Symposium 26 november: Futures of Confessional Education

Futures of Confessional Higher Education: Rethinking Insider–Outsider Boundaries, Governance, and Denominational Self-Institutionalization Symposium - 18 or 25 November 2026

Contemporary higher-education systems increasingly accommodate diverse forms of theological and religious formation. Academic theology, embedded in the modern university, operates through disciplinary norms of critical inquiry, historical research and systematic reflection. Confessional higher education, situated within religious communities, pursues the formation of clergy and chaplains and the transmission of authoritative traditions. These dynamics are visible across Christian and Islamic higher-education settings, including contexts in which Islamic theology is being newly institutionalized alongside established Christian theological traditions. Debates on the relationship between academic and confessional forms of theological formation have deep historical roots, ranging from Schleiermacher’s account of theology as a “positive science” to more recent plural configurations across Europe. In today’s post-secular and religiously plural societies, the interaction between these domains is being renegotiated across multiple fronts. Questions of authority, method, governance, legitimacy and institutional form have become central as both academic and confessional actors navigate complex regulatory landscapes and shifting societal expectations.

This symposium proceeds from the observation that the futures of confessional education emerge where three dynamics intersect: the evolving alignment of insider and outsider perspectives, the plurality of governance ecologies, and the organizational logics of denominational self-institutionalization. Rather than relying on inherited binaries such as faith versus reason or autonomy versus control, the symposium seeks to explore conceptual frameworks, institutional models and pedagogical approaches that enable confessional education to operate with clarity, rigor and relevance within contemporary conditions.

The aim of the symposium is to articulate viable futures for confessional education by examining how insider–outsider boundaries are reconfigured; how governance functions across multiple registers; and how denominational communities organize their own structures of formation; as well as how confessional identity and academic rigor might coexist productively. We invite scholars to contribute to a forward-looking conversation that maps emerging and durable trajectories for confessional education and its relationship to academic theology.

Thematic Areas

While submissions may focus on a single thematic cluster, the symposium particularly encourages contributions that connect two or more of the thematic areas. Case-based approaches may offer a productive way to explore how these dynamics intersect in concrete theological and educational settings. Submissions may address theoretical, institutional or pedagogical aspects of confessional education within contemporary higher-education contexts. Papers are especially welcome that engage one or more of the following thematic clusters:

1. Configurations of Insider-Outsider Dynamics

· Historical or contemporary articulations of the continuum between theologia and scientia religionis, including analogous distinctions within Islamic theological and religious-studies traditions such as kalām, fiqh and uṣūl al-fiqh.

· Methodological approaches to normativity, formation and belonging.

· Hybrid configurations in which confessional and academic reasoning intersect, and their implications for curricula and research.

2. Governance and institutional ecologies

· Accreditation regimes, funding structures and regulatory frameworks, and their impact on institutional autonomy.

· Configurations of cooperation, tension or separation between universities and religious communities.

· Institutional models that link governance to quality assurance, legitimacy and sustainability.

3. Denominational self-institutionalization and emerging Futures

· Community-led forms of theological training inside or outside university structures.

· Doctrinal identity, religious authority and communal accountability (including denominational, church-based or school-based forms such as madhhab-related orientations) as structuring forces in confessional education.

· National or regional case studies, including the Dutch context, that illuminate negotiated spaces between governance arrangements and denominational initiatives.

· Forward-looking conceptual or institutional frameworks, including scenario building, authority configurations, digital pedagogies, transnational networks and hybrid models.

Submission guidelines

Abstract length: 250–300 words Include: title, author name(s), institutional affiliation(s), email address Paper language: English Presentation length: 20 minutes + 10 minutes discussion

Deadline for abstract submission: to be announced Notification of acceptance: to be announced Symposium date: 25 November 2026 Location: Islamic University of Applied Sciences Rotterdam, Bergsingel 135, 3037 GC Rotterdam Abstracts should be submitted to: vlug@iuasr.nl

Contact For questions or further information, please contact: Dr. Jeroen Vlug