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Conference Hotel Kontakt der Kontinenten

Soesterberg

NOSTER Spring Conference

18 & 19 APRIL 2016

Conference Handbook

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Programme NOSTER Spring Conference

Welcome to the NOSTER Spring Conference, the highlight of the NOSTER academic

year. During the first day of the conference, Monday 18 April 2016, NOSTER junior

members will present their recently started and advanced research projects. Tuesday

19 April we will pay attention to current debates in the fields of theology and

religious studies and have workshops that contribute to more general research skills

that will be helpful during your PhD.

In this conference handbook, you will find the extended program for the conference,

abstracts of the presentations and table sessions and further practical information. If

you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the NOSTER office at

noster@uu.nl.

We are looking forward welcoming you in Conference Hotel Kontakt der Kontinenten

in Soesterberg and we wish you a very informative and inspiring conference.

Prof. Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte (president)

Prof. Anne-Marie Korte (director)

Dr. Mariecke van den Berg (executive secretary)

Anja Havinga (secretary)

Jorien Copier MA (curriculum coordinator)

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Conference Programme

Monday 18 April 2016

9:30 – 10:30 Arrival, check-in, coffee and tea

10:00 – 10:15 Welcome and introduction of the programme

by prof. dr. Bert Jan Lieteart Peerbolte,

president of NOSTER.

Steylzaal

10:15 – 11:15 Presentations of advanced research with senior

researcher response I

Parallel sessions

11:30 – 12:30 Presentations of advanced research with senior

researcher response II

Parallel sessions

12:30 – 13:45 Lunch Restaurant

13:45 – 14:45 Presentations of advanced research with senior

researcher response III

Parallel sessions

14:45 – 15:45 Annual NOSTER PhD Consultation organized by

the NOSTER PhD Council (NL)1

Steylzaal

15:45 – 16:15 Coffee and tea break

16:15 – 16:45 Presentations of recently started research I Parallel sessions

17:00 – 17:30 Presentations of recently started research II Parallel sessions

17:30 – 18:15 Drinks Café de Wereld

18:15 – 20:00 Diner Restaurant

20:00 – 22:00 Evening programme Steylzaal

1 The common language of the conference will be English. However, some parts of the

programme will be in Dutch. These are marked as ‘(NL)’ in the programme.

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Presentations of advanced research

Presentations of advanced research address a (concept) chapter or article of the PhD candidate’s dissertation. Please read the text

of the presentations you are planning to visit in advance. The texts will be available at the NOSTER website:

http://noster.org/documents/sc2016/ | User name: SC2016 | Password: n0st€r#16

Time Presentation by Title Respondent Location Abstract

10:15 - 11:15 Bram Colijn (VU)

Protestant weddings in contemporary

Xiamen: Migration, church feminization, and

negotiation over wedding rites

dr. Kim Knibbe (RUG) Steylzaal p. 11

10:15 - 11:15 Brenda Matthijssen

(RU)

Ritualising Transforming Bonds; Relationships

between the living and the dead in the

Netherlands

dr. Yvonne van der Pijl

(UU) Tanzania p. 12

11:30 - 12:30 Jacobine Gelderloos

(PThU)

Village Churches and the Quality of Life in Rural

Groningen and Brabant dr. Kees de Groot (TiU) Steylzaal p. 12

11:30 - 12:30 Marco Derks (UU)

Conscientious Objectors and the Marrying Kind:

Rights and Rites in Dutch Public Discourse on

Marriage Registrars with Conscientious Objections

against Conducting Same-Sex Weddings

prof. dr. Maaike de

Haardt (RU) Tanzania p.13

11:30 - 12:30 Iris Busschers (RUG) Preliminary Conclusions 'Rethinking Missionary

Lives'

prof. dr. Martha

Frederiks (UU) Mozambique p. 13

13:45 - 14:45 Erik Willemsen

(PThU)

Jonathan Edwards: Reformed Spirituality Between

Antiquity and Modernity (NL)

Prof. dr. Andreas Beck

(ETF) Steylzaal p. 14

13:45 - 14:45 Konstantin Stijkel

(PThU)

The ultimate imagination; Description of Ezekiel’s

temple, its plan and arrangement (NL)

dr. Archibald van

Wieringen (TiU) Tanzania p. 14

13:45 - 14:45 Erik Renkema (PThU) Religious Education and Diversity in Merged

Schools (NL)

prof. dr. Siebren

Miedema (VU) Mozambique p. 15

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Presentations of recently started research

Presentations of recently started research don’t require readings in advance.

