Institutul de Studii Religioase "Ioan Petru Culianu"

07/09/2026

Back from vacation:
This week, our researchers Dr. Anca Sincan and Dr. Ionut Biliuta, together with students from the MA program History of Religion: Religion and Politics, are taking part in the Advanced Summer School for Young Researchers, “Against ‘Myopic Memory’: Youth and the Politics of Memory.”
As part of the Summer School, Dr. Biliuță will lead the workshop “State, Power, and Public Memory. Revisionism and Commemoration” and on Thursday Dr. Șincan and Dr. Biliuță will lead the seminar: “Selective Remembering, Forgetting, and Whitewashing: The Dynamics of Religious Memory in Twentieth-Century Romania.”
The seminar explores how religious communities, institutions, and individuals remember, forget, reinterpret, or silence aspects of their past, with particular attention to the Romanian experience in the twentieth century. It also invites participants to reflect critically on the relationship between memory, identity, power, and historical responsibility.
Our researchers and students are engaging with an international community of young scholars, contributing to discussions on the politics of memory and the ways in which the past continues to shape the present.

13/07/2026

Between 6 and 10 July 2026, at the invitation of Professor Roland Clark, Dr. Ionuț Biliuță, a member of our academic staff, undertook a professional exchange visit to the Department of History within the School of Histories, Languages and Cultures at the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom. During his visit, Dr. Biliuță worked closely with Professor Clark on finalizing the manuscript of a scholarly monograph on interwar European fascism. The visit also provided an opportunity to explore and identify new avenues for future academic collaboration between the "George Emil Palade" University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology of Târgu Mureș (UMFST) and the University of Liverpool.

02/07/2026

Publication Alert
We are pleased to announce that our colleague Dr. Ionut Biliuta has published the article "The Other Catholics during the Holocaust: The Romanian Greek Catholic Church and Jews in Romania (1918–1948)" in the latest issue of Yad Vashem Studies (Vol. 54, Issue 1, 2026). Drawing on newly opened Vatican archival collections, the article examines the role of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church during the Holocaust. It explores why, despite the presence of nationalist and antisemitic attitudes within parts of the community, many Greek Catholic clergy chose to rescue Jews from deportation in 1944. The study argues that these actions were shaped by the violence experienced by Romanians after the 1940 Vienna Award, the Church's long history of coexistence with ethnic and religious minorities, and the anti-fascist convictions of many Greek Catholic clergymen.Addressing questions of antisemitism, rescue, institutional responsibility, and postwar memory, the article offers new perspectives on the relationship between religion, politics, and humanitarian action during one of the darkest periods of European history.
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29/06/2026

Studentii nostri sunt principala noastra prioritate! Bravo, Ioana, pentru tot!

23/06/2026

One of the leading scholars in the field on the relationship between religion and Russian empire during the nineteenth century!

19/06/2026

UMFST G.E. Palade Târgu Mureș vă invită să participați la conferința publică „Mintea umană în contextul inteligenței artificiale”, susținută de Mircea Miclea, profesor universitar, psiholog și cercetător, care va avea loc în data de 30 iunie 2026, de la ora 17:00, în Sala Senatului (str. Gh. Marinescu, nr. 38).

Evenimentul oferă un cadru de dialog și reflecție pe o temă de actualitate: impactul noilor tehnologii asupra educației, gândirii și adaptării la provocările unei lumi tot mai digitalizate.

Conferința este organizată în cadrul proiectului Agora UMFST și se adresează comunității academice și tuturor celor interesați de schimbul de idei pe teme relevante pentru societatea contemporană.

14/06/2026

Look who's coming to visit! We look forward to seeing Professor Paul Werth from the University of Nevada tomorrow!

În perioada 15–16 iunie, Institutul de Studii Religioase „Ioan Petru Culianu” din cadrul Universității de Medicină, Farmacie, Științe și Tehnologie „George Emil Palade” din Târgu Mureș îl va avea ca invitat pe profesorul Paul Werth, cadru didactic la University of Nevada, Las Veg...

12/06/2026

Our MA program History of religion - Religion and Politics is recruiting new students. The researchers from “Ioan Petru Culianu” Institute and our associates are actively involved within the program making it truly a research program in the study of religion. Join us!

Înscrierile online la programul de masterat Istoria religiilor – religie și politică (History of Religions – Religion and Politics), cu predare în limba engleză, se realizează în perioada 2 iunie - 22 iulie 2026 prin intermediul platformei admitere.umfst.ro

Oportunitățile oferite de acest program unic în peisajul învățământului superior românesc:

✨ Caracterul interdisciplinar al curriculumului – care oferă o perspectivă amplă asupra proceselor și transformărilor lumii contemporane.

🎓 Cadre didactice recunoscute la nivel internațional – competența lor academică este confirmată de doctorate și stagii de cercetare desfășurate la universități și institute de prestigiu din Occident.

🤝 Implicare academică deplină – profesorii sunt dedicați formării studenților și transmiterii interactive a cunoștințelor.

🔬 Abordare științifică riguroasă – studiul fenomenelor religioase într-o manieră obiectivă, independentă de apartenențele confesionale.

🎭 O viață universitară dinamică – stagii Erasmus în Estonia și Irlanda, numeroase activități profesionale și culturale extracurriculare care completează experiența academică.

10/06/2026

Nothing compares with the promotion and the kind words of appreciation from our students! Thank you so much, Sandor, for this!

Miért választaná valaki – akár szekuláris, akár vallási háttérből é...

08/06/2026

Our colleague Dr. Dumitru Lisnic will be presenting at the Irish Association for Russian Central and East European Studies conference: Conversions in Russia, Central and Eastern Europe since 1800: Religious, National, Ideological and Sexual, hosted by the University of Galway, 16–17 June 2026.
His paper, Soviet Police and Religious Conversion: Regulating Itinerant Preaching in 1920s Ukraine, examines how Soviet authorities approached the regulation of religious mobility and preaching during the in the early years of the new regime.
Excited to see our institute's research in dialogue with scholars from across the field.
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