Dr. Ryszard Bobrowicz
Managing Director of Research and Networking
Ryszard Bobrowicz is a Managing Director of Research and Networking for the “Law in Crisis” project at the Émile Durkheim Research Unit: Crisis Analysis and a Researcher in Comparative Law and Religion at the Faculty of Catholic Theology, University of Bonn. He studied law and liberal arts at the University of Warsaw, comparative religious studies at the University of Copenhagen, and practical theology at Lund University, and has conducted postdoctoral research in Leuven and Bonn, with visiting stays in Oslo, Winchester, Apeldoorn, Edinburgh, and Dublin. He also brings extensive experience from the non-governmental sector. His research examines how states, churches, religious communities, public institutions, international organizations, and individuals navigate religious and cultural diversity. He is particularly interested in legal and normative pluralism: how people and institutions encounter, negotiate, and reconcile competing sources of normativity, and how these processes shape the complex networks of believing, bonding, behaving, and belonging through which individuals and communities organize their social and religious lives. His work focuses especially on the comparative relationship between law and religion, exploring both its interpretative and constitutive dimensions and the ways in which legal and religious orders shape, constrain, and transform one another.
Dr. Ryszard Bobrowicz
R. 03-077
Rabinstraße 8
D-53111 Bonn
Academic Profile
Monographs
+ Bobrowicz, R. (in production, est. 2027) A Critical History of Catholic Canon Law, Cambridge University Press.
+ Hahn, J., and R. Bobrowicz (in production, est. November 2026) Comparative Law and Religion, Cambridge University Press.
+ Bobrowicz, R. (2025) The Politics of Multifaith, Brill.
Edited volumes
+ Bobrowicz, R., and G. Scala (2025) Legalising Religious Communities: The Implications of State Funding for Religious Organisations, G. Giapichelli Editore.
+ Bobrowicz, R., Hjälm, A., and U. Schmiedel (2025) Living in A World of Neighbours: Activists and Academics in Conversation on Multi-Faith Refugee Relief, Pickwick Publications.
+ Bobrowicz, R., Hilton Saggau, E., and J. Otterbeck (2025) Political Theology and Popular Culture, Palgrave Macmillan.
+ Gruber, J., Schüßler M., and R. Bobrowicz (2024) Dissenting Church: Exploring the Theological Power of Conflict and Disagreement, Palgrave Macmillan.
+ Amati, G., Bobrowicz, R., Buck, R.A., Chang, H., Clerx, A., Hamberg, A., Hannikainen, M., Hannikainen, P., Huotari, R., Khalil, M.F., Laviola-Svensäter, A., Macaulay, H., MacDiarmid, F., Marasigan, J.A., Marchet, J., Mikulis, T., Nemésio, M.I., Pavlović, M., Perugi, F., Pieters, T., Sauty, C., Scott, F., Scott-Cracknell, M., Tessier, L., Tolstoj, W., Van Cleempoel, L., Van Dorp, E., Waardenburg, L., and E. Waldl (2022) European Academy of Religion and Society Perspectives on 2021, European Academy of Religion and Society.
+ Bobrowicz, R., and S. Borgehammar (2020) Special Issue on Many Guises of European Catholicism, Svensk Teologisk Kvartalskrift 96 (3)
Journal Articles
+ Ott, T., Bobrowicz, R., LaCouter, T., and J. Gruber (forthcoming) “The Non/Performativity of Synodality: Rhetoric, Practice, and the Politics of Ecclesial Participation” Critical Research on Religion.
+ Bobrowicz, R. (forthcoming) “Humanity Suspended: A Brief History of How Poland Suspended Asylum Rights in Pursuit of Imperial Status,” Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion.
+ Bobrowicz, R. (forthcoming) “Ownership, Possession, Servitude: Can Legal Thinking Help Us Consider the Possibility of ‘Multifaith Land?’,” Studies in Interreligious Dialogue.
+ Bobrowicz, R., and A. Wojaczek (forthcoming) “Ubi societas, ibi ius? Amoris Laetitia, Fiducia Supplicans and the Pastoral Turn in Canon Law,” Journal of Global Catholicism.
