What does it mean that someone is rich? Or poor? Religious answers to such questions, especially those relating to divine election, largely impact society as they (co-)determine how people evaluate wealth and poverty and related issues. Though widely popular, these religious beliefs have not yet been systematically explored, compared, and evaluated in light of their societal implications. To fill that hiatus in the current state of research, this project addresses the following research question: How can contemporary Christian beliefs relating divine election to wealth and poverty be evaluated critically in light of their potential societal implications?

This research investigates how European Nazism and anti-Semitism challenged the entangled loyalties of Arabic speaking Jewish intellectuals in the colonial settings of the Middle East during the 1930s and 40s. While the Nazi persecution of European Jews sharpened tensions between the opposite objectives of Jewish assimilation and political Zionism on a global scale, Middle Eastern Jews were reconsidering their position in the emerging Arab nation states. The research focuses on interrelated Arabic-language Jewish newspapers from Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon. The main aim is to understand if and how their reports on the Nazi persecution of the Jews in Europe complicated Jewish notions of integration in the Middle East between 1933 and 1948. By using the analytical tools of entangled history, the research aims to locate Middle Eastern Jewish views on Nazism and anti-Semitism in their historical, local and regional contexts and to map the transnational networks of Arabic speaking Jewish intellectuals and their interconnection within the Arab public sphere. It aims to unveil how Nazism and anti-Semitism challenged the notions of ‘Arabness’ intersecting with ‘Jewishness’ in the Middle East prior to 1948. More broadly, the research contributes to the study of transnational networks and modern transnational debates on integration and inclusion.

This comparative, interdisciplinary research project (Islamic Studies, Jewish Studies, Sociology of Religion) focuses on the delicate relations between Jewish and Muslim groups in London and Amsterdam within their respective local, national and international social and political contexts. It aims to deepen our understanding of these relations and the actors and factors which influence them. The project takes its departure from the increased visibility of Islam and Muslims throughout Europe, which has not only led to heated public debates, but has also brought about new interreligious and (inter)ethnic relations. Socially and politically noteworthy and at the same time fragile are the relations between Muslims and Jews. On the one hand, we find, due to the many similarities between their religious traditions, shared and mutually binding attitudes, concerning, for example, ritual slaughtering and male circumcision, but on the other hand there are issues that divide them and drive a wedge between them, such as alleged anti-Zionistic and anti-Judaic sentiments among Muslims and anti-Islamic ideas among Jews. Their relationship is especially marked by the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The Jewish - Muslim relations in London and Amsterdam will be studied within a theoretical framework that is rooted in the work of Pierre Bourdieu, complemented by theories about the dynamics of interreligious conflict and cooperation. Empirical data will be collected and analysed by means of various methods of qualitative research: participant observation, content analysis, discourse analysis and (focus) interviews. Dit project wordt uitgevoerd in samenwerking met het Ministerie van Veiligheid en Justitie en het Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid.