Karim Schelkens (°1977) is faculty dean at the Tilburg School of Catholic Theology (Tilburg University) and Full Professor in contemporary religious history. He is also Endowed Professor, holding the Van den Tweel Chair on the History of Contemporary Dutch Catholicism, and he is a Guest Professor at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies (KULeuven).

In 2007, Schelkens obtained his PhD in Leuven, which was crowned with the C. de Clercq Award by the Royal Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts. He has been a postdoctoral research fellow for the FWO-Flanders and earned a degree in postdoctoral studies at the Canadian Université Laval.

Schelkens has served as Secretary General to the European Society for Catholic Theology (2012-2018), was part of the Academic Council of UCSIA (Antwerp University, 2016-2020), and has served as a member in the NWO-Commission Open Competition Humanities and Social Sciences.

Schelkens has authored/editored some twenty academic books and numerous contributions regarding the contemporary history of religion in Late Modern Europe, on colonial history, and on religion in the Cold War Era. Furthermore, he specializes in the field of Biography and Religion. In this regard, he published the acclaimed and widely received biographies of Godfried Danneels and Johannes Willebrands - which reached the 2022 longlist of the "Nederlandse Biografieprijs".

Currently, he is active in various international research projects. Schelkens serves as a member of the academic board of the international research project on 'The History of the Desire for Christian Unity' (Istituto per le Scienze religiose, Bologna), and is one of the three principal investigators in a project with the Australian Catholic University and KU Leuven on Vatican II, and he is a member of the intercontinental project 'Vatican II. Legacy and Mandate'. Furthermore, Schelkens is part of the research team of the Occidentes project (led by the Gregorian University, Sacro Cuore University and University of Navarra). 

Ongoing PhD Projects

Heleen Robben, Dutch Women and Catholicism's Global Turn to Dialogue. Historical network analysis of the Ladies -of Bethany and their Impact on Vatican II's conciliar Dialogue Agenda (co-director J. van Gennip, TiU).

Koos Linders, The Franciscans in the Dutch Mining Region, Tilburg University (co-director P. Nissen, Radboud Universiteit).

Succesfully defended PhD Projects

Ben Ipenburg, 'Een knecht der knechten sy hy syne broederen'. Christelijk geloof en slavernij in het Nederlandse Atlantische koloniale rijk van de zeventiende en achttiende eeuw”, Tilburg University, 2024 (co-dir with Prof. J. Dewulf, Berkeley).

Istvan Csonta, Redaction History of the Conciliar Decree on the Lay Apostolate Apostolicam Actuositatem, KU Leuven, 2020. Fidentia Research Fellowship (co-dir. with Prof. Dr. M. Lamberigts).

Jos Moons, The Spirit and the Church. A Redaction-Historical and Theological-Historical Analysis of the Pneumatological Renewal in Lumen Gentium’, Tilburg University, 2018.(co-dir. with Prof. Dr. H. Witte).

Dries Bosschaert,  Joys and Hopes of Louvain Theologians. The Genesis of Christian Anthropologies and their diverse Reception in Gaudium et Spes, KU Leuven, 2017 (Co-dir. with Prof. Dr. M. Lamberigts).

Erik Sengers, Roomsch socioloog – sociale bisschop. Johannes Aengenent als ideoloog en bestuurder van de katholieke sociale beweging, 1873-1935, UvT, 2016 (co-dir. with Prof. Dr. P. Van Geest)

Cassien Mulindahabi, Les deux récents synodes pour l’Afrique. Étude comparative et critique, KU Leuven, 2015. (Co-dir. with Prof. Dr. J. Verstraeten).

Sandra Peréz Arenas, The Doctrine of the Elementa Ecclesialia Before, During and After Vatican II and Its Implications for the Relationship Between the Roman Catholic Church and the Reformed Communities, KU Leuven, 2013. Research Fellowship International Academic Exchange Between Chile and Belgium (Co-dir. with Prof. Dr. J. Haers).

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