Our history
The history of today's Czech Association for the Study of Religions began to be written after the political and social upheaval that took place in the former satellite states that fell under the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union in 1989. Already during the previous few years, known as the period of "perestroika", a group of mostly young scholars, dissatisfied with the current situation in the field of religious research, had formed in Brno. They prepared new methodological approaches and created the basis for a fundamentally different scientific, i.e. ideologically unbiased, research on religion. This enabled them to establish the Association for the Study of Religion shortly after the change in social conditions (in April 1990), which still brought together Czech and Slovak people interested in the study of religions.
The first task of the new association became the basic orientation of Czechoslovak study of religions, the definition of its immediate and, consequently, longer-term goals, among which the institutionalization of the study of religions stood first. Czech (or Czechoslovak) study of religions had never been organised in the past, nor was it represented at universities, nor were professorships advertised for it. It had no tradition to build on, the possibilities for continuing research were minimal after a fifty-year cessation, and with the exception of a few personalities (especially Prof. Jan Heller) it had no scientific capacity to fall back on. It lacked specialist literature, textbooks, basic compendia and dictionaries, as well as contacts with foreign countries.
The effort to formulate the basic orientation of Czech study of religions led to the convening of the first ever study of religions conference in Czechoslovakia, held on 19-21 September 1990 under the title The State and the Perspectives of Religious Studies in Czechoslovakia. The participants of the conference agreed on the necessity of establishing international contacts at the level of supranational study of religions organizations and the same year, with the significant support of the then leadership of the international association, the Czechoslovak Society became a full member of the IAHR (International Association for the History of Religions) at the XVIth Congress of the IAHR. Jan Heller, a Prague-based religious scholar and Old Testament scholar, was elected the first president of the Society for the Study of Religion.
From this moment on, the close cooperation of Czechoslovak study of religions with the world and, after its establishment, European religious studies organisation began, and has continued to this day. The cooperation has produced several significant results, most notably the organization of two special IAHR conferences held in Brno (the first was the Religions in Contact conference, held August 22-26, 1994, the second The Academic Study of Religions During the Cold War: Ideological and Theological Constraints, East and West, August 9-13, 1999) and the organization of the 8th annual EASR (European Association for the Study of Religions) conference entitled Time of Decline. Time of Hope: Scientific, Cultural and Political Engagement of the Study of Religions, held 7-11 September 2008.
The development of Czechoslovak study of religions was affected by the collapse of the Czechoslovak state and the establishment of two independent countries in 1993. The study of religions association had to split and the Czech Society for the Study of Religions was founded. Jan Heller resigned from its leadership and Břetislav Horyna was elected chairman. Dalibor Papoušek served as secretary at first, and then from 2004 David Václavík. In 2008, Břetislav Horyna resigned as chairman and the General Assembly elected David Václavík as the new chairman, who was replaced by David Zbíral. In 2006 the name of the Society was changed to the Czech Association for the Study of Religions.
The Czech Association for the Study of Religions continued its work, i.e. it acquired institutional facilities at Czech colleges and universities, deepened its foreign cooperation and developed other internal activities. Among these activities, the first place is given to the publication of the professional journal Religio - A Journal for the Study of Religions. The journal has been published since 1993 and is the only Czech and Slovak study of religions studies journal listed in the Scopus database. Until 2024, the journal was subtitled "Revue for the Study of Religions". The editorial, translation and scientific work is not negligible either: the Religionistika series was founded, in which a number of titles by domestic and foreign authors, such as J. Waardenburg, L. H. Martin and W. Paden, were published with the support of the Institute of Religious Studies of the Faculty of Arts of MU.
Currently, the Czech Association for the Study of Religions covers a spectrum of activities with many overlaps abroad, either in the form of individual cooperation or cooperation at the level of international scientific projects. Employees from most study of religions departments in the Czech Republic actively participate in its activities.