With support of KU Leuven History of Contemporary Religious Identities and Ideas research group.Religious communities and churches all maintain narratives and have both implicit and explicit ideas of who they are and what their histories consist of. These narratives and ideas are ideally based on facts and are, preferably, truthful. They also have rhetorical or stabilizing functions, and are involved in dynamics of power. They can also contribute to a sense of belonging through processes of inclusion and exclusion.This panel will focus on possible tensions and conflicts that arise when academic research studies identity narratives of religious communities, or when incidents undermine the possibly idealized implicit and explicit ideas of who they are. Some of the questions addressed are: What is the (de)constructive role of academia? What role do certain narratives play? How are they (de)constructed? Are they tenable? And is there a tension between freedom of research and freedom of identity? How is the researcher’s identity involved?This panel also looks for contributions along two lines. Firstly, case studies or examples of the abovementioned topics and questions are welcomed. This can include all religious or philosophical traditions. Alternatively, papers on academically relevant experiences of researchers, both personally and institutionally, that may be pertinent to conceptualize the relationship and tensions between academia and religious communities, are invited.Chair: Jens Van Rompaey (KU Leuven)Speakers:Maite De Beukeleer (KU Leuven), Catholic Women Looking for their Place in the Catholic Church: A Case Study of the Auxiliaires de l’Apostolat (1917-1965)Leen Deflem (KU Leuven), Transgressive behavior in Flemish catholic contexts (1960-1970): interviewing historical bystandersRyan Mc Aleer (KU Leuven), Challenges to Catholic School Identity: New Narratives and New IdentitiesGiancarlo Anello (Università di Parma), Activist Clergy vs. Quietist Shia: The Legal Foundations of a Revolutionary Stream in IslamClaire Maligot (Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne), When religious communities pass away: a researcher, nuns, and their ‘thereafter’Jens Van Rompaey (KU Leuven), First Fruits of the 2023-2024 Synod of Bishops: The Invention of the One True Synodal Catholic Church