Time Presentation by Title Location Abstract

on page

16:15 - 16:45 Frederique Demeijer (VU) Zes sociale generaties van Het Apostolisch Genootschap (NL) Steylzaal 16

16:15 - 16:45 Sandra van Groningen (RU)

& Jorien Copier (RU)

Spirituality and Leadership in Changing Religiously Affiliated School

Communities Tanzania

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16:15 - 16:45 Marinus de Jong (TUK) A Neo-Calvinist Ecclesial Turn? Klaas Schilder on the place of the

church in the world Mozambique

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16:15 - 16:45 Daan Oostveen (VU) Religious diversity in China: multiple religious belonging? Kenia 17

17:00 - 17:30 Jelle Wiering (RUG) Spotting the chameleon: a material approach to the secular Steylzaal 17

17:00 - 17:30 Jasper Bosman (TUK) Celebrating the Lord’s Supper Within Reformed Churches in The

Netherlands Tanzania

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17:00 - 17:30 Miriam Adan Jones (VU) 'Catholics of the English Race': ethnicity and ecclesiology in Anglo-

Saxon England (c. 650-1050) Mozambique

18

17:00 - 17:30 Nanouschka Wamelink

(UvA)

Fasting in the public eye: medieval ideas about saintly self-starvation

and spectatorship Kenia

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Tuesday 19 April 2016

08:00 – 09:00 Breakfast Restaurant

09:00 – 10:30 Table discussions: The future of the field

(see page 7 for explanation of this meeting)

Steylzaal

10:30 – 11:00 Coffee and tea break

11:00 – 13:00 Workshop I

Verdedigen van je proefschrift (NL) Steylzaal

Workshop II

Writing a Convincing Conference Abstract Tanzania

Workshop III

Opiniestukken schrijven over je promotieonderzoek

(NL)

Mozambique

Workshop IV

Hoe overleef ik religieus analfabetisme? (NL) Kenia

13:00 – 13:15 Plenary closing and farewell Steylzaal

13:15 – 14:15 Lunch Restaurant

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09:00 – 10:30 Table discussions: The future of the field

In the plenary morning session we want to take time to discuss the current debates

of our academic disciplines. These concern the specific position and mutual

relationship of theology and religious studies, recent developments in these fields

and their societal impact. You are kindly invited to choose from one of five different

discussion tables where you are briefly introduced in one of these debates by an

expert. You may then share your own thoughts in a brainstorm session. At the end

you, as a junior researcher, will be able to articulate a clear stance in at least one of

these issues. Moreover, you are encouraged to actively participate in these debates

and contribute your own thoughts and ideas.

1. The future of interdisciplinarity in the study of religion

To what extent should there be more collaboration between theologians, religious

studies scholars and scholars from other academic disciplines? What are the pros and

cons of shared faculties, shared research programmes and a shared research school

(NOSTER)?

Table chair: prof. dr. Anne-Marie Korte (UU/NOSTER)

2. The future research agenda of the study of religion

The Dutch National Research Agenda (Nationale Wetenschapsagenda) includes

several questions in which religion is at stake. This table will discuss a future research

programme/agenda in which these questions are elaborated.

Table chair: prof. dr. Marianne Moyaert (VU)

3. The future of junior researchers’ contributions to the discipline

To what extent are junior scholars in theology and religious studies involved in the

current debates and developments in the field? At this discussion table we will talk

about the role of junior scholars and how they can participate in future initiatives

such as the 2017 conference on ‘Religion and Modernity’.

Table chair: prof. dr. Henk van den Belt (RUG)

4. The future of education in religion

What should a new generation know about religion? And to what extent (and how)

can this be part of school curricula? At this table we discuss the future of education

in religion.

Table chair: dr. Markus Davidsen (UL)

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5. The future of the societal representation of theology and religious studies

Religion is increasingly a topic in public debate. Scholars of religion however are,

despite their expertise, only sporadically asked for their opinion. At this table we will

discuss how we, as experts of religion, can become more visible in the media in order

to bridge the gap between academic knowledge of and public debate on religion.

