Annual Meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Religion (NAASR), Montréal, Canada, 7-10 November 2009
As usual, NAASR will meet concurrently with the American Academy of Religion (AAR). In addition to the four panels on political theology scheduled to take place at the AAR meeting proper (see blog entry of 15 May), a session on political theology has also been announced for the NAASR meeting.
Under the title "Disenchantment and Reenchantment in Political Theology: Diagnosing the Crisis of Liberalism", it is to take place on 6 November, 4-6.30 pm (exact location yet to be determined). The respondent will be John Milbank (University of Nottingham).
Of interest may also be a session titled "Postcoloniality, Secular Critique, and Democratic Futures", at least one speaker and the chair of which are known to be associated with the discourse on political theology (scheduled for 7 November, 9-11.30 am).
Further information is available at:
www.naasr.com/upcomingconferences.html
31 May 2009
29 May 2009
CONF: Political Philosophy vs. Political Theology?
Theological Faculty of the University of Innsbruck, Austria,
11-13 June 2009
Conference (Fachtagung): "Politische Philosophie vs. Politische Theologie? Die Frage der Gewalt im Spannungsfeld von Politik und Religion" ("Political Philosophy vs. Political Theology? The Question of Violence in the Area of Tension between Politics and Religion")
Organized by the ARGE "Politik, Religion, Gewalt" ("Politics, Religion, Violence") of the Österreichische Forschungsgemeinschaft (Austrian Research Association) and the research platform "Weltordnung – Religion – Gewalt" ("World order – Religion – Violence") of the University of Innsbruck.
This conference will build up on an argument advanced by Mark Lilla in his recent book, The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West (2007), claiming that in the modern West, in consequence of the religious wars of the seventeenth century and the works of Hobbes, Locke, and Hume, political theology was replaced by political philosophy. Lilla calls this the "Great Separation".
What he identifies as liberal political theologies of the nineteenth century (Harnack, Troeltsch, Cohen), following on from Rousseau, Kant, and Hegel, according to Lilla, was not able to live up to the religious expectations people had after the crisis of the First World War – their God had been "stillborn". Theological protest against liberal theology awoke in Karl Barth and Franz Rosenzweig and various forms of political theology, with different political leanings (from religious socialism [Tillich] to national socialism [Hirsch, Gogarten]), gained importance at that time. Heinrich Meier makes an equal distinction between political philosophy and political theology when comparing Leo Strauss and Carl Schmitt.
The conference will be discussing the arguments by Lilla and Meier in light of the currently observed return of the religious into politics, particularly with regard to violence and Islam. From a historical perspective, it will also study "political religions" such as religious socialism, Marxism-Leninism, and national socialism.
The programme of the conference (which will be held in German) is available at:
www.uibk.ac.at/plattform-wrg/projekte/arge/arge-fachtagung_2009_programm.pdf
For further information and registration, please contact Maria Hahnen or Mathias Moosbrugger: mathias.moosbrugger@student.uibk.ac.at
Officially, the deadline for registration was 11 May 2009.
11-13 June 2009
Conference (Fachtagung): "Politische Philosophie vs. Politische Theologie? Die Frage der Gewalt im Spannungsfeld von Politik und Religion" ("Political Philosophy vs. Political Theology? The Question of Violence in the Area of Tension between Politics and Religion")
Organized by the ARGE "Politik, Religion, Gewalt" ("Politics, Religion, Violence") of the Österreichische Forschungsgemeinschaft (Austrian Research Association) and the research platform "Weltordnung – Religion – Gewalt" ("World order – Religion – Violence") of the University of Innsbruck.
This conference will build up on an argument advanced by Mark Lilla in his recent book, The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West (2007), claiming that in the modern West, in consequence of the religious wars of the seventeenth century and the works of Hobbes, Locke, and Hume, political theology was replaced by political philosophy. Lilla calls this the "Great Separation".
What he identifies as liberal political theologies of the nineteenth century (Harnack, Troeltsch, Cohen), following on from Rousseau, Kant, and Hegel, according to Lilla, was not able to live up to the religious expectations people had after the crisis of the First World War – their God had been "stillborn". Theological protest against liberal theology awoke in Karl Barth and Franz Rosenzweig and various forms of political theology, with different political leanings (from religious socialism [Tillich] to national socialism [Hirsch, Gogarten]), gained importance at that time. Heinrich Meier makes an equal distinction between political philosophy and political theology when comparing Leo Strauss and Carl Schmitt.
