Fifteenth International Conference on Religion and Spirituality in Society, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
19th to 20th June 2025
Rome, Italy

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CALL FOR PAPERS
https://religioninsociety.com/2025-conference/call-for-papers
Place: Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy + Online
Format: A mix of (live, pre-recorded, and in person) presentations and social interaction spaces.
Dates: 19-20 June 2025

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SPECIAL FOCUS: Fragile Meanings: Vulnerability in the Study of Religions and Spirituality

Historically, religious and spiritual institutions, groups, and practices have been used to protect vulnerable persons. However, at times, they have also exposed and exacerbated individual vulnerabilities. Today, the political, social, cultural, and environmental scenarios continue to demonstrate that religions play a key role in escalating or mitigating vulnerabilities. In light of these complex dynamics, the fifteenth edition of the International Conference on Religion and Spirituality in Society aims to problematize these notions through transdisciplinary theoretical and empirical research.

Research on vulnerability provides a hermeneutical lens for interpreting individual, communal, and institutional capacity to live in a globalized world where religions and spirituality frequently intertwine the resilience of groups, individuals, and minorities. The conference will offer a systematic analysis of religious and spiritual experiences, texts, doctrines, and practices that help understand how vulnerability and resilience represent two sides of the same coin. Reflection on these issues may offer solutions to larger contemporary social challenges.

We will explore how religions and spirituality can constitute a resource or a limit for the development of human relationships, intercultural dialogue, personal enhancement, and social justice. Religious and spiritual vulnerability will also be explored by looking at how new processes of legal recognition and protection can be put in place to prevent conditions that exploit or disadvantage persons or groups.

Conversely, the extent to which religion and spirituality can positively enhance social, political, and legal conditions will also be explored.

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CONFERENCE THEMES

THEME 1: Religious Foundations
THEME 2: Religious Community And Socialization
THEME 3: Religious Commonalities And Differences
THEME 4: The Politics Of Religion

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ABOUT US

Founded in 2011, the Religion in Society Research Network explores the relationship between religion in society and the changing nature of spirituality. We seek to build an epistemic community where we can make linkages across disciplinary, geographic, and cultural boundaries. As a Research Network, we are defined by our scope and concerns and motivated to build strategies for action framed by our shared themes and tensions.
https://religioninsociety.com/about