We are open for collaborations!
Our team consists of a colourfol mixture of theologians, religious studies scholars, hermeneuticians, textual scholars, historians, philosophers, anthropologists and other researchers of various stripes. We are open for collaborating with anyone who is concerned with the thriving of the academic field of theology and religious studies.
”If the university is to be embroiled in the surrounding society, taking account of the knowledge ecology within which it sits, examining the discourses that shape its world, then of course it has to be engaged with these Christian discourses. It would be a serious dereliction of duty – a failure to be serious as a university – were the university to refuse this engagement.”
– Mike Higton
Meet our Team
Prof. van den Brink holds the Chair of Theology & Science at the Faculty of Religion and Theology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He is interested in questions on the interface of science and religion, such as Christian theology and evolutionary theory, theology and the philosophy of science, and philosophical and theological hermeneutics
Michiel Bouman is a PhD focussing on the way theology and religious studies are related, not just theoretically, but also at the level of practice. He adopts a case-based method to describe three case studies in Northwestern Europe, namely the KU Leuven, Münster Universität, and King’s College, London.
Marieke van der Linden is a PhD candidate at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her research is part of the project Future of Academic Theology. Marieke holds a BSc and MSc in pedagogy and education and a research MA in theology and religious studies. Her research interests are philosophy of religion, sociology and epistemology.
Yusuf Çelik is Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities & Islam. His research focuses on Qur’anic hermeneutics and digital humanities. He is currently working on a Veni project focusing on the influence of the Jewish tribe Banū Qurayẓa on the interpretation of the Qur’an.
Katja Tolstaya is Chair of ‘Theology and Religion in Post- Trauma Societies’, Vice-Dean and Dean of Research, and
Founding Director of the Institute for the Academic Study of Eastern-European Christianity (INaSEC) at Vrije Universiteit,
as well as Founding President of the International Association for Post-Soviet Theology and Study of Religion (PAST)
Founding Director of the Institute for the Academic Study of Eastern-European Christianity (INaSEC) at Vrije Universiteit,
as well as Founding President of the International Association for Post-Soviet Theology and Study of Religion (PAST)
Matthias Smalbrugge holds the chair in the History of Christianity, is founder of the European Academy on Religion and Society (EARS) and is board member of the Ecole Doctorale of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes. His interests include historical theology, patristics, St. Augustine’s philosophy, mnemonic structures and visual culture.
Welmoet Boender is Associate Professor Anthropology of Islam at the Faculty Religion and Theology. She is staff member of the Center for Islamic Theology. Trained in Islamic Studies and Cultural Anthropology, her work focuses on the formation of Muslim religious professionals in Western Europe (imams, Islamic theologians, spiritual caretakers, Islamic Religious Education teachers).
Eduardus (Eddy) van der Borght is emeritus professor of the Desmond Tutu Chair on reconciliation at the Faculty of Theology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His research focuses on how faith communities understand their own identity and functions, especially in relation to socio-cultural identities.
Marius Dorobantu is an Assistant Professor of Theology and Artificial Intelligence at VU Amsterdam and a fellow of the International Society for Science & Religion. He conducts research at the interface between religion and science, focusing on the philosophical and theological questions raised by the development of artificial intelligence.
Maarten Wisse is professor of dogmatics at the Protestant Theological University (PThU) and extraordinary professor of systematic theology at the University of Tübingen. His current research focuses on the reintegration of theological disciplines, i.e., the theological encyclopedia.
Dr. Daan F. Oostveen is a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer. He researches the theory of religious diversity from a global perspective. He is editor-in-chief of the academic journal Future Humanities and co-editor of the Edinburgh Companion to the New European Humanities. In this context, he looks at the intersection of the future of the humanities and the academic study of religion.
Matthias Teeuwen is a PhD student in anthropology at the University of Cambridge, focusing on ethical formations and intellectual developments, specifically in theology. He has degrees in theology and cultural anthropology at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.
Arnold (Yasin) Mol is Lecturer and Doctoral Researcher in Islam and Comparative Philosophy at Leiden University Institute for Philosophy and Leiden University Center for the Study of Religion (LUCSoR), and Associate Fellow at Leiden University Center for the Islamic Thought and History (LUCITH). He is Lecturer in Comparative Theology and Philosophy at the Islamic University of Applied Sciences Rotterdam (IUASR) and Coordinator of its Research Institute. He is also Researcher at the healthcare NGO Landelijk Steunpunt Extremisme (LSE, Dutch National Center for Extremism). His interests are Islamic philosophy of religion, moral philosophy, philosophical anthropology, and exegesis.