The conference will be discussing the arguments by Lilla and Meier in light of the currently observed return of the religious into politics, particularly with regard to violence and Islam. From a historical perspective, it will also study "political religions" such as religious socialism, Marxism-Leninism, and national socialism.
The programme of the conference (which will be held in German) is available at:
www.uibk.ac.at/plattform-wrg/projekte/arge/arge-fachtagung_2009_programm.pdf
For further information and registration, please contact Maria Hahnen or Mathias Moosbrugger: mathias.moosbrugger@student.uibk.ac.at
Officially, the deadline for registration was 11 May 2009.
15 May 2009
CONF: 2009 meeting of the American Academy of Religion
Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), Montréal, Canada, 7-10 November 2009
In 2009, a significant increase is to be observed in the number of panels accepted for the annual meeting of the AAR that are concerned with political theology.
First, Hent de Vries (Johns Hopkins University) and Corey D. B. Walker (Brown University) invited contributions to a "Theology and the Political Consultation". Besides co-sponsering a panel on "Augustine and Democratic Politics", they also organize as part of their consultation a panel on "Aesthetics, Ethics, and the Politics of Theology" (event locations are only available to members logged in to the AAR’s website.)
The consultation wants to provide a forum for religious studies scholars, philosophers, and theologians to critically reflect on different conceptions of the "political" and draw out the theoretical and practical significance for the tasks of theology. The panel at this year's AAR meeting features papers that critically examine the cultural, political, and philosophical aspects of discourses of aesthetics and ethics as related to historic and contemporary elaborations of political theology and political theory.
Second, the "Feminist Theory and Religious Reflection Group" organizes a panel on "Political Subjectivity and Praxis: Feminist Theoretical Approaches to Public/Political Theology".
Third, the "Religion and Politics Section" sponsors a panel on "Political Theology: Public and Private, Culture, and Counterculture".
Fourth, the "Philosophy of Religion Section" and the "Study of Judaism Section" co-sponsor a panel on "The Mosaic Distinction: Judaism after Political Theology".
This panel will analyze recent trends in political theology from the perspective of the meaning of the "Mosaic Distinction". Within Judaism, the "Mosaic Distinction" invokes the event of God’s unique and sovereign revelation to the Jewish people at Sinai as lived through Jewish law. The legitimacy of this account is presupposed in varying expressions throughout the prophetic, rabbinic, philosophical, and mystical traditions. Nonetheless, the authority and meaning of this concept has been reinterpreted and challenged by an intellectual movement now commonly referred to as political theology. The purpose of the panel is to offer analyses of how the "Mosaic Distinction" has been dealt with in the work of leading figures in political theology, including Freud, Assmann, Taubes, Žižek, Agamben, and Schmitt, and to present constructive responses by leading contemporary Jewish philosophers.
The AAR annual meeting online programme (including abstracts of the respective papers in each panel) is available and searchable at:
www.aarweb.org/Meetings/Annual_Meeting/Current_Meeting/Program_Book/default.asp?ANum=&DayTime=&KeyWord=&Submit=View+Program+Book
Further information and registration:
www.aarweb.org/Meetings/Annual_Meeting/Current_Meeting/default.asp
In 2009, a significant increase is to be observed in the number of panels accepted for the annual meeting of the AAR that are concerned with political theology.
First, Hent de Vries (Johns Hopkins University) and Corey D. B. Walker (Brown University) invited contributions to a "Theology and the Political Consultation". Besides co-sponsering a panel on "Augustine and Democratic Politics", they also organize as part of their consultation a panel on "Aesthetics, Ethics, and the Politics of Theology" (event locations are only available to members logged in to the AAR’s website.)
The consultation wants to provide a forum for religious studies scholars, philosophers, and theologians to critically reflect on different conceptions of the "political" and draw out the theoretical and practical significance for the tasks of theology. The panel at this year's AAR meeting features papers that critically examine the cultural, political, and philosophical aspects of discourses of aesthetics and ethics as related to historic and contemporary elaborations of political theology and political theory.
