Religious Matters

Religious Matters in an Entangled World, a research program at Utrecht University But here, too, religion is remarkably present.

Religious Matters in an Entangled World: Things, Food, Bodies and Texts as Entry Points to the Material Study of Religion in Plural Settings

Today religion matters much more than one would have imagined from the angle of secularization theory, which still dominated social and cultural research up until the late 20th century. Rather than becoming obsolete, across the world religion is in a constan

t process of transformation, manifesting in a plethora of forms and shapes. Our increasingly entangled world not only opens up new possibilities that follow from an exposure to cultural difference, but also entails a desire for closure, protection of the familiar, or exclusion of strangers. Scholarly attempts to grasp and make sense of the world in its full complexity, with its complicated dynamics of flow and closure, must reckon with the resilience of religion as a relatively autonomous factor in shaping people’s being in the world. The salient decline of church membership and attendance in Northern Europe makes this part of the globe appear as quite exceptional. Especially urban metropoles are increasingly diverse, hosting people with various religious affiliations, next to outspoken atheists, agnostics and spiritual seekers. Their coexistence yields tensions and conflicts as well as new forms of conviviality, and poses many societal and scholarly questions about how to live together across religious, ethnic and other differences. This research program studies religion in plural settings in Europe (especially the Netherlands) and Africa (especially Morocco, Ghana and Kenya) from a comparative and transregional perspective. The term religion arguably refers to a notion of transcendent, intangible realms – of God, gods, spirits and other powers – that are accessed and experienced as real through authorised and transmitted sets of practices and ideas in relation to these realms. Our guiding idea is that religion becomes concrete and palpable through people, whose ideas and practices imply the use of various materials - including buildings, images, objects, and texts - and whose bodies and senses are shaped through these ideas and practices. Taking a material approach to religion, we look at the acts and material forms through which religions are present, coexist and possibly clash with each other in particular plural settings (link BM). The manifestation of these acts and forms is subject to state policies, legal arrangements and social-cultural conventions embedded in historical patterns and path-dependent modes of regulating religion. We study the complex configurations of religious coexistence by focusing on religious matters such as things (especially buildings and images), food, bodies and texts as entry points. By doing so, we also seek to further develop concepts and methods for the study of religion from a material angle. Religious Matters consists of a multidisciplinary team of senior and junior researchers who engage in the study of religion from backgrounds in anthropology, (art) history philosophy and religious studies. The research program is made possible thanks to the Spinoza prize and the Academy professor prize awarded to Birgit Meyer by the Netherlands Foundation for Scientific Research (NWO; link) and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW; link). Next to a number of postdocs and PhD students funded through to these awards, the program also hosts affiliated members and international visiting fellows. While each of us engages in a specific research project in line with our specific areas of expertise (link team), as a team we seek to contribute to a deeper understanding of religious dynamics in plural settings. We do so by engaging in intense exchange and conversation in bi-weekly seminars, workshops and conferences. This long-term project runs over a period of eight years, in which things, food, bodies and texts form subsequent entry points for our joint work.

Birgit Meyer - Universiteit Utrecht | LinkedIn

01/01/2026

As of now, 1 January, religious matters will no longer be present at FB. Please get to LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/birgit-meyer-53706150/ for any information about our project, Birgit Meyer

Birgit Meyer - Universiteit Utrecht | LinkedIn On my UU staff page, you can read more about my background, CV, projects and… · Ervaring: Universiteit Utrecht · Opleiding: University of Amsterdam · Locatie: Randstad · 500+ connecties op LinkedIn. Bekijk het profiel van Birgit Meyer op LinkedIn, een professionele community van 1 miljard lede...

04/11/2024

Vidi project Pooyan Tamimi Arab Religious Matters team member Pooyan Tamimi Arab has received a Vidi grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) for his project Iran’s Secular Shift: A Mixed Methods Approach to Nonreligion and Atheism in an Islamic Republic.The project departs from the recognition that in a secular age extending...

De meest radicale verbouwing van de Geesteswetenschappen ooit

30/10/2024

My opinion piece (in Dutch) on the UU site DUB, challenging the plan of how to deal with the national budget cuts for the universities in the faculty of the humanities at UU (where I work).

De meest radicale verbouwing van de Geesteswetenschappen ooit Het is ontluisterend hoe snel de UU aangekondigde bezuinigingen bij de faculteit Geesteswetenschappen omzet in beleid en dat dit van bovenaf zonder inspraak wordt doorgevoerd. Dat schrijft Birgit Meyer, hoogleraar Religiewetenschappen, Akademiehoogleraar en winnaar van de Spinozapremie. Haar opleidi...

