EUROPE PROJECT

WHAT IS THE EUROPEAN HUMANISM IN THE MAKING SUMMER SCHOOL?

2024 marks the fifth edition of the summer school of the European Federation of Catholic Universities.

Over a hundred bachelor students from 30 member universities will then have participated in this international exchange, reflecting with their peers from Lebanon, the EU and wider Europe, on the cultural, religious and philosophical foundations of the European project as a basis to rethink its future.

The idea for this project was born from the concern that students’ sense of belonging to Europe is more than diffuse. Euroscepticism and amnesia of the history of European integration and the values that forge European identity requires us to clarify what makes the specificity of the European spirit.

To re-boost Europhilia as an antidote against widespread Europhobia, Europeans have to reconsider anew those structural ingredients and conquests that have been the driving pillars of European life, one such pillar being humanism.

The core focus is on identifying the ‘roots and routes’ of the European project and investigating how to valorize them in the contemporary globalized context. This involves a questioning of historical contexts, cultural canon, scientific approach, institution building and citizenship from a wider comparative and international perspective.

The programme consists of five courses structured in two parts.

PART I – Historical and Cultural Roots: Implications for Europe Today
I. Contribution of History to European Consciousness
II. Literature, the Arts, Translation and European Identity
III. European Enlightenment and the Islamic Heritage

PART II – Social and Political Construction: Implications for the Future of Europe
IV. European Social Humanism
V. Creative Leadership & Civic Engagement in Action

Each year a specific theme is put to the fore and presented in the public opening lecture (possibility to attend online) by an invited keynote speaker (info & registration here)

Information
- See video-presentation on course content here

Information on the fifth edition is to be found here

For former editions, check here:
fourth summer school (Palermo, 2023)
third summer school (Gubbio, 2022)

Organisation

Hosting universities:
• LUMSA (Libera Università degli Studi Maria Ss. Assunta di Roma)for the editions of 2019, 2021 (online), 2022 and 2023
• Université Catholique de Lille (Law Faculty) for the editions of 2024, ’25 and ‘26

Program coordination: UCSIA (University Centre Saint-Ignatius Antwerp)

Core teaching team:
• Sarah Durelle-Marc from the Law Faculty of the Université Catholique de Lille (course I);
• Peter Hanenberg from the Research Center for Communication and Culture at the School of Human Sciences of the Catholic University of Portugal in Lisbon (course II),
• Ali Mostfa from the Center for the Study of Cultures and Religions of the Catholic University of Lyon (course III);
• Michael Shortall of the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical University St Patricks College Maynooth in Ireland (course IV);
• Fernando Ariza of the Faculty of Humanities of the University CEU San Pablo in Madrid (course V)