Ryszard Bobrowicz (Contact), Judith Hahn (Chair)
Panel description: Comparative law and religion, which has been trending for the last few years, is a thoroughly interdisciplinary enterprise. It requires a careful integration of insights from comparative law, comparative religious studies, and comparative theology, combined with a wide range of methodological approaches, engaging with positivist, realist, critical, and hermeneutical perspectives. Studying law and religion within a single context is already a demanding task. Studying two or more contexts, whether crossing time, space, culture, or tradition, brings a whole different level of complexity. This proposed panel aims to reflect on the theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of adopting a comparative approach to the study of law and religion, by focusing on how we can move beyond the hermeneutical narrowness. We are particularly interested in exploring how to develop nuanced and robust comparisons across time, space, cultures, and traditions, while also critically examining how to avoid superficial or misleading comparisons that do not withstand closer scrutiny. Thus, we especially encourage papers that address one or more of the following themes: 1. The historical and cultural entanglements and normativity inherent in the notion of “law,” including realist, critical, and hermeneutical takes on the topic; 1. The historical and cultural entanglements and normativity inherent in the notion of “religion,” including the perspectives of critical religion and (post)secular critique; 3. The (post-)colonial dimensions of both concepts and strategies for avoiding their pitfalls in comparative analysis; 4. Methodological frameworks for studying interactions between law and religion across time, space, cultures, and traditions; 5. Comparative case studies that include explicit theoretical and/or methodological reflection.
With papers by Klaus von Stosch (How to compare in Comparative Theology), Jessica Giles (Research Methodology for Interdisciplinary Law and Theology Studies), and Giuseppina Scala (Multi-faith Spaces beyond Western Paradigms: Challenging the Tertium Comparationis Theory).
We welcome paper proposals! Please follow the guidelines on the EuARE submission page.
The deadline for proposals is 13 March 2026.
Please reach out if you have any questions.