+ LaCouter, T., Bobrowicz, R., Ott, T., and J. Gruber (2026) “Response to ‘Against Theological Obsequiousness,’” Theological Studies 87 (3): 488–497.
+ Bobrowicz, R., Hahn, J. (2025) “Beyond Singular Methodologies: Studying Semi-Autonomous Normative Systems and Their Modalities.” Journal of Law, Religion and State 13 (1): 72–109.
+ LaCouter, T., Bobrowicz, R., Ott, T., and J. Gruber (2024) “Contra Silentium Obsequiosum: On the Roman Catholic Approach to Dissent and Tradition,” Theological Studies 85 (4): 652–659.
+ Bobrowicz, R. (2024) “Half a Century After The Legal Imagination, Four Decades After Nomos and Narrative: The Contemporary Landscape of Narrations and Jurisprudence.” Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, 13 (2): 189–202
+ Bobrowicz, R., Wiren, J. (2023) “Cemeteries as Spaces of Interreligious Encounter? The Use of Neutrality in the Context of Graveyards in Scandinavia.” International Journal of Public Theology 17 (4): 581–601.
+ Bobrowicz, R. (2023) “The Impact of Migration, Foreignness, and Religion on the 2022 Parliamentary Elections in Sweden.” Quaderni di Diritto e Politica Ecclesiastica 2023 (2): 329–345.
+ Bobrowicz, R., and J. Gustafsson Lundberg (2022) “Towards Social Negotiation: The Case of Handshake Debates in Sweden and Denmark,” Stato, Chiese e Pluralismo Confessionale 2022 (19): 1–18.
+ Bobrowicz, R., and E. Hilton Saggau (2022) “The Organisation of Prayer Rooms in Educational Institutions in Denmark – Moderate Secularism Between Perception and Practice,” Nordic Journal of Religion and Society 35 (2): 96–110.
+ Bobrowicz, R., and J. Gustafsson Lundberg (2021) “Radical Plurality on Universal Grounds,” Dialog 60 (2): 177–184.
+ Bobrowicz, R., and M. Nowak (2021) “Divided by the Rainbow: Culture War and Diffusion of Paleoconservative Values in Contemporary Poland,” Religions 12 (3)
+ Bobrowicz, R., and F. Mannerfelt (2021) “Between Kuriaké and Ekklesía: Tracing a Shift in Scandinavian Practical Theology Based on Handbooks in the Discipline,” Svensk Teologisk Kvartalskrift 97 (1): 47–68.
+ Bobrowicz, R. (2020) “Catholicism in Sweden: Embodying the Church of Mission,” Svensk Teologisk Kvartalskrift 96 (3): 273–283.
+ Borgehammar, S., and R. Bobrowicz (2020) “The Many Guises of European Catholicism,” SvenskTeologisk Kvartalskrift 96 (3): 215–217.
+ Bobrowicz, R. (2018) “Multi-Faith Spaces Uncover Secular Premises Behind the Multi-Faith Paradigm,” Religions 9 (2).
Book Chapters
+ Bobrowicz, R., Gruber, J., and D. Straub (forthcoming) “Recursivity as a Framework for Theological Inquiry,” in Handbook of Inductive Theology, Brill.
+ Bobrowicz, R. (forthcoming) “Preferential Option for the Local, or the Prefigurative Praxis of Subsidiarity and Encounter,” in Conference Proceedings of Migration, a Pilgrimage of Hope, Scalabrini International Migration Institute.
+ Bobrowicz, R., and J. Gruber (forthcoming) “Response to the Necessity of Dissent and the Risk of Heresy,” in Brewer, C. R., Normalizing Progress in Theology: From Conditions of Possibility to Science-Engagement, Peeters.
+ Bobrowicz, R., Gruber, J., LaCouter, T., and T. Ott (forthcoming) “Body, Bodies, or No-Bodies? From Mystical to Physical Ecclesial Corporeality,” in Lledo Gomez, C., and B. Flanagan, Embodying Ecclesial Diversity, Palgrave Macmillan.