Table chair: prof. dr. Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte (VU/NOSTER)

Table arrangement

1. The future of

interdisciplinarity

in the study of

religion

2. The future

research

agenda of the

study of

religion

3. The future of

junior

researchers’

contributions

to the

discipline

4. The future of

education in

religion

5. The future of

the societal

representation

of theology and

religious

studies

Prof. dr. Anne-

Marie Korte

(UU/NOSTER)

Prof. dr.

Marianne

Moyaert (VU)

Prof. dr. Henk

van den Belt

(RUG)

Dr. Markus

Davidsen (UL)

Prof. dr. Bert

Jan Lietaert

Peerbolte

(VU/NOSTER)

Jasper Bosman

(TUK)

Marco Derks

(UU)

Iris Busschers

(RUG)

Jorien Copier

(RU)

Jeroen Jans

(RU)

Bram Colijn (VU) Nienke

Fortuin (RU)

Ernst Boogert

(PThU)

Peter Gorter

(VU)

Theo van

Leeuwen

(PThU)

Frederique

Demeijer (VU)

J.B. ten Hove

(VU)

Chandra

Gunawan (TUK)

Marinus de

Jong (TUK)

Matthias

Mangold (ETF)

Gerard van Es (UU) Martijn

Stoutjesdijk

(TiU)

Kees van der

Knijff (PThU)

Erik Renkema

(PThU)

Joyce Rondaij

(PThU)

Susanne van

Esdonk (UvA) Lieke Wijnia

(TiU)

Suzanne

Roggeveen

(UvA)

Inge Schipper

(VU)

Jacobine

Gelderloos (PThU)

Stephie The

(TiU)

Miriam Jones (VU) Erik Willemsen

(PThU)

Brenda Mathijssen

(RU)

Fokke Wouda

(TiU)

Konstantin Stijkel

(PThU)

Theo Zijderveld

(VU)

Nanouschka

Wamelink (UvA)

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Workshops

Tuesday 19 April | 11:00 – 13:00 Location

Verdedigen van je proefschrift (NL)

dr. Mariecke van den Berg (VU/NOSTER) and prof. dr. Marcel

Sarot (TiU)

Homework: send in a chapter or article that will be part of your

thesis before April 6 so critical questions can be prepared. When

you already have submitted a text for a presentation of

advanced research during the conference, this text will be used.

Steylzaal

Writing a Convincing Conference Abstract

dr. Lieve Teugels (UU)

Homework: bring in five hard-copy prints of a conference

abstract you’ve sent in or one that you are planning to send in

together with the call for papers to which it responds.

Tanzania

Opiniestukken schrijven over je promotieonderzoek (NL)

Monic Slingerland (Trouw) Mozambique

Hoe overleef ik religieus analfabetisme? (NL)

dr. Frank Bosman (TiU) Kenia

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Participants per workshop

Verdedigen van je

proefschrift

Writing a

Convincing

Conference

Abstract

Opiniestukken

schrijven over je

promotieonderzoek

Hoe overleef ik

religieus

analfabetisme?

Bram Colijn (VU) Ernst Boogert

(PThU)

Jasper Bosman

(TUK)

Iris Busschers

(RUG)

Nienke Fortuin

(RU)

Frederique

Demeijer (VU) J.B. ten Hove (VU) Jorien Copier (RU)

Miriam Jones (VU) Gerard van Es (UU) Jeroen Jans (RU) Marco Derks (UU)

Kees van der Knijff

(PThU) Peter Gorter (VU) Inge Schipper (VU)

Susanne van

Esdonk (UvA)

Brenda Mathijssen

(RU)

Chandra Gunawan

(TUK) Stephie The (TiU)

Jacobine

Gelderloos (PThU)

Erik Renkema

(PThU)

Miriam Hofman

(RUG)

Nanouschka

Wamelink (UvA)

Marinus de Jong

(TUK)

Konstantin Stijkel

(PThU)

Theo van Leeuwen

(PThU)

Erik Willemsen

(PThU)

Martijn

Stoutjesdijk (TiU)

Matthias Mangold

(ETF)

Theo Zijderveld

(VU) Lieke Wijnia (TiU)

Suzanne

Roggeveen (UvA)

Joyce Rondaij

(PThU)

