Religions 360° | Concept & Perspectives
The Broad Purpose of Studying Religions
Under these highly prestigious international auspices, we invite scholars from around the world to reflect on and contribute to the broad purpose, history, and evolving perspectives of the academic study of religions, both within the humanities and within the wider landscape of knowledge production, communication, and advancement.
Under the overarching theme Religions 360°, scholars of religions working in all areas and subfields of the discipline—regardless of their thematic, chronological, methodological, or institutional orientation—are encouraged to present their latest research and engage with the enduring and decisive questions that continue to shape the field.
History
For the scholarly life of the EASR, it should be noted that Romania—with Bucharest—will become only the fourth country to host the EASR annual conference twice, following the United Kingdom (Cambridge 2001, Liverpool 2013), Italy (Messina 2009, Pisa 2021), and Sweden (Stockholm 2012, Gothenburg 2024). Moreover, the EASR Annual Conference in Bucharest will be the very first to be held twice in the same city.
The academic study of religions—history of religions ׀ istoria religiilor, as it is commonly known in Romania—has advanced through conferences and congresses not only since 1950, the founding year of the IAHR, but since 1900 (and arguably even since the first International Congress of Orientalists in 1873), with world congresses then assimilated to the IAHR.
Thus, the countries which organized two or more congresses (IAHR and EASR combined), from 1900 up to the present day, are only eight:
See the full list of past congresses at iahrweb.org.
- FranceIAHR 1900, EASR 2002
- SwitzerlandIAHR 1904, EASR 2018
- United KingdomIAHR 1908, IAHR 1975, EASR 2001, EASR 2013
- SwedenIAHR 1929, IAHR 1970, EASR 2012
- NetherlandsIAHR 1950, EASR 2014, next EASR 2027
- ItalyIAHR 1955, IAHR 1990, EASR 2009, EASR 2021
- JapanIAHR 1958, IAHR 2005
- GermanyIAHR 1960, EASR 2007, IAHR 2015
On a global scale and across the long history of these scholarly events, Romania will become only the ninth country to host such a congress twice. Moreover, after Paris (1900 & 2002) and Stockholm (1970 & 2012), Bucharest (2006 and 2026) will become only the third city in the world—and in the global history of the discipline—to host this event twice.
We are therefore especially grateful for the trust and support extended by the Executive Committees of the EASR (of which the Romanian Association has been a member since 2002) and the IAHR (which the Romanian Association joined in 2005) in strengthening the academic study of religions during challenging times in Bucharest and Romania. Here, a valued tradition of research dates back to the mid-nineteenth century, although the first institution devoted to the history of religions was founded only in 2008—a direct result of the Romanian Association's publications and the vibrant EASR/IAHR conference held in Bucharest in September 2006.
The Bucharest Congress will celebrate the 160th anniversary of the foundation of the Romanian Academy in Bucharest, 150 years since the first Sanskrit course was initiated at the University of Bucharest by the Indologist and historian of religions Constantin Georgian, the 40th anniversary of the passing of the Bucharest-born historian of religions Mircea Eliade, and 35 years since the passing of the Iași-born historian of religions Ioan Petru Culianu. It will also mark three decades since the foundation of the first professional association for the history of religions in Romania, as well as 20 years since the previous Bucharest Congress—which was at the time the largest EASR conference to date (the 6th EASR Annual & IAHR Special Conference) and the first ever to be organized in Eastern Europe.