How does the powerful effect that religion has on public and personal life relate to the
various spheres of our culture? Is the relationship between power and religion always negative
or can religion also affect individuals and societies positively? This volume of the EuARe
Lectures edited by Herman Selderhuis collects the texts of the lectures delivered at the
Third Annual Conference of the European Academy of Religion (2020) on the topic The Power of
Religion Religion and Power. Scott Appleby explores the connection in the religious
imagination among glorifying the divine sanctifying the mundane and exercising political and
cultural power. Cyril Hovorun addresses the issue of the politicization of religion focusing
in particular on Eastern Christian cases. Susanne Schröter offers an insight into the current
debate on Islam in Germany. Finally Kristina Stoeckl analyses the complex relationship among
Europe's new religious conflicts Russian orthodoxy American Christian conservatives and the
emergence of a European populist right-wing.
