Institute for the Study of Freedom of Religion or Belief

Het onderzoek in het ETF Leuven Institute for the Study of Freedom of Religion or Belief (ISFORB) richt zich op de wisselwerking tussen maatschappelijke ontwikkelingen, mensenrechtendiscoursen en religie/geloof op lokaal en mondiaal niveau, met aandacht voor geloofsvervolging. Als multidisciplinaire onderzoeksgroep zet ISFORB vanuit verschillende oogpunten thematisch in op godsdienstvrijheid en het bredere veld van religie-staat relaties.

ISFORB is een bruisende onderzoeksgemeenschap waarin promovendi, faculteitsleden en gastonderzoekers elkaar aanscherpen en verrijken. Met onze gebundelde expertise participeren we in hedendaagse academische gesprekken over de plaats van religie in de seculiere samenleving. Onderzoek doen en publiceren zijn onze kernactiviteiten. ISFORB werkt thematisch en strategisch samen met andere onderzoekscentra in Europa en daarbuiten. ISFORB organiseert en participeert in onderzoeksprojecten, conferenties, symposia, expertbijeenkomsten, enz., zowel aan de ETF Leuven als in andere academische contexten.

De algemene coördinatie van ISFORB is in handen van prof. dr. Jelle Creemers en dr. Tatiana Kopaleishvili. U kunt het ISFORB contacteren via .

Nieuws en geplande activiteiten

Internationale ISFORB conferentie: 2-3 mei 2024: “Propagation and (de)conversion: Conflict of individual and group rights?”.

Onderzoek

Senioronderzoekers

Prof. dr. Jelle Creemers	Godsdienstwetenschappen	Kerk/staat relaties, evangelicalisme, België
Dr. Tatiana Kopaleishvili	Geschiedenis	Kerk/staat verhoudingen, (post-)sovjet, geschiedenis, Georgië
Dr. Bosco Bangura	Missiologie	Pinksterzending, Afrikaanse migratie, interculturele theologie
Dr. Georgia Du Plessis	Rechten	Recht en religie, in het bijzonder wetgeving over godsdienstvrijheid
Prof. dr. Christof Sauer	Missiologie	Godsdienstvrijheid en geloofsvervolging in globaal perspectief
Prof. dr. Christine Schirrmacher	Islamstudies	Islam in het Westen, Islam en mensenrechten

Junioronderzoekers (promovendi)

James Bultema	Missiologie	The History of the Turkish Protestant Church in Context
Joel Hartmann	Missiologie	Models of Ecclesiological Structures for Convert Communities
Anne-Cathérine Pardon	Holocaust studies	Gerhard Kittel, Lutheran Theologian of the Third Reich? An Evaluation of His Thought through Critical Discourse Analysis (FWO PhD Fellowship; Joint PhD Project with VU Brussels)
Kristina Patring	Religious Studies	Integral Mission and FBO-State Donor Cooperation

Huidige en recente onderzoeksprojecten:

Multi-partner project ISFP-2018-AG-CT “EDUC8: Educate to Build Resilience” (2020-2021, Jelle Creemers & Samuel Velinga, gefinancierd door de Europese Commissie)
“A socio-historical investigation into the internal dynamics and self-understanding of Protestant Evangelicalism in Georgia and its relation to past and present public management of religion.” (2019-2020, Tatiana Kopaleishvili, gefinancierd door Langham Fellowship)
“We All Share the Same Secular Values – Right? An Investigation into the Employment of Human Rights and Citizenship Discourses in the Belgian Public Management of Religion and the Effects on the Protestant Minority.” (2018-2021, Jelle Creemers, gefinancierd door het Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek – Vlaanderen, 12O2719N)
“Freedom is Priceless? The Impact of the Inclusion of Evangelical Free Churches in the Belgian ‘Administrative Council for the Protestant and Evangelical Religion’ on their Internal Relations and their Perspectives on the State and Society” (2015-2018, Jelle Creemers, gefinancierd door het Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek – Vlaanderen, 12O2716N)
“Gerhard Kittel, Lutheran Theologian of the Third Reich, An evaluation of His Thought through Critical Discourse Analysis” (2019-2022, Anne-Cathérine Pardon, joint PhD project ETF Leuven/VUB, gefinancierd door het Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek – Vlaanderen)

