19th USIAS Fellows Seminar - Re-thinking religious in the plural: toward diversification of religious landscapes

Lionel Obadia, Fellow 2014, Université Lyon-2

The examination of forms and reasons of the diversity of beliefs and practices, as well as their targets, is not possible without a parallel analysis of the variations of meanings associated to the term « diversity », of social, cultural, historical and religious contexts in which it is embedded and of the ideological trends and political frame allowing religious diversity to expand – or not. In such a perspective, the word “diversity” is considered, by excess or by default, as a key concept for understanding the historical transformations of religions, from Antique to Modern times.  By extension, it engages a revision of teleological contemporary models of “diversification” of the religious landscape.

Lionel Obadia is currently working on a project aiming at revising the location and the role of diversity in shaping the forms of religion in the course of history, and in history of religion, as well as  reassessing the ideas of “diverse” and “diversification” of the religious landscape. During the seminar, he will present the progress of his work.