The main idea of the course is to initiate discussion about the "peaceful penetration" of Eastern religious culture into the Central European region. The modern religious movements of Eastern origin, having decades-old tradition in the Western world, are a relatively new phenomenon in the post-Communist societies and thus require the academic community of the region to have a deeper insight in the problem.
The SUN course is intended to introduce a comparative analysis of religions that are not part of the traditional ones in the region including religions of India, Buddhism, and Islam. In addition, some older cults which left no direct traces in the region are to be highlighted, too. This is the case with Shamanism. It is essential to note that Christianity and Judaism, both having centuries-long continual past in the region will not be amongst the topics of our primary interest since they would be better dealt with in other contexts.
The remarkably rapid spread of new religious movements raises important questions:
1. What makes them attractive while no substantial social, historical and mythohistorical grounds exist?
2. What kind of impact do the "alien" beliefs and rituals have on public opinion in the region?
3. Are the new religious systems able to establish themselves in the region or will they remain a domain of curious youngsters?
4. Do they convey historical and cultural messages to the local intellectual life?
In this respect, one may refer to the image of Shamanism as an ancient native structure amongst the nationalistic circles of Hungary. In order to convene a regional forum for experts who could study these issues, it is necessary to advance an interdisciplinary approach involving religious and social experts. Our course may become the first attempt in this direction and may be followed by other scholarly gatherings in the region and beyond.
The university lecturers will have a chance to discuss Oriental rituals and their reverberation in the new religious trends in Central Europe, linguistic prerequisites and ideological premises of what makes new religious movements so successful in our region. Resource people, representing West and East and various academic schools, will draw the audience's attention to conflicting issues and their cultural background. To facilitate the task, a series of lectures and seminars disclosing socio-cultural roots of both the region and Eastern religions are to be suggested.
Completed CEU Summer University Application Form
We strongly advise the use of Google Chrome to enable the full functionality of the form.
Notes:
- You may apply to a maximum of two summer courses. In case of being admitted, you can only attend both if the two courses do not overlap in time.
- If you applied to CEU before, please use your existing login and password to start a new application. If you do not remember your password from last year click on Forgotten Password. With technical problems, bugs, or errors related to the online application forms please contact the CEU IT Help Desk.
- Right after login, please select the ”Summer University” radio button from the "Type of course" list, and leave all other fields empty.
- All application materials must be submitted with the online application form(s). Materials sent by postal mail, electronic mail, or fax are not considered.
- The maximum allowable file size for upload is 2MB per file and the acceptable file formats are PDF, JPG, and JPEG. Ensure all security features (e.g. passwords and encryption) are removed from the documents before uploading them.
- Applications cannot be edited after submission. Please submit your application only when it is 100% final and complete.
- Further user instructions for the online application are included in the form itself. Should you have questions regarding the application form, check the relevant Frequently Asked Questions.
- Applications submitted after the deadline will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Inquiries
If you need help or more information during the application process, please feel free to contact the SUN staff via email.
Notification
The SUN Office will notify applicants about the selection results in April. Please check the 'Dates and deadlines' section on the relevant course websites for notification deadlines planned earlier or later. The final decision is not open to appeal.