2019-2020 RETROSPECTS

During 2019 and 2020 direct and related IPSEC activity was conducted by IPSEC staff on three continents in six countries (France, Germany, Moldova, Romania, South Africa, and the United States). The activity focused on academic research, field work, institutional partnerships, program development, advocacy, and institution building. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has disrupted some scheduled events and activities previously planned for 2020, but we are all working creatively so that IPSEC will continue its mission to make an impact.

COLLABORATION

Simion appointed Editor-in-Chief of
Philologia in the Republic of Moldova

Within the framework of the partnership between IPSEC and the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Moldova (the Institute of Philology), on August 12, 2020, Dr. Marian Gh. Simion was invited and appointed Editor-in-Chief of Philologia journal. Philologia is a leading journal of national scientific research in the Republic of Moldova, whose chief aim is to explore and promote the Romanian heritage in linguistics and literary-folklore. Philologia is the legal heir of the journals Moldovan Language and Literature, published inside the Soviet Union during 1958-1989, and of The Journal of Linguistics and Literary Science, published during 1990-2009, after Republic of Moldova gained its independence. By the Decision of the Supreme Council for Science and Technological Development of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova and of the National Council for Accreditation and Attestation no. 93 of July 18, 2017, “Regarding the approval of the results of the evaluation and classification of scientific journals,” Philologia journal had been recognized as a scientific publication, category “B”.

RESEARCH

Seminarian Interdenominational Communication
in Romania

On June 21, 2020, IPSEC Chair, Prof. Dr. Denise E. Burrill-Simion co-published with Prof. Dr. Mihaela-Alexandra Tudor a research paper titled, “Culture, structure, and rational interests in interdenominational networking: a case study of Romanian Orthodox Seminarians,” in Journal of Beliefs & Values (Oxford: Routledge, 2020, 2020). The research was supported by European Union’s Campus France Partenariats Hubert Curien, grant number ‘36902ZH’. This article is a snapshot of the current attitudes manifested by the Romanian Orthodox seminarians towards interdenominational networking from the perspectives of individual interests, cultural representation, and institutional structure. Using the interdenominational networking as a social platform, the article considers the tension between rational choice and structuralism, whereby an Orthodox seminarian navigates between individual interests and institutional constrains; while also instrumentalizing cultural representation. For this purpose, a face-to-face survey was administered to 133 Protestant and Orthodox seminarians in Romania enrolled as full-time students in the pastoral theology programs at five theological seminaries. The contribution of this research lies in the fact that the data collected and analyzed serves as a social barometer revealing not only the restrained attitudes of the Romanian Orthodox seminarians towards interdenominational networking, but also their inability to bypass the deep-seated religious prejudice due to indoctrination and competition for credibility.

APPOINTMENT

Burrill Simion joins Fitchburg State University
as Assistant Professor

IPSEC Chair, Denise E. Burrill Simion, PhD, has recently accepted the tenure-track position of Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems in the School of Business and Technology of Fitchburg State University, in Fitchburg, MA. Dr. Burrill Simion was also appointed Associate Researcher at the Corhis Research Center of Paul Valéry University Montpellier 3, in France, where she received her PhD. Professor Burrill Simion is a co-founder of IPSEC and the Chair of its Board of Trustees, and will continue to serve IPSEC in this capacity.

IPSEC partnered for human rights conference titled,
“Human Dignity and Religious Freedom ”
@ Romanian Parliament, Bucharest

During October 1-3, 2019 IPSEC served as a partner for the annual international conference titled, “Human Dignity and Religious Freedom,” which was held at the Romanian Parliament in Bucharest, Romania. Selected papers presented during the conference have been published in two volumes of the Journal for Freedom of Conscience, published by Editions IARSIC: Les Arcs, France.

PARTNERSHIP

IPSEC and “Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University
are now partners

On October 1, 2019, IPSEC entered into a mutually binding partnership with “Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University in Bucharest, Romania, by signing a Memorandum of Agreement for Scientific Collaboration. The purpose of this partnership is to establish a platform for collaboration in all fields proposed by the partnering institutions, and in accordance with the international obligations and the domestic laws of each party. The parties will cooperate on research, will create internships, and will establish joint committees to organize conferences, symposia, and roundtables, and they will develop international projects and programs in accordance with their institutional missions. One project currently in progress is the establishment of Mircea Eliade International School of Applied Religion within the University, which aims to offer a BA in Applied Religion, and MA in Religion, Peace and Diplomacy. Dr. Marian Gh. Simion was invited to be its founding dean.

REPRESENTATION

IPSEC represented at
2019 Romanian National Prayer Breakfast

On October 4, 2019, at the invitation of the Ecumenical Prayer Group of the Romanian Parliament, Dr. Marian Gh. Simion represented IPSEC at the Romanian National Prayer Breakfast, and an international conference on “European Identity Values” organized by the same parliamentary group.

REPRESENTATION

IPSEC Represented at Roundtable on
International Religious Freedom for Eastern Europe

On October 11, 2019, at the invitation of Senator Dr. Titus Corlatean, the President of the Romanian Parliament, Dr. Marian Simion introduced the work of IPSEC at "International Religious Freedom Roundtable Romania," organized in Venus-Constanta, Romania, by the International Religious Freedom for Eastern Europe. Dr. Simion spoke about the work of IPSEC in the presence of local religious leaders representing local ethnic and religious minorities, as well as in the presence of representatives from the US Department of State and The Pentagon.

