Center for Contemporary Religious Studies

General introduction

The Center for Contemporary Religious Studies (CECRS) located at Room 507, Building A, 336 Nguyen Trai - Thanh Xuan - Hanoi was established on October 17, 2007 as a result of cooperation between the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi and the Institute of Religious Studies (Missionswissenschaftliches Institut Missio e. V, English name Institute of Missiology) based in Aachen, Germany to promote training and research on religious issues at Vietnam National University, Hanoi. Immediately after its establishment, the Center carried out a series of activities. Every year, the Center still invites visiting professors from other countries to the school to teach issues related to the fields of religious studies and philosophy.

Board of Directors

Manager Prof. Dr. Lai Quoc Khanh E-mail:khanhlq@vnu.edu.vn	Vice president Dr. Nguyen Huu Thu E-mail:thunh.ussh@vnu.edu.vn

Typical activities
Every year, the Center invites visiting professors from other countries to the school to teach issues related to Religious Studies and Philosophy. Since 2009, the Center has regularly organized annual international and domestic seminars/conferences on religious topics, attracting a large number of scholars from Europe, North America as well as countries in the region. Some of the seminars include: 1. Religion and culture in the context of globalization (2009); 2. Philosophy of religion: Some theoretical and practical issues (2010); 3. Religion and the problem of modernization" (2011); 4. Religion in the context of modern society (2012); 5. Religion in public life (2013); 6. Religion and culture in the context of current Vietnamese society" (2014); 7. Research and teaching of German thinkers at universities (2015); 8. Religion and ethics in modern society (2016); 9. Christian thinkers and intellectuals in Vietnam in comparison with the region (2017); 10. Religion and Western science: a comparative approach in Vietnam and the region (2018); 11. Religion - cultural and social resources: behavior in some countries and experiences for Vietnam (2021); 12. Religion, folk beliefs in Vietnam and the region: Comparative research approaches (December 2022).
Not to mention the seminars and presentations on academic issues on a smaller scale. In general, the Center's seminars and workshops are highly appreciated by domestic and foreign scholars for their professional quality and frank discussions on current issues in religious life in Vietnam and abroad. After the seminars, the Proceedings are published in Vietnamese and English for the convenience of domestic and foreign readers.
In addition, the Center’s international cooperation serves as a bridge in applying for scholarships for master’s and doctoral programs related to religious studies. Up to now, the Center has introduced and received 5 scholarships for staff members of the school to study for master’s and doctoral degrees in religious studies at universities in the region as well as in Europe and North America, the world’s leading prestigious training institutions.
An important activity of the Center is policy consulting. This work has actually been carried out by scientists in their personal capacity since before the Center was established. In addition to professional and academic issues, the Center's staff actively contributed ideas, helping functional agencies such as the Government Committee for Religious Affairs, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, etc. to perfect state legal documents related to religion such as the Ordinance on Belief and Religion (2004); Law on Belief and Religion (2016) and many other legal documents, contributing to resolving hot spots related to religion and ethnicity. With the establishment of the Center, policy consulting work has been increasingly promoted and diversified. Through its activities, the Center for Contemporary Religious Studies is truly a bridge for officials, dignitaries, monks and researchers at home and abroad to meet, exchange, and create mutual trust.
Finally, it is necessary to emphasize the work of building the Center's library. Although it was only opened in November 2015, with about 2,000 books and documents, it is now considered a fairly effective library. Open every day during office hours (except for the summer vacation in July and August, weekends and holidays), there are often readers looking up documents on issues of religion, beliefs and the history of Eastern and Western philosophy, including the fields of history of Vietnamese thought and culture. The number of books in the library increases rapidly every year, hopefully increasingly meeting the research needs of a large number of interested people among the teaching staff, researchers, graduate students and students of Hanoi National University.

Contact information

Room 507, Building A, University of Social Sciences and Humanities - VNU
No. 336 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi
Phone: (0243) 3558 9807
E-mail:cecrs.ussh@gmail.com
Website: http://www.trungtamtongiao.vn