Workshop 'Challenges of Religious Expansion in the Early Modern Period' 2026

The Centre for Religious History Studies (CEHR) at the Faculty of Theology of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa invites the academic community to participate in the Workshop 'Challenges of Religious Expansion in the Early Modern Period' 2026.

From the 16th century onwards, European expansion led to the creation of imperial spaces with a diversity of societies or communities with Catholic ties. It was a process that, at a global level, brought challenges and adjustments between the demands of Catholicism and the expectations of populations recently enrolled in the European political order. In the Portuguese context, the territories governed by the Crown on the coast of the Indian subcontinent are privileged spaces for analysing such dynamics, given that, from very early on, an experience of territorial control brought into conflict largely different social orders. Similarly, even in missionary contexts, where the Portuguese Crown could not exercise forms of domination, the need to create forms of Catholic connection with the newly converted forced solutions that sought not to disrupt the social or political order.

This workshop will analyse the challenges that religious dimensions in political, social and missionary dialogue brought to the construction of Catholic societies and communities in the 17th century.

Admission is free upon prior registration (until 17 February). 

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