Lecture, Leiden Yemeni Studies Lecture Series

The redox-conversion reaction of metal-disulfide and metal-thiolate complexes are important, as they may shed light on electron-transfer reactions that often occur in Nature.

Channi Li defended her thesis on 15 October 2019.

How has interreligious encounter in Ogbómòsó created multiple religious belongings and identities among individuals and groups?

D&I Event

This project investigates how the first generation of Dutch printed books (the incunabula, 1473-1501) affected late medieval spirituality, religious practice and visual culture in the Low Countries.

Both the Dutch government and the European Commission dedicate an increasing share of public funding for research and innovation to mission-oriented programs, aiming to facilitate sustainability transitions. These programs typically involve support fora range of different research activities, from the…

Interview with political scientist Hans Vollaard (Leiden University) about “Nexit” speculations, the strengths and weaknesses of Geert Wilders’s Party for Freedom, and the general attitude towards Europe in the Netherlands.

Markus Altena Davidsen and colleagues Michaël van der Meer, Maurits Berger and Kim Beerden received a subsidy from the KNAW-Pilotfund. They will use the 10.000 € for an inspiration book for teachers religion/worldview.

Latif Fauzi defended his thesis on 18 May 2021.

A selected group of unpublished amulets from various collections in the world will be studied and edited.

Promotors: Prof.dr. E. Bouwman, Prof.dr. E. Drent

They might not have had Twitter, but they did have brochures (pamphlets), the Roman Catholics and ‘modern’ Protestants between 1840 and 1870. In these, they launched a passionate attack on each other’s ideas. Ineke Smit has catalogued the brochures from the collection of the University Library and outlined…

Mr. Sujadi defended his thesis on 29 June 2017

Almost three years after receiving her honorary doctorate, Dr Graça Machel returned to Leiden University. Over the course of two days she spoke with students, researchers, and other interested persons, about human rights – particularly those of women and children – in a world in which these are continually…

Lecture, LUCIS What's New?! Series

In this article, Maria-Elena Kisyova, Yannick Veilleux-Lepage and Vanessa Newby shed some light on how a small but highly visible group of influencers are actively working to promote a dangerous far-right ideology.

This project will lead to a critical edition and annotated translation of the Niśvāsamukha, the opening book of the Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā.

The chief aim of this study is to explore how classical Persian poetry and the Persian mysticism that is interwoven with the poetry have been used in the new politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially during the Iran-Iraq war.

When is (or becomes) an out-of-body experience a R/S experience? (How) do people make sense of their experiences and is this related to mental health? Which motives do people have to (not) communicate their out-of-body experiences with regular and/or alternative caregivers? And what does it tell us…

How do the pathways of Dutch converts to Islam involved in jihadist movements differ from those of Dutch converts who are not, in terms of their life prior to Islam, their conversion experience and the form of involvement with the Islamic community after conversion?

On Monday 13 September, the Food Citizens? team and the Religious Matters In an Entangled World team from Utrecht University met in Leiden University’s historic 12th century building, Gravensteen.

Linda Stuckrath Gottschalk defended her thesis on 6 April 2016.

Jessica Barr and Barbara Zimbalist invite essays that examine any aspect of race and religion in medieval culture and society for a special issue on race and religion in the Middle Ages. Deadline for submission: 1 February 2021.

There is a crisis in the law concerning the accommodation of religious practice. The legal profession is demanding that the law be changed because it does not want religious institutions to have the 'right to discriminate'. The profession holds that evolving societal sexual norms can render lawful religious…

On January 19, a masterclass on the theme of religious imagination will take place in the Lorentz Center in Leiden. This masterclass for MA and PhD students will focus on the religious imagination as a spiritual skill in the late medieval Low Countries, and the role of religious texts, images, and objects…

Religions involve belief in the unbelievable: in evil spirits causing disease, in souls surviving death, and in gods punishing wrongdoers and blessing the just. Cognitive studies suggest that humans are predisposed to speculate about fate and divine agency, but support from so-called ‘plausibility structures’…

On October 11, the Austria Centre Leiden teamed up with the Leiden Jewish Studies Association to welcome Dr. Lena Sadovski for a lunch time talk. Fifteen colleagues from across the university, including retirees and graduate students, attended Dr. Sadovski's fascinating lecture entitled “When religion…

Want to have your say on the future of Leiden University? On our teaching, research and the organisation itself? Register for one or more online meetings on 25 and 28 June and you’ll be able to discuss this with other students and staff.

The bachelor program Religious Studies has, besides also Linguistics and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, been awarded by the 'Keuzevakkengids Universiteiten 2019' with the predicate top program.

This project explores the religious lives of a Surinamese Hindu community practicing in Amsterdam at the Sri Radha Krishna Mandir from an interdisciplinary perspective.

It is becoming increasingly common for large Dutch municipalities, including the Municipality of Amsterdam, to allow special enforcement officers to wear religious symbols such as the kippah and headscarf. Dutch Minister of Justice Dilan Yesilgöz and PVV party leader Geert Wilders are opposed to this…

Leiden’s Religious Studies ranks 40th place in the QS World University Rankings by Subject.

Program for postgraduate research master seminar 'Current Issues in Religious Studies and Western Esotericism' 2024–2025 is online

Jifeng Liu defended his thesis on 2 February 2017

Since my master's thesis on the landed property of the Frisian monasteries in the Middle Ages I am highly interested in the do ut des-aspects of the relation between religious houses and the lay world. Key words here are: property, power, patronage and the role of religious institutions in the 'salvation…

Colonialism Inside Out: Everyday Experience and Plural Practice in Dutch Institutions in Sri Lanka (c. 1700-1800)

Muhammad Adlin Sila examines the range of ways Bima Muslims constitute their Islamic identities and agencies through rituals and festivals. In response to their surroundings, what it means to be a Muslim is constantly being negotiated.

This study discusses the position of the monasteries in pre-1950s Tibetan societies and how that position was informed by Buddhist monastic ideology.

How do religious narratives persuade their readers to believe their message? And how can it be that some readers even come to treat fantasy and science fiction as authoritative religious texts? These are the core questions treated in Markus Davidsen’s new book Narrative and Belief: The Religious Affordance…

What forms does religiosity take among Muslims in Europe today? How are answers to the question of what it means to be a Muslim in Europe reached in institutions of Islamic higher education, Muslim student organizations, and women’s organizations? What is the relation between the individual and religious…