Missionary Material Assemblages and the Mission of Museums: The Spirit on Display – Workshop report by Ana Rita Amaral

22/04/2024

Rita Amaral's report about our recent workshop in Rome.

Missionary Material Assemblages and the Mission of Museums: The Spirit on Display – Workshop report by Ana Rita Amaral Entry hall facing the library of the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome. Photograph by A.R. Amaral During the last week of February, an international group of researchers gathered at the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome for a workshop on the past and present entanglements between Christian evang...

Het offer in een religieuze én seculiere context – lezing Birgit Meyer

08/04/2024

Op 3 maart 2024 gaf Birgit Meyer een korte lezing in de Balie over het offer. Haar lezing was onderdeel van het programma “Tijd om offers te brengen…” dat werd georganiseerd door theatergezelschap de Warme Winkel en muzikanten van Touki Delphine.

Het offer in een religieuze én seculiere context – lezing Birgit Meyer Op 3 maart 2024 gaf Birgit Meyer een korte lezing in de Balie over het offer. Haar lezing was onderdeel van het programma “Tijd om offers te brengen…” dat werd georganiseerd door theatergezelschap de Warme Winkel en muzikanten van Touki Delphine (https://debalie.nl/programma/tijd-om-offers-te-...

Cutified Jesus: Presence via Cuteness within Jesus Amazon Products – blog by Martha Gabriela Sánchez Mártinez

04/04/2024

"Amazon is a treasure trove, isn’t it? It is the epitome of consumerism, market competition, maybe even capitalistic indulgence and its concomitant ‘hustle culture’. What better place to find the divine today?

To my knowledge, the study of material religion has thus far not given much attention to aesthetic concepts such as gorgeous, cozy, or even cute." This is how Martha Gabriela Sánchez Mártinez begins her essay on the citification of Jesus figures, Read on here how she unfolds this compelling theme. (BM)

Cutified Jesus: Presence via Cuteness within Jesus Amazon Products – blog by Martha Gabriela Sánchez Mártinez Amazon is a treasure trove, isn’t it? It is the epitome of consumerism, market competition, maybe even capitalistic indulgence and its concomitant ‘hustle culture’. What better place to find the divine today?

Bahá’i Pilgrimage to “The most sacred place on earth” – blog by Wilfried Claus

20/02/2024

Wilfried Claus about his research on the Baha'i pilgrimage: "The research provides insight into how the pilgrimage, by using a wide range of sensational forms, leads to an experience that confirms the pilgrims’ religious beliefs and their connection with the Bahá’í community."

Bahá’i Pilgrimage to “The most sacred place on earth” – blog by Wilfried Claus From May 21st to May 31st, 2022, I was a participant-researcher in a Bahá’i pilgrimage to the world center of the Bahá’i religioni with the aim to write an ethnographic study of the core ritual of the Bahá’i faith community. Bahá’u’llah, the founder and prophet, announced in 1863 his c...

Doing Research Under Current Ethics Regimes: Some Observations

08/02/2024

My contribution to a new stream on the blog series: Beyond Guidelines: The Question of Ethics in Transregional Research launched by Banu Karaca and Çiçek Ilengiz.

Doing Research Under Current Ethics Regimes: Some Observations By Birgit Meyer. Even if one does not find issues regarding data management and research ethics particularly exciting as such, it is necessary to delve into the rules and regulations that underpin the institutionalization of current ethics regimes in the social and cultural sciences. This is part of...

03/02/2024

Introducing “Beyond Guidelines”: Navigating Mismatched Expectations between Research Ethics and Institutional Ethics Regimes In this introductory post to the blog series “Beyond Guidelines: The Question of Ethics in Transregional Research and Knowledge Production”, principal investigator at BEYONDREST Banu Karaca raises a few issues pertaining to the key concepts in ethics guidelines that emerge from the mismatched ex...

Religie en de Grondwet - Utrecht Religie Forum

08/01/2024

Just published, my blog on the Utrecht Religion Forum, in Dutch, about Religion and the constitution in NL. (BM)

Religie en de Grondwet - Utrecht Religie Forum Een meerderheid van de inwoners van Nederland – 57,2% volgens het Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek – beschrijft zichzelf als niet-religieus. Daarnaast is 31,4% christen, 5,6 % moslim en hangt 5,9% een ander geloof aan. Uiteraard zijn religiewetenschappers sterk geïnteresseerd in de voorstelli...