+ Bobrowicz, R. (forthcoming) “Dignitatis Humanae: Reception and Legacy in the European Context,” in Bosschaert, D., and U. Pękala, Vatican II - Event and Mandate. Intercontinental Commentary on the Council’s Documents, their Reception and their Orientation for Church and Theology, vol. 6: Europe, Peeters.
+ Bobrowicz, R. (2026) “The Crisis of Epistemic and Ontic Injustice: On Difference and Dissent in the Roman Catholic Church,” in Gephart, W., and J. Leko, Discourses of Justice, Nomos.
+ Bobrowicz, R. (2025) “Dignitatis Humanae: Aufnahme und Vermächtnis im europäischen Kontext,” in Bosschaert, D., and U. Pękala, Vatikanum – Ereignis und Auftrag. Interkontinentaler Kommentar der Konzilsdokumente, ihre Rezeption und Orientierung für Kirche und Theologie, Bd. 6: Europa, Herder.
+ Bobrowicz, R. (2025) “Finding One’s Place at a Busy Intersection. The Methodology of A World of Neighbours Practitioners’ Network,” in Bobrowicz, R., Hjälm, A., and U. Schmiedel, Living in a World of Neighbours: Activists and Academics in Conversation on Multi-Faith Refugee Relief, Pickwick Publications.
+ Bobrowicz, R., and U. Schmiedel (2025) “Introduction. Why We Need a World of Neighbours,” in Bobrowicz, R., Hjälm, A., and U. Schmiedel, Living in a World of Neighbours: Activists and Academics in Conversation on Multi-Faith Refugee Relief, Pickwick Publications.
+ Bobrowicz, R., Hilton Saggau, E. (2025) “The Figure of Christ in South Park and Family Guy: A Formative Embodiment of American Religiosity,” in Bobrowicz, R., Saggau, E., and J. Otterbeck, The Signs of the Times: The Intersection between Popular Culture and Political Theology, Palgrave Macmillan.
+ Bobrowicz, R., Hilton Saggau, E., and J. Otterbeck (2025) “Introduction,” in Bobrowicz, R., Saggau, E., and J. Otterbeck, The Signs of the Times: The Intersection between Popular Culture and Political Theology, Palgrave Macmillan.
12. Bobrowicz, R., and M. Schüßler (2025) “Reading Laudato Si’ in Light of Scandinavian Creation Theology” in Wyller, T. E., Gregersen N. H., and J. Gustafsson Lundberg, The Politics of Creation, Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht.
13. Bobrowicz, R. (2024) “Atlas of Religion or Belief Minority Rights,” in Religious Minorities Online, De Gruyter.
14. Gruber, J., Schüßler, M., and R. Bobrowicz (2024) “Introduction,” in Gruber, J., Schüßler, M., and R. Bobrowicz, Dissenting Church: Exploring the Theological Power of Conflict and Disagreement, Palgrave Macmillan.
15. Bobrowicz, R. and J. Gustafsson Lundberg (2021) “The Orthodox ‘Unorthodox’: From Populism to Pluralism,” in Schmiedel, U., and J. Ralston, The Spirit of Populism. Political Theologies in Polarized Times, Brill.
16. Bobrowicz, R. (2018) “The Inverted Relationship: Constitutive Theory of Law and the Enforcement of Orthodoxy in Book XVI of the Theodosian Code,” in Giles, J., Pin, A., and F. S. Ravitch, Law, Religion, and Tradition, Springer.
17. Bobrowicz, R. (2017) “Taking turns – on the relation crime, sin (& vice),” in Alarcón, M., Amundsen Bergström, M., and T. Kaveh, Manifest. 22 texter om humaniora och politisk handling, LIR.skrifter.varia.
18. Bobrowicz, R. (2014) “Contemporary Landscape of Being and Time: Comparative Analysis of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Martin Amis’s Dead Babies,” in Wojtas, P., A Roundtable on Interdisciplinary Literary Studies, Faculty of Artes Liberales.
Book Reviews
1. Bobrowicz, R. (forthcoming) Justifying Transgression: Muslims, Christians, and the Law – 1200 to 1700 by Gijs Kruijtzer, Religious Studies Review.