Pieter Veerman

(PThU)

Jelle Wiering

(RUG)

Fokke Wouda

(TiU)

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Book of Abstracts

Presentations of advanced research address a (concept) chapter or article of the PhD

candidate’s dissertation. Please read the text of the presentations you are planning

to visit in advance. The texts will be available at the NOSTER website:

http://noster.org/documents/sc2016/

User name: SC2016

Password: n0st€r#16

10:15 - 11:15 Bram Colijn (VU) Respondent:

dr. Kim Knibbe (RUG) Steylzaal

Protestant weddings in contemporary Xiamen: Migration, church feminization,

and negotiation over wedding rites

This chapter will discuss Protestant Christians in contemporary Xiamen through

the lens of weddings. It asks: How do young Protestants in Xiamen challenge

established wedding practices in their church and home communities, and what

does this reveal about the ways they position themselves in dominant discourses

in Chinese society? Data is derived from interviews and participant observation

among recently and soon-to-be married Protestants, their spouses, and close kin.

In Xiamen's churches, as elsewhere in China, women far outnumber men. At the

same time, most church leaders condemn intermarriage between Christians and

non-Christians. This leaves many Protestant women negotiating with their church

leaders and fiancé over a host of thorny issues, often challenging the established

practices of their church community through discourses of romantic love and

religious freedom. Moreover, most young Protestants in Xiamen today are highly

educated migrants from elsewhere in Fujian province and China. Their weddings

are typically divided in up to three ceremonies; one in the groom's hometown,

one in the bride's, and one in Xiamen. In the context of a far-reaching revival of

'traditional Chinese culture,' including ancestor veneration and popular deity cults,

young urban Protestants living 'modern' lives have to negotiate with their

'traditional' rural home communities over the rites to be performed before,

during, and after their weddings. The chapter seeks to depict young Protestants in

Xiamen as they negotiate their place between church and home communities in a

rapidly changing society.

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10:15 - 11:15 Brenda Matthijssen

(RU)

Respondent:

dr. Yvonne van der Pijl (UU) Tanzania

Ritualising Transforming Bonds; Relationships between the living and the dead

in the Netherlands

People continue bonds with their dead in various sensible ways, and in past and

present tenses. They continue to celebrate anniversaries through which the dead

grow old and marriages last. In public and private spaces, the dead are made

present and become the topic or partner of conversation. Such on-going

relationships are by no means new, but have long been overshadowed by a

modernist, psychological framework. Since the 1990s this has begun to shift.

Today the continuing bonds paradigm has become the dominant way of

understanding grief, mourning and bereavement. Although many have argued for

exploring the dynamics of continuing bonds, such dynamics remain easily

overlooked. At this time they are not overshadowed by a modernist approach, but

by a focus on continuity. That what we have come to call “expressions of

continuing bonds”, however, might not always point to such continuity. This paper

aims to draw attention to transformations that occur in relationships between the

living and the dead; transformations that are ritually marked by the bereaved and

through which they negotiate the absence-presence of the deceased. Although a

sense of continuity is apparent in mourning practices, it suggests that we should

take separation, transition and integration into account to understand the social

and material lives of continuing bonds.

11:30-12:30 Jacobine

Gelderloos (PThU)

Respondent:

dr. Kees de Groot (TiU) Steylzaal

Village Churches and the Quality of Life in Rural Groningen and Brabant

Village Churches and the Quality of Life in Rural Groningen and Brabant is an

ethnographic research about rural Protestant churches in the Netherlands. From a

practical theological point of view the main question is addressed: how do

churches affect the quality of life in rural areas? The research focuses on two

protestant faith communities in the Netherlands. Both church communities

encompass several villages. One is in Brabant, the catholic southern part of the

country, where the protestant church forms a small minority. In the past 10-15

years the ecumenical contacts have gradually increased. The other congregation is

in Groningen, which used to be a protestant region, but is now the most

secularized province in the Netherlands. The faith community is a multi-parish

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ministry, consisting of four villages who share one part time clergyman and work

together in one church council.In these case studies various aspects of church life

in a rural context are explored. First I am investigating the social involvement of

the church community with village life: does the community cooperate with other

churches and organizations and what charitable initiatives does the community

develop? Secondly the use and meaning of the church building is addressed.

