"Religion and Politics" – Cluster of Excellence at the UNiversity of Münster

From 15 to 17 October 2025, an international conference at the University of Münster will focus on the Council of Nicaea 1,700 years ago and its varied reception since then. As Professor of Dogmatics Michael Seewald explains, the creed formulated in Nicaea is still of fundamental importance to the Catholic Church, as well as to Orthodox and most Protestant churches today. Seewald is organising the interdisciplinary conference together with his colleague Philipp G. Renczes SJ, Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. Held in the Castle’s aula magna, the conference will see researchers from nine countries reflect on historical, transcultural, ecumenical and interreligious questions that arise in relation to the Council of Nicaea and its varied reception over the centuries. Read more

Between religious tradition and aesthetic innovation: Russian art and literature of the 19th and 20th centuries contain numerous references to icon painting – for example, in Dostojevsky’s novel ‘The Idiot’, Sergei Eisenstein's film ‘Bežin lug’ or Kazimir Malevich's ‘Black Square’.
“References to icons reveal a worldview, one that is certainly also political in nature,” says Slavic scholar Irina Wutsdorff from the University of Münster, whose research at the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” focuses on the significance of icons in Russian art and literature, in an interview together with Daniela Amodio.
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According to an international study by the University of Münster, the question of whether people become religious or non-religious at a time of religious decline in society depends very much on the family. “Our surveys and family interviews in Germany, Finland, Italy, Canada, and Hungary show that, in all countries, religion is passed on to the younger generation above all when the family cultivates a religious self-image, engages in joint religious practices such as prayer or singing, and when both parents belong to the same denomination – the most important role in religious socialization is played by mothers”, explain sociologists of religion Christel Gärtner, Linda Hennig and Olaf Müller. Read more