2. Bobrowicz, R., eds. (2025) Symposium on Terror und Theologie by Ulrich Schmiedel, Syndicate, (URL).
3. Bobrowicz, R. (2025) Multiculturalism and the Nation in Germany: A Study in Moral Conflict: by Paul Carls, Journal of Contemporary Religion 40 (1), 184–186.
4. Bobrowicz, R. (2023) The Privilege of Being Banal: Art, Secularism, and Catholicism in Paris by Elayne Oliphant, Svensk Teologisk Kvartalskrift 99 (1), 79–80.
5. Bobrowicz, R. (2019) Teaching for a Multifaith World edited by Eleazar S. Fernandez. Årsbok för Svenskt Gudstjänstliv 94, 200–203.
6. Bobrowicz, R. (2018) Theologian of Sin and Grace. The Process of Radicalization in the Theology of Matthias Flacius Illyricus by Luka Ilić. Reformation & Renaissance Review 20 (3), 258–259.
7. Bobrowicz, R. (2017) Witchcraft, Madness, Society, and Religion in Early Modern Germany: A Ship of Fools by H.C. Erik Midelfort. Reformation & Renaissance Review 19 (2), 155–156.
8. Bobrowicz, R. (2017) Demons of Urban Reform: Early European Witch Trials and Criminal Justice, 1430-1530 by Laura Stokes. Reformation & Renaissance Review 19 (2), 162–163.
Science Outreach
1. Panel “Mänsklig Mångfald som Grundförutsättning,” (2025) Missions Uppdrag (URL).
2. Interviewed by Eyte, C. (2024) “Christian Group Lambasts New EU Migration Regulation, Laments Doubling Down on Broken System” Christian Daily International (URL).
3. Interviewed by the Swedish Public Radio (2024) “Teokratiernas Återkomst,” P3 Dystopia (URL).
4. Bobrowicz, R. (ed.) and P. Uxhi (2023) “A Reasoned Map of the Ritual Slaughter Legislation in the Context of the European Union,” Atlas of Religious or Belief Minority Rights Podcast (URL).
5. Bobrowicz, R. (ed.) and M. Kramer (2023) “Ritual Slaughtering: The Case of Austria,” Atlas of Religious or Belief Minority Rights Podcast (URL).
6. Bobrowicz, R. (ed.) and R. Bottoni (2023) “The Conflict Between Animal Welfare and Religious Freedom: Dispelling the Myth,” Atlas of Religious or Belief Minority Rights Podcast (URL).
7. Braw, A., Bobrowicz, R. (2023) “Plats för Reflektion,” Uppdrag Mission (URL).
8. Braw, A., Bobrowicz, R., Unogwu, F., Bobrowicz, K., Schmiedel, U. (2021) “Migrationens Teologi,” Uppdrag Mission (URL).
9. Yttergren, I., Bobrowicz, R., Namli, E. (2021) “Många Inser Först Nu Hur Stor Betydelse Vissa Ritualer Har,” Dagens Nyheter, 13 April, 12–13 (URL).
10. Bobrowicz, R. (2020) “Polish Catholics Demand Bishops Return to Church’s Social Teaching,” Sojourners May 2020 (URL).
11. Bobrowicz, R. (2017) “Rites for ‘Nones,’” SCENARIO Magazine 2017 (2), 34–35.
Reports
1. Bobrowicz, R. (accepted) “Not the Final Word, but the Living Word: On the Relationship Between Theology and Migration,” in Mapping Migration, Churches Commission for Migrants in Europe.
2. Bobrowicz, R. (2024) Ritual Slaughter in Europe. Atlas of Religion or Belief Minority Rights (URL).
3. Whitepaper: War & Peace (2022) European Academy of Religion and Society (URL).
4. Bobrowicz, R., van Cleempoel, L., Pavlović, M., Macaulay, H., Huotari, R., Sauty, C., Domsel, M.M., Scott-Cracknell, M., Amati, G., Dijkstra, Z., Pieters, T., Scott, F., Khalil, M.F., and A. Clerx (2022) The social impact of COVID-19, European Academy of Religion and Society (URL).
