Religion: Concealed and Revealed

The summer school and conference
June 9-12, 2025

The aim is to bring together doctoral candidates and researchers from various academic fields that engage with the study of religion, such as theology, study of religions, history, philosophy, the arts, social and political sciences and other. We invite papers that engage with the theme of Religion: 

Concealed and Revealed. See the full call for papers here

Keynote speakers:

– Dr. Manon Hedenborg White, Malmö University, Sweden.

– Prof. Roger Vanzila Munsi, Nanzan University, Japan.

– Prof. Elisa Uusimäki, Aarhus University, Denmark 

To apply, please send an abstract of approximately 150 words no later than 31 January, 2025 through the submission link. Letters of acceptance will be posted within February 2025. Upon acceptance to the summer school, doctoral candidates will furthermore be asked to submit a 500-word synopsis of their research theme no later than 5 May, 2025

The event starts with the summer school, on 9–10 June, where doctoral candidates are given the opportunity to present and discuss their ongoing PhD work in a cross-disciplinary, international setting. The summer school consists of working groups, tutored by the keynote presenters and other academic teachers. There will also be a special stream of panels for Scandinavian PhD students focusing on esotericism, arranged in collaboration with SNASWE – Scandinavian Network for the Academic Study of Western Esotericism. Postdoc and senior researchers will present their papers in the conference from 11 to 12 June. Doctoral candidates are encouraged to stay for the conference sessions as well.

After the event, we cordially invite you to submit manuscripts from the summer school and the conference for a special issue of the peer-reviewed open-access journal Approaching Religion, published by the Donner Institute: https://journal.fi/ar. For further information, please see the conference website

The summer school is arranged as a joint venture between three different research bodies in Åbo/Turku:

– Centre for the Study of Christian Cultures (CSCC) at the University of Turku

– Polin Institute for Theological Research at Åbo Akademi University 

– Donner Institute for Research in Religion and Culture (DI).