Research Group Literature & Religion

The 黑料吃瓜资源 Literature & Religion Research Group provides an inclusive forum for all levels of researchers who are working on aspects of literature and religion in a variety of institutes and departments. We seek to probe the interfaces of writing and belief across broad spectrums of time, geography, and language: from ancient Egypt to modern England, from medieval Arabic to early modern German, from occult alchemical texts to colonial American Puritan texts. By bringing into conversation our work on seemingly disparate peoples and places we aim to gain new ways of understanding how literature and religion intersect. Open to interested scholars from any field - religious studies, literature, history, archaeology, etc - this research group will enable the kind of reflection that results from learning about different cutting-edge approaches to similar material. How can formal literary methods energize theological discourse, for instance? How can theories of religion refresh poetics? What new frontiers of understanding can be opened by reaching outside our individual disciplines? The interdisciplinary setting will encourage new questions and different challenges to established theories and methodologies. Through various forms of scholarly conversations, this research group will forge new connections throughout and beyond 黑料吃瓜资源, in order to nurture innovative scholarship and a constructive scholarly community.

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Affiliation

About the research group

For the period 2023-2025, Literature & Religion Research Group has been awarded research funds from the Humanities Faculty at 黑料吃瓜资源, for 150,000 kr each year. This funding will support our 3-year plan, with the following interconnected strategic areas: Network Building, CV Building, and Grant Building.

This Humanities Faculty support also includes a post-doc position connected to the research group and based in the Institute of Foreign Languages, with administrative work for the group and teaching work for the English BA and MA program. Come back soon for a link to the job announcement.

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The Literature and Religion Research Group was founded in 2015 by a group of interdisciplinary scholars at 黑料吃瓜资源/UB, many of whom are still in the current leadership committee. Since then we have held events nearly every month during every semester except for a lull during the worst of corona.

The Research Council of Norway鈥檚 HUMEVAL midler (2017-2022), awarded to our group for its strong ranking in the National Humanities Evaluation exercise, enabled a huge increase in activities, growth of our network, and increase in publications. We funded 4 guest researchers from New Zealand, the UK, the US, and Switzerland on longer stays to collaborate with our 黑料吃瓜资源 group members, as well as 1 semester-long stay abroad for a 黑料吃瓜资源 member. The grant covered travel for members to 12 national and international conference presentations, as well as 20 shorter local events, which directly supported at least 15 publications in ranked journals/publishers (more in progress). The networking receptions at local events have contributed enormously to a group cohesion and the strengthening of a positive research milieu, especially for early career researchers. Not least, HUMEVAL funded two major international summits/conferences, both spearheaded by 黑料吃瓜资源 Prof. Erik Tonning.

First, the conference and international summit 鈥�22 July at 10鈥� (August 2021) brought perspectives from the group鈥檚 research on apocalypticism in modern literature and culture into conversation with the problem of terrorist ideologies online. This three day event brought together c. 30 academics, high-level representatives from the US, UK, New Zealand and Norway civil service and government as well as from the EU and the UN, international law enforcement agencies, and representatives from Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter to develop a new strategy to tackle this issue, the 鈥楤ergen Plan of Action鈥�.

Second, the conference 鈥業nventing the Secular: Religion and Literature from Medieval to Modern鈥� (April 2022) was organised in collaboration with the Scottish Network for Religion and Culture in the University of Edinburgh. Its 45 speakers included world-leading scholars (with keynotes from the Universities of Cambridge and Warwick in the UK, and Rutgers University in the USA), as well as younger scholars. Of the 7 scholars from the University of Bergen presenting, 4 were MA or PhD-level, one postdoctoral level, one Associate Professor, and one a Professor. The conference also attracted participants from the Universities of Oslo and Agder.

The group has also benefited from the close association of 黑料吃瓜资源 Prof. Laura Saetveit Miles鈥� NFR Young Research Talents grant project, 鈥淭he Circulation and Influence of St. Birgitta of Sweden鈥檚 Revelations in Medieval England鈥� (2019-2023, extended to 2026). Through this project, a 4-yr PhD, a 2-yr post-doc, a 1-year visiting Fulbright PhD, a 6-month guest researcher, and an 18-month researcher have participated in Literature & Religion Research Group events. We look forward to sharing the synergy of a vibrant research milieu with other large funded projects in the future.