Thirdly, a more liturgical perspective is used for mapping practices of ritual and

reflection in village life. Finally I would like to know what church and faith mean in

the personal life of people: how does the church affect their personal quality of

life?

11:30-12:30 Marco Derks (UU) Respondent:

prof. dr. Maaike de Haardt (RU) Tanzania

Conscientious Objectors and the Marrying Kind: Rights and Rites in Dutch Public

Discourse on Marriage Registrars with Conscientious Objections against

Conducting Same-Sex Weddings

Through a critical discourse analysis of selected examples from printed, online and

televised media, this article shows that the weigerambtenaar was constructed as a

particular ‘fictive’ character that created a ‘social problem’; and that, although the

issue was framed in terms of certain rights, the subtext of some contributions also

points to the importance of certain rites—with a pivotal role for the civil marriage

registrar.

11:30-12:30 Iris Busschers (RUG)

Respondent:

prof. dr. Martha

Frederiks (UU)

Mozambique

Preliminary Conclusions 'Rethinking Missionary Lives'

During my presentation of advanced research I will present the preliminary

conclusions of my PhD Project “Rethinking Missionary Lives: Collective Biography,

Missionary Memory, and Historiography in the context of Dutch Calvinist Missions

to Papua and East Java, circa 1900—1949”. The Project itself can be summarised

as follows: In this PhD project I analyze lives of missionary workers who were

active in North-West Papua and East Java for the Dutch Calvinist Samenwerkende

Zendingscorporaties between c. 1900 and 1949. Particular attention is paid to the

interplay between the lived experience of workers at their mission site and the

memorialisation, narration and monitoring of missionary lives in the Netherlands.

The project sheds light on the circularity of missionary identity narratives, by

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portraying how individual biography, missionary memory, and mission

historiography are intrinsically related to each other. Furthermore, by highlighting

the influences of intersectionality, or in other words race, class, gender,

generation, family, profession, and religion, the project traces practices of

inclusion and exclusion in the missionary community then and now. Moreover, by

offering a deep contextualisation of mission in the circumstances in Dutch colonial

Indonesia, the Netherlands, and the transnational missionary community, the

project argues that Dutch Calvinist mission and the individual workers it

comprised were often not the isolated actors historiography so often suggests.

13:45 - 14:45 Erik Willemsen

(PThU)

Respondent:

prof. dr. Andreas Beck (ETF) Steylzaal

Jonathan Edwards: Reformed Spirituality Between Antiquity and Modernity

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) – Amerikaans theoloog, filosoof en opwekkingsprediker – had in zijn directe omgeving te maken met een tweetal ‘kwesties van onzekerheid’. In de eerste plaats de in zijn tijd niet ongewone en uit het puritanisme voortspruitende vraag naar persoonlijke heilszekerheid. Daar kwam echter, in de tweede plaats en gevoed door de ‘taste of the age of Enlightenment’, de twijfel inzake klassieke doctrines (zoals het bestaan van God) bij. Beide kwesties hebben een epistemologische oriëntatie, zo betoog ik in mijn dissertatie. In deze presentatie stel ik de hoofdlijnen van mijn onderzoek aan de orde aan de hand van een paper dat ik kort geleden presenteerde tijdens een internationale conferentie in Tokyo, georganiseerd door het Jonathan Edwards Centre Japan.

13:45 - 14:45 Konstantin Stijkel

(PThU)

Respondent:

dr. Archibald van Wieringen

(TiU)

Tanzania

The ultimate imagination; description of Ezekiel’s temple, its plan and

arrangement

In the description of Ezekiel’s temple an impression has been given of the plan and

arrangement of the temple precinct. Furthermore the architecture, furnishing and

decoration of the courts, buildings and other structures have been investigated. In

a number of drawings a reconstruction of the temple building and its surrounding

courts must provide a better understanding of the vision-report. Much of the

temple imagery has been adopted from reminiscences of earlier sanctuaries, gate-

houses and courts in the Ancient Near-East. However, at the same time Ezekiel’s

temple differs in many respects from current temple building plans of that time.

Some features of Ezekiel’s (never built) visionary temple are quite new. The

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overall plan with its walls, gate courts and the tripartite arrangement of the

sanctuary are comparable with its Israelite predecessors and the current style

temple building in the Ancient Near-East. That’s the reason why Ezekiel’s temple

on account of the preceding chapters has been compared with Egyptian,

Mesopotamian Canaanite and Israelite temple building cults.

