The eleven innovative essays in this volume explore the notion that all forms of modern mass politics, including liberal democracies, need such a form of sacralization of politics to function.

Within the Comparative Religion Network staff and graduate students from LIAS-LUCSoR (and beyond) discuss ongoing work and cooperate on key issues in the comparative and systematic study of religion.

Research in the field of Etruscology at the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University (UL; the Netherlands) aims at exploring the history of the religious and ideological mentality of the Etruscans by studying archaeological, epigraphical and ancient written sources.

This research programme encourages the analysis of nascent Islam within the framework of religious studies.

Islam is a religion as well as a cultural practice that takes on a diversity of forms, some of them contradictory. This has always been the case, and it is becoming increasingly apparant in the modern world through migration, globalisation and the digitial media. The minor Islam: Religion and Society,…

Many people in Asia and the West are attracted to Buddhism. This is because of this religion’s ‘image’ of being exotic and authentic.

Religion is everywhere. Knowledge of religion is essential for anyone who wants to understand the world. Are you fascinated by the diversity of religions, their development throughout history and their meaning today?

Proceedings of the International Colloquium Leiden, May 29 and 30, 2008

What are the foundations of the regulation of blasphemy, and in which manner, in legal as well as in extra-legal terms, has blasphemy developed over the last decades?

The Leiden Center for the Study of Ancient Religions (L*CeSAR) facilitates the integration of scholarly expertise and resources, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration and intellectual exchange among researchers of ancient religions, both within Leiden University and in the broader academic commu…

Leiden University Centre for the Study of Religion (LUCSoR) studies religion as human activity, in all its diversity.

Henk Versnel's work on ancient religion has been seminal. For his 80th birthday, a group of scholars assembled to celebrate and analyze his oeuvre.

Religion in the ancient world, and ancient Egyptian religion in particular, is often perceived as static, hierarchically organised, and centred on priests, tombs, and temples. Engagement with archaeological and textual evidence dispels these beguiling if superficial narratives, however. Individuals…

Despite the wealth of historical literature on the Second World War, the subject of religion and churches in occupied Europe has been undervalued.

On 23 October 2019, Yoram Stein defended his thesis 'Spinoza's Theory of Religion: The Importance of Religion in Spinoza's Thought and Its Implications for State and Society'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. P.B. Cliteur and Prof. A.A.M. Kinneging.

Time, Religion and Sacred Discourses of the Ayuuk People

Mattias Brand defended his thesis on 10 April 2019

This book published by Oxford University Press discusses religion and trade in world history.

'During my first visit to Meghalaya in December 2023, my dear friend in Jowai, Banbha, took me on his motorbike to Nartiang. He wanted to show me the historic site of monoliths. For many, it is a place of deep significance, but this significance depends on whom you ask. To some, it is sacred, where…

On Tuesday 10 September 2024 May Shaddel Basir successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

On 27 June 2019, Barry Bussey defended his thesis 'The Legal Revolution Against the Accommodation of Religion: The Secular Age v. The Sexular Age'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. dr. P.B. Cliteur.

In a podcast episode of 'New Books in History' Claire Weeda talks about her book 'Ethnicity in Medieval Europe 950-1250: Medicine, Power and Religion'.

In recent decades, the Netherlands’ struggle with multiculturalism has caused an upsurge in public interest in the relationship between state and religion. In this, the Dutch address a subject relevant not just to them, but to all of Europe.

Bernini and Pallavicino, the artist and the Jesuit cardinal, are closely related figures at the papal courts of Urban VIII and Alexander VII, at which Bernini was the principal artist. The analysis of Pallavicino's writings offers a new perspective on Bernini's art and artistry and allow us to understand…

Michiel Pronk defended his thesis on 30 March 2016

Mr. Ade Jaya Suryani defended his thesis on 28 January 2021

ERC Starting Grant: The Van Manen Project. This five year project (2023-2028) is made possible with an ERC Starting Grant. It aims to (digitally) reunite all parts of the Van Manen Collection. This enables us to study it as a whole, helping us to understand the process of collection formation. More…

An investigation into how racial stereotypes were created and used in the European Middle Ages.

