Foreword by Matthias Smalbrugge

Dear colleagues,

Welcome to this online round table on the American elections, called Voting for the Future. We are very grateful for your participation and we look forward to our discussion. Just allow me to write a short introduction. 

Hyperboles regarding these elections have been very frequent: these were the most important elections we have ever had. Sure, they are very important, but language, media coverage as well as rumours, they have all had their share in creating this hyperbole. Meanwhile, the elections themselves are over and we found ourselves back in a kind of twilight zone. The incumbent president is not willing to concede and suggests that the elections aren’t over yet. The translatio imperii is suddenly stuck in the middle of the process and in that sense, the hyperbole may be justified. 

If the translatio imperii is stuck in the middle of the process, how is it when it comes to the translatio studii? Are we keeping pace with political and societal developments? In particular when it comes to the role of religion in such complicated processes as the American elections? Of course, Europeans are outsiders and the US will turn more and more to Asia instead of sticking to the traditional stronghold that Europe once was. However, phenomena such as the role of religion do strongly affect European faith communities and its transformative aspects will certainly not leave us indifferent. Religion knows of no boundaries and its international dynamic guarantees an influence that can hardly be overestimated. 

Sometimes, these dynamics become very visible and that indeed is the case with these elections. Religion played a significant role, sometimes difficult to be separated from a mere political point of view. In that sense, these elections were a magnifying glass allowing us to see how different religious tendencies created a landscape that suddenly became visible (though contours were, of course, visible for a long time).  

That is the reason EARS wanted to organize this round table. A kind of translatio studii comparable to the translatio imperii, hoping not to get stuck in the middle of the process. We are of course very grateful for your participation and we look forward to meeting you in a lively discussion. In this content hub, written by PhD students from several countries, you will find some short articles, focusing on some of the issues at stake. You will also find the names of the participants as well as the procedure we will adopt. 

Once again, welcome and many thanks,

Matthias Smalbrugge