13:45 - 14:45 Erik Renkema

(PThU)

Respondent:

prof. dr. Siebren Miedema

(VU)

Mozambique

Religious Education and Diversity in Merged Schools

A significant feature of many primary schools in the Netherlands is the religious

diversity of the student population. Different religious backgrounds meet in Dutch

classrooms. This feature of diversity is very explicit at schools that are the result of

a merger of a public and a non-government school, the so-called cooperation

school. At these schools there is no affiliation with one specific religious tradition

and on the other hand these schools don’t present themselves as public schools.

This PhD-research concentrates on the moment of contemplation in religious

education at one specific cooperation school. Focusing on this moment we ask

two questions: how is dealt with religious diversity in this practice and what we

can say about this practice and the way teachers give meaning to it in relation to

the formal school identity? Based on these question we draw conclusion

concerning religious diversity in education.

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Presentations of recently started research

Presentations of recently started research don’t require readings in advance.

16:15 - 16:45 Frederique Demeijer (VU) Steylzaal

Zes sociale generaties van Het Apostolisch Genootschap

Hoe ervaren leden van een geloofsgemeenschap hun religie? Is er verschil in hoe

verschillende sociale generaties, zoals geschetst door de socioloog Karl

Mannheim, hun religie beleven? En wat zegt dit ons over de veranderingen die

een geloofsgemeenschap doormaakt? Op basis van een pilot study waarin zes

leden behorende tot zes verschillende generaties van het Apostolisch

Genootschap geïnterviewd zijn d.m.v. ongestructureerde life history interviews

presenteer ik mijn bevindingen en ga ik in op deze vragen.

16:15 - 16:45 Sandra van Groningen (RU)

Jorien Copier (RU) Tanzania

Spirituality and Leadership in Changing Religiously Affiliated School

Communities

Religiously affiliated school communities in the Netherlands have to deal with

processes of de-traditionalization, secularization and individualization. What kind

of leadership is needed in these schools? And how can theory from religious

studies and theology contribute to this issue? In this duo-presentation we

introduce our two practice oriented research projects that aim to develop

knowledge on intervention designs that address school leaders’ ultimate concerns

and help them lead their school communities in the re-establishment of purpose

and meaning.

16:15 - 16:45 Marinus de Jong (TUK) Mozambique

A Neo-Calvinist Ecclesial Turn? Klaas Schilder on the place of the church in the

world

In recent decades some important theological developments witness a trend

which has been called an ecclesial turn. In the work of the influential theologians

Stanley Hauerwas and John Milbank, albeit very differently, the church is the pivot

of their respective theological enterprises. In spite of the considerable acclaim for

this ‘ecclesial turn’, many have criticized this emphasis and warned against the

’sectarian temptation’. The present research seeks to contribute to this debate

with a systematic-historical study into the theological work of the Dutch Neo-

Calvinist theologian Klaas Schilder (1890-1952). The study of the Neo-Calvinist

17

tradition has of recent given evidence of a modest revival to which the present

research seeks to contribute. This growing interest is mainly due to the broad

cultural scope of the founders of this tradition, Abraham Kuyper and Herman

Bavinck, the ecclesiocentric, more ‘Hauerwasian’ emphasis of Schilder’s theology

bears the promise of being a valuable contribution and, maybe, a correction.

Schilder’s theology has the potential to connect the sometimes overtly optimistic

Kuyperian cultural engagement with a Hauerwasian ecclesiocentrism, while at the

same time criticizing both. The heart of the actual research will thus be a

systematic-historical survey of the intellectual heritage of Klaas Schilder, focusing

particularly on role of the church in the world.

16:15 - 16:45 Daan Oostveen (VU) Kenia

Religious diversity in China: multiple religious belonging?

In the many Western countries, we have witnessed an increase in hybrid forms of

religiosity and people with a so-called multiple religious belonging in the past

decades. Some scholars have suggested that in Asia – for example in China -

multiple religious belonging is in fact the rule, while exclusive religious belonging

to one single religious tradition is the exception. I this presentation, I will show

how religious diversity has been conceptualized historically in China, by means of

an analysis of the discourse of “sanjiao” and “panjiao”, and whether multiple

religious belonging can indeed me considered as the general form of appearance

of religion in China, or that multiple religious belonging should be considered as a

misnomer in the context of Chinese religiosity.