Punching Back is a detailed ethnographic study that demonstrates that young Muslim women who kickbox develop agentive selves by challenging gender norms, challenging expectations, and living out their religious subjectivities.

Religion, Class, and the Postwar Development of the Dutch Welfare State. Dennie Oude Nijhuis.

In the summer school 'Medieval Religion' students will be challenged by specialists in the field of medieval religion to position and develop their own research in relevant scholarly and cultural contexts. The instructors will give masterclasses from their own specialties. Deadline for registrations:…

Markus Altena Davidsen’s PhD dissertation is the first major study of Tolkien Religion. In it, he analyses the religion that is based on the stories by acclaimed British fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien. He also discusses how fiction itself can become religious. Davidsen will defend his dissertation on…

Is the American government behind the attacks on 11 September 2001? Could it be that the white contrails emitted by planes in the sky are actually ‘chemtrails’: chemicals that are deliberately being spread amongst us? And did the Dutch intelligence service order the murder of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn?…

Chaider Bamualim defended his thesis on 9 September 2015

Ömer Gürlesin defended his thesis on 28 November 2018

Kalsang Gurung is the first Tibetan to obtain his PhD in Leiden. He carried out research into the accounts of Shenrab Miwo, the founder of the Bön religion. Gurung demonstrates that these accounts do not reflect historical reality. PhD defence: 31 May.

What is the impact of Ramadan on patients with a bipolar disorder? What does it mean to be sensitive to psychiatric patients' religious beliefs? Driss Moussaoui, a Moroccan psychiatrist, talks about this in a video interview with Leiden University's Islam Centre LUCIS.

Religion and ethnicity are inextricably linked in discourse within and about Central Asia. One common narrative suggests that as a result of differences between historically sedentary and nomadic populations, ethnic Tajiks and Uzbeks are naturally more religious and more likely to radicalise than their…

LUCSoR will be represented at the upcoming American Academy of Religion (AAR) conference by Dr. Corey Williams (Assistant Professor) and Sasha Sabbah-Goldstein (PhD Candidate). The conference takes place from 19-22 November 2016 in San Antonio, USA.

LUCSoR will be represented at the upcoming American Academy of Religion (AAR) conference by Dr. Corey Williams (Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Global Christianity) and Bas van Rijn (former BA and MA student). The conference takes place from 18-21 November 2017 in Boston, USA.

The University of Groningen is organizing a summer school on the topic of Medieval “Lived Religion” this summer. In this interdisciplinary summer school Masters and PhD students will be challenged by leading specialists dealing with textual and material sources of medieval religious cultures. They will…

On 8 October 2021 (15.00-17.00) Prof. Dr Lena Liepe (Linnaeus University, Sweden) will hold a lecture entitled: "Exhibiting the Sacred: Holy Matter in Museum Displays".

Professor Peter Bisschop, lecturer in Sanskrit and Ancient Cultures of South Asia, has been awarded a grant by the NWO Free Competition to fund his research into the rapid growth of Saivism in the sixth and seventh centuries in South and Southeast Asia. The research project, entitled ‘From Universe…

Professor Peter Bisschop, lecturer in Sanskrit and Ancient Cultures of South Asia, has been awarded a grant by the NWO Free Competition to fund his research into the rapid growth of Saivism in the sixth and seventh centuries in South and Southeast Asia. The research project, entitled ‘From Universe…

On 15 July 2019 Hans-Martien ten Napel started a new series on freedom of religion or belief for the London School of Economics research-led interdisciplinary Religion and Global Society Blog.

A KIEM grant was recently awarded to a diverse group of Leiden researchers, aiming to organise an interdisciplinary conference with the title ‘Ancient Religions and the Materiality of Danger’ in 2026. The topic of the conference marks a shift towards the study of the role of objects.