Terrible, Powerful, and Frightful Captain of the Heavenly Host”: Apocalyptic Imagery in Early Modern Southeast Europe by Ovidiu Olar, Principal Investigator of the ERC ORTHPOL project; “The Archangel Michael’s Roles in Romanian Charms” by Emanuela Timotin, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Linguistics of the Romanian Academy; “Latent Archangels”: Michael in a Romanian Fascist Movement by Roland Clark, Reader in Modern European History, University of Liverpool; “The Archangel Michael looked just like me” – Archangelism and the Iconization of Michael in Twentieth Century Moldova by James A. Kapaló, Senior Lecturer in Study of the Religions, University College Cork