17:00 - 17:30 Jelle Wiering (RUG) Steylzaal

Spotting the chameleon: a material approach to the secular

Secularism has recently become subject to intensified academic scrutiny,

criticizing its alleged ‘value freedom’ and ‘objectivity’. Rather than taking the

notion of secularism as the neutral opposition of religion for granted, scholars

have set out to deconstruct and denaturalize secularism’s normativity. However,

this academic interest has mainly focused on political secularism, ignoring

secularism as a cultural phenomenon. This particular bias has resulted in some

theories tending to rather be the product of normative trains of thoughts than the

result of empirical investigations. Therefore, in this paper, I call for more ‘bottom-

up inquiry’ into the secular, in which secularism is approached as a cultural,

materialized ideology rather than a political model. I do so through discussing the

normativity of two material forms that are often perceived as neutral: (1) the

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Dutch ‘liberal’ body, and (2) the condom. I argue that revealing such historically-

constructed manifestations of the secular is crucial for obtaining a more

comprehensive understanding of the secular and in which ways is related to the

category of religion.

17:00 - 17:30 Jasper Bosman (TUK) Tanzania

Celebrating the Lord’s Supper Within Reformed Churches in The Netherlands

By means of qualitative empirical research, this research aims at evaluating the

experience of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper within two Calvinistic

denominations in the Netherlands. Within this research, the theological

perspectives of several local churches (their confessional and mission statements),

church leaders (ministers), members who participate in the celebration of the

sacrament, and non-participating members are described, compared, and

evaluated, using the Theology in Four Voices model (Helen Cameron a.o.).

17:00 - 17:30 Miriam Adan Jones (VU) Mozambique

'Catholics of the English Race': ethnicity and ecclesiology in Anglo-Saxon England (c. 650-

1050)

In the mid-eighth century, the Anglo-Saxon missionary Boniface addressed a letter

to “all catholics of the English race” asking them to pray for his mission. How did

he and his contemporaries envision the relationship between these two identities:

the religious and the ethnic? This is the central question of my research project,

which aims at describing the changing relationship between ethnic and ecclesial

categories in Anglo-Saxon England over the course of the early middle ages. In my

presentation, I discuss the rationale, aims, and methods of my project, as well as

its potential implications.

17:00 - 17:30 Nanouschka Wamelink (UvA) Kenia

Fasting in the public eye: medieval ideas about saintly self-starvation and

spectatorship

In the Middle Ages, dozens of female saints were believed to have stopped eating

and drinking except for the Holy Eucharist. This radical kind of fasting is in

scholarly literature referred to as inedia and formed an important marker of

female holiness. In medieval sources, this inedia is described as a public act, in

which women performed their starvation in front of spectators. Also, these

sources themselves were used to disseminate ideas about female holiness to a

public. I analyze medieval accounts of this kind of self-starvation from a

performative perspective.

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Practical information

Directions to Conference Hotel Kontakt der Kontinenten

Public transport

From railway station Amersfoort busses leave 4 times an hour. Bus 52 leaves in the

direction Utrecht. Bus 56 leaves in the direction Wijk bij Duurstede. Travel time: 9 to

11 minutes. Get off at the bus stop "Kontakt der Kontinenten".

By car

Coming from Amersfoort

A28 direction Utrecht, afrit/exit 4 (Soest-Soesterberg), at the end of the exit turn

right.

Coming from Utrecht

A28 direction Amersfoort, afrit/exit 4 (Soest-Soesterberg), at the end of the exit turn

left.

You are now on the Richelleweg. At two traffic lights you go straight ahead. After 100

meters you will find the entrance at your left hand.

If you use a navigation system we advise you to enter the following

address: Richelleweg 1, 3769 AZ Soesterberg. This destination is opposite of our

entrance.

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Floor map of Conference Hotel Kontakt der Kontinenten

Contact information:

If you have any questions preceding the conference, please don’t hesitate to contact

the NOSTER office at noster@uu.nl.

Telephone numbers for (urgent) matters during the conference:

Anja Havinga: 06- 11799438

Jorien Copier: 06-1587 4167