20/11/2025
Crossroads of History:
Spirituality, Social Transformation & Uncertainties
— a hybrid symposium on Romanian contributions to a global encyclopedia —
24 November 2025 | Romanian Academy
Probing the conventional patterns in which we imagine or practice religion, this hybrid symposium attempts to survey the significance of spirituality during times of global uncertainties and regional instability.
The event is focused on the publication of the nineth volume of a ten-volume Edinburgh Companions to Global Christianity by Edinburgh University Press, and it reunites a group of Romanian scholars who contributed to this encyclopedic project.
Edited by Kenneth R. Ross, Marian Gh. Simion and Todd M. Johnson volume nine (“Christianity in Eastern and Southern Europe”), includes country profiles, major traditions, demographics, as well as trends and themes such as faith and culture, worship and spirituality, theology, mission, religious freedom, gender, social media, migration, secularization, and others.
The Romanian contributors include: Ștefan Bratosin (Paul Valéry University of Montpellier, France), Viorel Coman (KU Leuven, Belgium), Titus Corlățean (Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University, Bucharest), Cezar M. Dascălu (Romanian Academy), Nicu Gavriluță (A.I. Cuza University of Iași), Ioan Gheorghe-Rotaru (Aurel Vlaicu University of Arad), Ramona Mihăilă (Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University, Bucharest), Alina Pătru (Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu), Marian Gh. Simion (Harvard University, USA), Cristian Sonea (Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca), Lavinia Stan (St. Francis Xavier University, Canada), Victoria Stratan (Ion Creangă State Pedagogical University of Chișinău, Moldova), Laurențiu Tănase (Romanian Academy), and Mihaela-Alexandra Tudor (Paul Valéry University of Montpellier, France)
While descriptive in nature, the intended outcomes aim to identify what makes religion significant as a human phenomenon during times of uncertainties, and how religious institutions tend to adapt (or not).
