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There's some kind of major religious conference going on in Bucharest, or so I'm told by the people at Radio Romania International. Knowing that it would be of great interest to all, I checked out their website.
THE FIRST EUROPEAN CONGRESS OF THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS IN ROMANIA
Mircea Eliade’s research in the history of religions as well as Ioan Petru Culianu’s studies on gnosticism are well-known to the scholarly and academic world. Both researchers left Romania, as they wanted to develop and refine their research work in the West, where they eventually gained a well-deserved fame. However, Romania’s claim in the field does not go beyond that. The communist regime deliberately downplayed interest in the history of religions, and after December 1989 it took Romania quite a long time to place itself in line with the specialised research from Europe and the US. Romania’s synchronisation in the field has eventually become full-fledged , and a living proof of that is the fact that the European Association for the Study of Religions has chosen Bucharest as the venue for the 6th European Congress of the History of religions.
This is the first time Romania’s capital has been chosen to host to such an event that brings together 250 researchers from 30 countries. Organised by the Romanian Association for the History of Religions, the congress also has the support of the Government and the Presidency. The opening ceremony was held at the Romanian Athenaeum, in the presence of Romanian president Traian Basescu. The event is meant to promote Romanian research in the history of religions, as well as to prove Romania is no longer a “ blank spot on the map of religion research” as Andrei Oisteanu, the President of the Romanian Association for the History of Religions, put it. The driving force of this recognition process is a group of young historians clustered around the ‘”Archaeus” and “Studia Asiatica” specialised magazines. Speaking now is Andrei Oisteanu.
“I should like to begin by mentioning the names of some of the researchers that make up the group: Eugen Ciurtin - the Secretary of the Romanian Association for the history of Religions, Mihaela Timus, Mihail Neamtu, Gabriela Cursaru, Bogdan Tataru-Cazaban, and many others (…)Scientific solidarity became possible first of all due to these young and dedicated people as well as to the support given by a more mature generation. Together we’ve managed to make contemporary Romanian research as well as the history of the history of religions in Romania conspicuous. Saying this I have in mind great names such as Mircea Eliade and Ioan Petru Culianu, but also Moses Gaster, Arion Rosu, Sergiu Al-George, and many others.”
The European Congress of the History of Religions, an event organised for the first time ever in Bucharest, can thus be seen both as a catalyst of academic exchange as well as a fresh impetus for the establishment of a series of university departments and a specialised research institute.
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