HONORARY SENATOR

Simion voted Honorary Senator of
“Dimitrie Cantemir” University

On September 30, 2019, the University Senate of “Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University in Bucharest voted unanimously to award Dr. Marian Gh. Simion with the title of “Honorary Senator” of the University. In this capacity, Dr. Simion will act as a trustee of the university.

WORKSHOP

Simion speaks at the Romanian Academy on
Academic Honesty in Higher Education

On October 3, 2019, Dr. Marian Gh. Simion presented a white paper titled, “Plagiarizing and Honesty in Scientific Research,” at the Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences, in Bucharest, Romania. The presentation took place in the context of an international workshop titled “Scientific Research and Academic Ethics,” sponsored by the National Institute of Economic Research of the Romanian Academy, The Academy of Romanian Scientists, The Academy of National Security Sciences, and other institutions of higher learning from Bucharest, Romania.

CONFERENCE

Simion speaks at the Romanian Parliament on
“Human Dignity and Religion”

On October 2, 2019, Dr. Marian Gh. Simion was a keynote speaker during a scientific conference titled, “Human Dignity and Religious Freedom,” sponsored by the Romanian Parliament | House of Deputes | Committee for Legal Matters, Discipline and Immunities, together with Asociaţia Conştiinţă şi Libertate, International Religious Liberty Association, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier, Essachess-Journal for Communication Studies, and Institute for Peace Studies in Eastern Christianity, in Bucharest, Romania. His paper “Human Dignity and Religion: Education, Well-Being, Health and Conflict” has been published in Romanian translation in Journal for Freedom of Conscience, vol.2/2019): 31-45.

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

IPSEC Chair receives PhD degree in the
Sciences of Information & Communication from
Université Paul Valéry de Montpellier 3, France

On September 9, 2019, IPSEC Chair, Denise E. Burrill-Simion, successfully defended her PhD thesis in the Sciences of Information and Communication, at Université Paul Valéry de Montpellier 3, in France; having Professor Mihaela-Alexandra Tudor as academic adviser. Titled, “Réseau d’intérêts: une approche épistemologique de la communication interconfessionnelle en Roumanie” [Networking for Interests: An Epistemological Approach to Interconfessional Communication in Romania], her thesis attempts to provide a sound cultural background and historical contextualization of the dialogue between the Protestant minorities and the Orthodox majority in Romania. Using an inductive methodology and through inferential analysis, the thesis also tests the sustainability of the current state of elite networking and dialogue, by focusing on the attitudes expressed by the Orthodox and Protestant seminarians toward interconfessional networking, under conditions of democratic pluralism and religious nationalism.

RESEARCH

Violence and Organized Religion

On October 31, 2019, the University of Pretoria, South Africa, released Dr. Marian Gh. Simion’s latest research titled, “Seven Correlations between Interpersonal Violence and the Progression of Organized Religion,” which was published in HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies Special Collection: HTS 75th Anniversary Maake Masango Dedication Volume 75 Issue 4 (2019). Dr. Simion is a Research Associate at the Faculty of Theology and Religion of the University of Pretoria and participates in a research project titled “Political Theology,” directed by Professor Dr Tanya van Wyk of the University of Pretoria. In this research Dr. Simion suggests that interpersonal violence played a significant role in the institutionalizing process of organized religion. As he concluded, interpersonal violence “appears to have influenced the progression of organized religion far more than what we are ready to accept. Through transition rituals, the overlapping triangulating mechanism of interpersonal conflict had been transplanted from under the jurisdiction of the caretaker to that of the seer, while the mechanism of mimetic violence revealed by child psychology along with its resolve into scapegoating and guilt was relocated into the social life as a continuum. Secondly, it demonstrated that religion is not inherently violent, and that its use of limited violence is exclusively therapeutic for the group, and designed to ensure its survival. Thirdly, it demonstrated that advanced religion made significant progress in transferring the meaning of violence from real to symbolic. It did so through the virtualization of the scapegoat and through a change in the hermeneutics of violence which abandoned physical confrontation in favor of spiritual warfare. Fourthly, it demonstrated that organized religion built tools to enforce peace directly (as pacifism) and indirectly (via limited justifications of violence) through doctrines, sacred texts, ethical principles and rituals.”

TRANSLATION

“Orthodox Pilgrimage” paper published in German

Dr. Marian Gh. Simion’s paper “A Path to Immortality,” was recently translated in German by Dr. Ulrich Becker, and published under the title, “Ein Pfad zur Unsterblichkeit. Überlegungen zur Pilgerschaft aus orthodoxed Sicht” by Fernando Enns and Susan Durber (eds) in Gemeinsam unterwegs: Auf dem ökumenischen Pilgerweg der Gerechtigkeit und des Friedens: Theologische Beiträge, Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2019. This paper was originally published in English as a book chapter under the title “A Path to Immortality: Reflections on Pilgrimage from Orthodox Perspective” in Walking Together: Theological Reflections on the Ecumenical Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, Geneva: WCC Publications, 2018.

IPSEC has established a fellowship program opened to any scholar interested in working with IPSEC in seeking alternative ways of creating peace through spiritual coaching and meaning-making.

For details and/or to apply please, contact Dr. Marian Gh. Simion at office@ipsec.education.

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