5. Bobrowicz, R. (2019) A World of Neighbours Working Group on Media and Narratives. A World of Neighbours (URL).
6. Bobrowicz, R. (2019) A World of Neighbours Working Group on Policymaking. A World of Neighbours (URL).
7. Bobrowicz, R. (2019) A World of Neighbours Working Group on Practitioners. A World of Neighbours (URL).
8. Bobrowicz, R. (2019) A World of Neighbours Working Group on Social Cohesion. A World of Neighbours (URL).
9. Saunders, J., Kjeldsen, C., Beck, C., Kruse, M., Bobrowicz, R., Nelson, C., Petrovics, D., Othman, L., Seidl, L., Nieman, M., Saunders, R., Mattisson, D., Vaananen, J., Garzon, J., Almquist, J., Warmedinger, C., Jelstrup Balkin, E., Socan, K., Geddes, T., Gaywood, B., Christiansen, C., Claussnitzer, M., Hanson, R., and M. Porteanu (2016) Global Scanning Review, 1/2016, Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies.
10. Saunders, J., Kjeldsen, J., Beck, C., Kruse, M., Bobrowicz, R., Nelson, C., Petrovics, D., Balkamos, K., Othman, L., Seidl, L., Nieman, M., Saunders, R., Mattisson, D., Vaananen, J., Garzon, J., Almquist, J., Magnusson, K., Warmedinger, C., Jelstrup Balkin, E., Socan, K., Geddes, T., Gaywood, B., Lund, A., Christiansen, C., Claussnitzer, M., Macrae, A., Hanson, R., and M. Porteanu (2015) Global Scanning Review, 5/2015, Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies.
11. Saunders, J., Kjeldsen, C., Beck, C., Kruse, M., Bobrowicz, R., Nelson, C., Petrovics, D., Balkamos, K., Othman, L., Seidl, L., Nieman, M., Saunders, R., Mattisson, D., Vaananen, J., Garzon, J., Almquist, J., Magnusson, K., Warmedinger, C., Jelstrup Balkin, E., Socan, K., Geddes, T., Gaywood, B., Lund, A., Christiansen, C., Claussnitzer, M., Macrae, A., Hanson, R., and M. Porteanu (2015) Global Scanning Review, 6/2015, Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies.
Internet publications
1. Bobrowicz, R. (2023) “On Understanding Religion Beyond Christianity,” Theology Research News (URL).
2. Bobrowicz, R. (2022) “Why Is the World Council of Churches Unlikely to Expel the Russian Orthodox Church?,” EARS (URL).
3. Bobrowicz, R. (2022) “Covid-19: A Slippery Slope or A Turning Point of Polarisation?,” EARS (URL).
4. Bobrowicz, R. (2022) “Sweden: Recommendations First, Restrictions Last,” EARS (URL).
5. Bobrowicz, R. (2022) “Will Increasing Insecurity Lead Us Beyond Polarisation?,” EARS (URL).
6. Bobrowicz, R. (2022) “The War of Poles Against Poles During the Pandemic,” EARS (URL).
7. Bobrowicz, R. (2022) “Luxembourg: Living Through the Pandemic in the ‘Laboratory of Mobility,’” EARS (URL).
8. Bobrowicz, R. (2021) “Poland – An Example of Delayed Secularisation?,” EARS (URL).
9. Bobrowicz, R. (2021) “Covid-19 and Freedom of Religion,” EARS (URL).
10. Bobrowicz, R. (2021) “Should All Christians Engage in Conflicts?,” Religion in Praxis (URL).
11. Bobrowicz, R. (2017) “‘I Got Annoyed That No One Wanted to Talk About Retreat Rooms as Religious,’” Uniavisen (URL).
12. Bobrowicz, R. (2017) “Retreat Rooms Aren’t Islamic – They’re Designed for Something Called Multifaith,” Uniavisen (URL).
13. Bobrowicz, R. (2017) “Luther Changed Everything,” Uniavisen (URL).
14. Bobrowicz, R. (2016) “Is Your Classroom as Diverse as Mine?,” Uniavisen (URL).