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Podcast: Making New Faith In/Visible

On 6 and 7 June 2024, the “Religion and Urbanity” research group held an international workshop in Erfurt entitled “Making New Faith In/Visible.” Bringing together scholars from a range of disciplines, the workshop delved into the critical, yet often underexplored question of how religious movements negotiate their visibility—or invisibility—within urban settings.

The event examined how religious groups, particularly new or emerging ones, make themselves seen or unseen in the public sphere and how external forces shape their presence in cities. This dynamic interplay between religion and urbanity, where faith traditions either assert their presence or strategically conceal it, was a key theme. By studying these phenomena, the workshop aimed to shed light on how religious movements influence, and are influenced by, the cities they inhabit.

Anchored within the wide-ranging, cross-epochal research framework of the “Religion and Urbanity” group, the workshop explored religious phenomena from Late Antiquity to the present. Discussions spanned centuries, revealing how religious communities throughout history have utilized urban spaces as stages for expressing their beliefs, hierarchies, and identities—whether through grand, visible gestures or subtle, invisible actions. The focus was on the ways cities become arenas where religious hierarchies, power structures, and identities are displayed, negotiated, or sometimes hidden from view.

Participants engaged with a rich array of topics, from strategies of visualisation and invisibilisation to the temporal dimensions of religious presence in urban life. The workshop’s interdisciplinary approach ensured that the discussions were as diverse as the religious movements themselves, offering fresh insights into how faith interacts with the ever-changing urban landscape.

The podcast serves as a summary of the workshop’s contributions. The speakers’ presentations have been edited and condensed to highlight the key points while providing the necessary context for their research. This ensures that recipients can clearly understand the focus and relevance of each presentation, offering a cohesive overview of the discussions held during the event.

The podcast was produced by the research group’s student assistant Mika Hagedorn. Many thanks to him!


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
urbrel (October 28, 2024). Podcast: Making New Faith In/Visible. Religion and Urbanity: Reciprocal Formations. Retrieved November 5, 2024 from https://doi.org/10.58079/12l2z


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