Staff members with discipline Religion
Academia develops at the interface of different fields. This is one reason why the University of Groningen is home to a wide range of fields, each with a great number of subject specialists. The overview below, which is based on a standard categorization of fields, will help you find the right expert for each field. If you cannot find the expert you are looking for in this list, try searching via a related field or faculty; you may find him or her there.



My research projects include research on Christianity and Pentecostalism, secularity, ethics, NGOs and faith based organisations, health and prevention, youth care, education and foster care, international development, gender based violence, female leadership, women's agency and empowerment, sexuality education and sexual health programming, polarization and sexual nationalism.
I apply qualitative research methods, and have a particular interest in ethnographic and participatory research and creative (art-based) methodologies.
I have conducted research in and on The Netherlands and broader Western Europe, and in Sub Sahara Africa: Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Ghana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa
My work is always situated on the intersections of science and society and I have ample experience with knowledge valorisation, societal impact and applied research. In this I have a particular interest in how sound academic knowledge can empower and support marginalized people and communities.
Students who want to write their thesis on one of the themes mentioned above in relation to religion/ secularity and are interested in applying qualitative research methods may contact me.












(literary, religio- and culture-historical approaches)
* Speech-ethics in the New Testament and the ancient context
* Theory of History and Historiography in Antiquity and New Testament
* Miracle stories in early Christianity (miracles of Jesus and
the apostles in canonical and apocryphal gospels and acts)
* Hermeneutics, Biblehermeneutics
* Texts: Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of John, Letter of
James and New Testament Apocrypha (gospels and acts)





Conflicts, terrorism, jihadism
Religion and violence
Media and propaganda





see also http://www.rug.nl/news-and-events/people-perspectives/inbeeld/mpopovic


Nag Hammadi codices and Gnosticism
Early Christian Apocrypha
Religion and Philosophy in Late Antiquity
Plutarch of Chaeronea



Scholarly focus of interest:
European cultural history from antiquity through today, with a focus on religion in diverse cultural settings; Diversity of knowledge systems; Method and theory in the study of religion; Discursive study of religion; Esoteric discourses in European culture, with special emphasis on astrology and kabbalah; Religion, philosophy, and nature; Religion and secularity






Schrijvers, L. L., & Wiering, J. (2018). Religious/secular discourses and practices of good sex. Culture and Religion , 1-21.
Wiering, J. (2017). There is a Sexular Body: Introducing a Material Approach to the Secular. Secularism and Nonreligion, 6 (8). http://doi.org/10.5334/snr.78
Wiering, J. (2016). “Others Think I am Airy-fairy”: Practicing Navayana Buddhism in a Dutch Secular Climate. Contemporary Buddhism, 17(2), 369-389. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14639947.2016.1234751


