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Intra-Religious Disputes and Divisions

2025-26 Academic Year

Religious traditions and communities are arenas of ideological and political struggles. They consist of factions that dispute theology, morality, law, mysticism, messianism, militancy, innovation, authority, ritual, canon, mission, inclusion and exclusion, and many other issues. Religious disagreements are often intertwined with social and political power struggles, as factions compete for followers and seek to consolidate their influence and gain dominance. In some cases, ideological and political disputes lead to schisms and the formation of new sects, while in other cases they are resolved through implicit mutual recognition, and communal cohesion is preserved. Such dynamics have played crucial roles in the history and evolution of religions in all ages.

For the 2025-26 academic year, the Center for the Study of Conversion and Inter-Religious Encounters (CSoC) at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev will focus its activities on intra-religious disputes and divisions. Research students working on any of the world's religions or on comparative religion - whose work is rooted in disciplines such as Religious Studies, History, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, Cultural Studies, Literature and the Arts, Conflict Resolution and Management - are invited to submit research proposals related to at least one of the following topics:

1. Case studies of doctrinal and moral disputes, their socio-political contexts, and/or consequences.
2. Case studies of disputes concerning religious law and practice, their socio-political contexts, and/or consequences.
3. Disagreements regarding canonical literature and its interpretation.
4. Religious wars and their interplay with politics.
5. Tolerance and intolerance in handling disputes; mechanisms for dispute resolution within religious traditions.
6. Transformation of disputes into accusations of blasphemy or heresy, leading to the emergence of new religious movements.
7. Historiography of religious disputes and divisions.
8. Ethnographic studies on the formation of new religious communities.
9. Gender perspectives on intra-religious disputes and divisions.
10. Struggles over religious authority.