News 22 April 2020

The Two Challenges of RESILIENCE

According Denis Pelletier of EPHE, academics have something to say in the public debate about religion and citizenship. We met with him in Leuven, and now you can see what came of our short talk. Watch the video in the blog below.

The Two Challenges of RESILIENCE

We met with Denis Pelletier, Director of Studies at the Religious Sciences Section of EPHE in Paris, in order to discuss the challenges of RESILIENCE. This is what he said about the two challenges RESILIENCE face:

“One challenge is: How do we build a European answer to the globalisation of Religious Studies? Another challenge is: How do we build a European citizenship, and what is the role of academics?”

New Partnerships

Denis Pelletier points out, that academics now collaborate across many nationalities. European academics are collaborating with Chinese, Indian, African and South American academics – to name a few.

Across these new partnerships there isn’t a shared history of religion, nor a shared concept, and only rarely a shared method. Therefor a way of collaborating and discussing is needed, and according to Denis Pelletier, that is what a European consortium should be.

In the same way that religion can cause issues such as identitarianism, religion can also be  an asset. Simply because it builds a respect of otherness and respect of diversity.

The Interview

You can watch the full video of our interview with Denis Pelletier here.

Learn more about RESILIENCE and remember to subscribe to the RESILIENCE YouTube channel for more videos.