Whitepaper: EARS Conference 2019

On the 17th and 18th of October 2019 EARS organized an international conference on the theme of Judeo-Christianity and Islam: Contested Narratives. This international conference was hosted by Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Politicians, academics, journalists, policymakers and opinionaters were invited to discuss the theme of Judeo-Christian culture and its tradition within the European context.

Throughout Europe, the theme of Judeo-Christian culture and its tradition has become increasingly popular. The term Judeo-Christian, however, is strongly debated, increasingly turning into an ideological or even political instrument.

The topic of the Judeo-Christian culture and its tradition was one of the issues EARS was focusing on in 2019, taking into account that this topic deals also with the complicated role of the Islam and the reentry of religion in the public space. It deals with freedom of thought and freedom of religion, but it also stresses the powerplay religion is capable to produce and actually does. In fact, it is a bifocal theme, inviting us to meet some political and theological challenges.

The invited and confirmed keynote speakers are Graham Ward from Oxford, Anya Topolski from Radboud University Nijmegen, Joel Sebban from Université de Paris and Ruud Koopmans from Humboldt University. In this whitepaper you can find their visions on several topics related to the conference’s theme.

Download the whitepaper here.