Berkley Center

As the COVID-19 pandemic limited social interaction while simultaneously raising enormous societal and economic challenges, throughout 2020 and 2021 this discussion series brought together prominent scholars online to facilitate ongoing intellectual conversation. José Casanova, one of the world's top scholars in the sociology of religion, moderated these public conversations on our contemporary global condition. Taking a global historical perspective, the series examined modern secularization and competing theories of global religious revival as interrelated dynamics. The speakers discussed contemporary issues such as the resurgence of exclusionary populisms and self-enclosed nationalisms, transnational religion, migration, and increasing ethno-religious and cultural diversity. This series was co-sponsored by the Berkley Center and Reset Dialogues on Civilizations.