Geselecteerde publicaties

Du Plessis, Georgia A. “Is Reasonable Accommodation Sufficient Protection for the Right to Religious Freedom in Secular Societies?” In Law, Religion, and Freedom: Conceptualizing a Common Right, edited by W. Cole Durham Jr., Javier Martinez Torrón, and Donlu D. Thayer, 63–79. ICLARS Series on Law and Religion. New York: Routledge, 2021.
Schirrmacher, Christine. “Christianity and the Essential Characteristics of Democracy.” In God Needs No Defense: Re-imagining Muslim-Christian Relations in the 21st Century – A Festschrift in Honor of Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher, edited by Thomas K. Johnson and C. Holland Taylor, 81–87. Bonn: VKW, 2021.
Creemers, Jelle. “The Flemish Draft Law on Religious Communities: A Critical Analysis.” 6 March 2021. [bitterwinter.org]
Du Plessis, Georgia A. “COVID-19 and Limitations to the International Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief.” Journal of Church and State 63, no. 4 (2021): 619–47.
Schirrmacher, Christine. “Stimmen zeitgenössischer islamischer Gelehrter zu Religions-freiheit und Frauenrechten.” In Jahrbuch Religionsfreiheit, edited by Thomas Schirrmacher, Martin Warnecke, and Uwe Heimowski, 160–77. Studien zur Religionsfreiheit / Studies in Religious Freedom 38. Bonn: VKW, 2021.
Creemers, Jelle, and Samuël Velinga. Face 2 Face dialoog vanuit protestants perspectief: Handleiding voor de leerkracht. Beyond the Horizon, 2021.
Ferreira, Ignatius Wilhelm, and Joseph Bosco Bangura. “African Charismatic Movements and Urban Missiology.” In Africa Bears Witness: Mission Theology and Praxis in the 21st Century, edited by Harvey Kwyani, 99–111. Nairobi / Accra: ATN Press, 2021.
Surguladze, Kakhaber, Irakli Baramidze, Khatuna Diasamidze, and Tatiana Kopaleishvili. “Catholicism in Georgia at the Initial Stage of Russian Rule (First Half of the XIX Century).” History, Archeology, Ethnology 6 (2021): 250–63.
Creemers, Jelle, and Hans Geybels, eds. Religion and State in Secular Europe Today. Theoretical Perspectives and Case Studies. Annua Nuntia Lovaniensia 79. Leuven: Peeters, 2019. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1q26xnx.
Creemers, Jelle. ‘Protestanten verenigd voor of door de Staat? Onderhandelingen over de afbakening van een erkende eredienst in België (1999-2002)’. Tijdschrift voor Religie, Recht en Beleid 2 (2018): 5–18. http://www.bjutijdschriften.nl/tijdschrift/religierechtenbeleid/2018/2/TvRRB_1879-7784_2018_009_002_002.
Creemers, Jelle. ‘We Are (Kind of) Protestants Too! Self-Categorization of Free Church Evangelicals in Communications with the Belgian Authorities (1992-1997)’. Journal of Church and State 61, no. 1 (2018): 41–58.
Sauer, Christof. ‘Kann man Märtyrer zählen und wenn ja, wie? – Gegensätzliche Ansätze.’ In: Spohn, Elmar (Hg.): Gottes Handeln in der Geschichte: Einschätzungen – Ergebnisse – Diskussionen. Festschrift für Klaus Wetzel zum 65. Geburtstag. Korntaler Reihe Bd. 13, Nürnberg: Verlag für Theologie und Religionswissenschaft 2017, 78-106.

Andere onderzoeksactiviteiten (selectie)

Co-organization of the Sola Forum Conference ‘Religious Freedom in the Caucasus – History, Theology and Practice’ in Tbilisi, 28-29 October 2022.
Organization of open session ‘Cult-Watching Organizations in Europe: Comparative Perspectives’ (Eileen Barker [LSE], Tatiana Kopaleishvili and Jelle Creemers) at European Association for the Study of Religion conference in Cork, 27 June – 1 July 2022.
Organization of international ISFORB conference ‘Freedom for Us or for All? (Non-) Religious Communities and FORB Rights’, ETF Leuven, 5-6 May 2022.
Organization of open session ‘European states and the Regulation of (Minority) Religions’ at European Association for the Study of Religion conference in Pisa, 30 August-3 September 2021.
Organization of international ISFORB conference ‘Religious Freedom in Europe: Under Critical Investigation’, ETF Leuven, 6-7 May 2021.
Co-organizer of third ReSIS meeting (Religion and Secularity Inter University Seminar) on “Secular Violence” (Iman Lechkar [VUB] and Jelle Creemers), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 20 February 2020.
Organizer of plenary session “Religious Freedom in Missions ad Vulnera“ at “Locating European Missions in a Wounded World in deep Transformation”, IAMS Europe Conference, St. Augustin, Germany, 23-27 August 2019.
Co-organizer of open session ‘Redefining “secularism”: European states and the regulation of (minority) religions’ (Jelle Creemers and Nadia Fadil [KU Leuven]) at International Society for the Sociology of Religion conference, Barcelona, 9-12 July 2019.
Co-organizer and co-chair of ‘Exploring responses to religious discrimination and persecution’ (Christof Sauer e.a.) 2nd International Researchers Consultation on Freedom of Religion or Belief & 7th Brazilian Symposium on Law and Religion & International Consultation on Mission and Theology in the Context of Persecution; at Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Sao Paulo, 17-18 September 2018.
Co-organizer of two open sessions ‘Secular Sensibilities and Minority Religious Subjects’ (Jelle Creemers and Nella van den Brandt [Utrecht University]) at European Association for the Study of Religion conference in Bern, 17-21 June 2018.

Onderwijs

BA: “Seminarie Religiewetenschappen en Missiologie” (SEMRM)
MA: “Religious Freedom & Religious Persecution” (ETF Summer Colloquium)
BA/MA thesisprojecten, waaronder:
- “Discussing Persecution and Hope: Perspectives of Christian Faith- Based Organizations Supporting Persecuted Christians and Leaders of Persecuted Communities.” Petra Lianne Laagland Winder (MA thesis), ETF Leuven, 2018, onder supervisie van Jack Barentsen en Christof Sauer.
- “Inhoud en impact van het sektenrapport (’97) voor de VVP: een kritische analyse.” Femke Rienstra (BA thesis), ETF Leuven, 2017, onder supervisie van Jelle Creemers.