Call for papers

BABEL/NSRN 2026 international conference
KU Leuven, 3-4 December 2026
Conference title:
Entangled Lives: Religion, Nonreligion, and the Spaces In-Between

This two-day interdisciplinary conference invites critical and creative engagement with the evolving
dynamics between religion and nonreligion, with particular attention to how these interactions unfold
within intimate, everyday contexts. Focusing on micro- and meso-level encounters – between partners,
family members, friends, neighbors, or colleagues – the conference will move beyond treating religion
and nonreligion as fixed or binary categories. Instead, it will center on the everyday lived experiences,
relational negotiations, and hybridities that occur across diverse (non)religious worldviews, seeking to
illuminate the processes through which beliefs, doubts, spiritualities, and meaning-making practices
are co-constructed, contested, or transformed in ordinary life.

We welcome contributions from across the disciplinary spectrum, including – but not limited to –
religious studies, theology, sociology, anthropology, history, psychology, philology, and philosophy.
By fostering interdisciplinary dialogue, the conference aims to deepen scholarly understanding of how
individuals and communities navigate (non)religious difference, as well as the tensions, solidarities,
and unexpected transformations that arise in the process.

Importantly, the scope of the conference also includes the ambiguous and overlapping spaces of
(non)belief: secularity, spirituality, mysticism, ritual innovation, and personal meaning-making. We
invite scholars to explore how these hybrid or “in-between” positions disrupt conventional
categorizations and open new modes of living and relating throughout historical, contemporary, and
emerging contexts.

Key guiding questions include:

• How do individuals and communities navigate (non)religious diversity?
• How are (non)religious worldviews expressed and negotiated in everyday relationships?
• What tensions, transformations, and solidarities might emerge through these encounters?
• How can we study these dynamics in a way that resists oversimplification or cultural
• anachronism, without losing analytical clarity?
• How have such dynamics been shaped historically, and what can this tell us about continuities
• and changes over time?

This conference seeks to move beyond binary categories, fostering conversation across disciplines and
worldviews to explore what it means to live together meaningfully in a plural and shifting landscape.

Format and Submission

For individual paper proposals:

• Abstract length: ~200-350 words
• Presentation length: ~15-20 minute presentation (+10 minutes of discussion)
• Submission: email your submission document (Word or PDF file) to sofia.nikitaki@kuleuven.be with subject line “BABEL/NSRN 2026 paper”
• Please include the following details in your submission: paper title; abstract; author name(s)
  and affiliation(s); contact email

For panel proposals:

Key Dates

• Abstract/panel submission deadline (extension): 30 April 2026
• Notification of acceptance: Between 15 May and 15 June 2026

Practicalities

Further details on registration, program, and practical arrangements will follow upon acceptance.
For questions, please contact sofia.nikitaki@kuleuven.be