Second, the "Feminist Theory and Religious Reflection Group" organizes a panel on "Political Subjectivity and Praxis: Feminist Theoretical Approaches to Public/Political Theology".
Third, the "Religion and Politics Section" sponsors a panel on "Political Theology: Public and Private, Culture, and Counterculture".
Fourth, the "Philosophy of Religion Section" and the "Study of Judaism Section" co-sponsor a panel on "The Mosaic Distinction: Judaism after Political Theology".
This panel will analyze recent trends in political theology from the perspective of the meaning of the "Mosaic Distinction". Within Judaism, the "Mosaic Distinction" invokes the event of God’s unique and sovereign revelation to the Jewish people at Sinai as lived through Jewish law. The legitimacy of this account is presupposed in varying expressions throughout the prophetic, rabbinic, philosophical, and mystical traditions. Nonetheless, the authority and meaning of this concept has been reinterpreted and challenged by an intellectual movement now commonly referred to as political theology. The purpose of the panel is to offer analyses of how the "Mosaic Distinction" has been dealt with in the work of leading figures in political theology, including Freud, Assmann, Taubes, Žižek, Agamben, and Schmitt, and to present constructive responses by leading contemporary Jewish philosophers.
The AAR annual meeting online programme (including abstracts of the respective papers in each panel) is available and searchable at:
www.aarweb.org/Meetings/Annual_Meeting/Current_Meeting/Program_Book/default.asp?ANum=&DayTime=&KeyWord=&Submit=View+Program+Book
Further information and registration:
www.aarweb.org/Meetings/Annual_Meeting/Current_Meeting/default.asp
06 May 2009
CONF: Bund and Borders: German Jewish Thinking Between Faith and Power
Jewish Museum Berlin, Lindenstrasse 9-14, 10969 Berlin, Germany
17-19 May 2009
Conference: "Bund and Borders: German Jewish Thinking Between Faith and Power"
The conference describes the history of German Jewry in light of two principle ideas: the notion of a Bund between the Jewish people and God and the need to define this Bund (Hebrew: Brith) within geopolitical and social borders.
Traditionally, German Jews stood between two systems of ideas: the world of fundamental faith and religious commitment and the world of secular power in politics. Since the Haskala, the majority of German Jews was committed to the idea of a religious Bund that should be transformed into a strong notion of cultural identity between well-defined borders. They did so by integrating the tools of intellectual critique on the one hand, and of moderate politics, on the other. Many German Jews transferred the same intermediary forms they learned and practiced to the cultures they were emigrating to, most notably to the heart of the Jewish Yishuv and then the new Jewish state. Responsible for much of the activity among Israel’s cultural elite, German Jews reworked an intensive culture of mediation and moderation.
Ingrained in today’s tension between religious and secular segments in Israeli society is the notion that many of the early achievements were rescinded. As a result, a variety of voices have recently pleaded to return to a model of German-Jewish critique, one that dares to ask difficult questions but strives to find moderate solutions. At the heart of this rediscovery lies a concept that immigrated with German Jews to Palestine; the supposedly utopian alternative to the Zionist idea of a Jewish State, or as Martin Buber called it, the "theopolitical". In the background of this utopia lies a radical critique that was formulated by the late Prague circle in Jerusalem, in Jacob Taubes’s correspondence with Carl Schmitt, and in the current debate on the relation between religion and politics in Israel.
"Bund and Borders" relates to the ideas of key German Jewish scholars who formulated a language of dialogue and defined distinctions between state and religion, power and faith, operative language and its philosophy. With regard to these scholars the conference aims at defining a fruitful and promising relation between the notion of Bund, in its religious and political form, and borders, in its geo-political context, its social as well as methodological relevance.
The first afternoon session on 18 May, 2-4 pm, is particularly concerned with "A Jewish Political Theology?":
Jacob Taubes redefined Carl Schmitt’s concept of political theology in terms of Jewish religious traditions, posing a series of questions: What is the task of political theology in a world very different from the one Schmitt knew? How did it become such a hotly debated topic? How should it be contextualized? Presentations will be given by Vivian Liska (University of Antwerp), Menachem Lorberbaum (University of Tel Aviv), Nitzan Lebovic (University of Tel Aviv/University of Sussex).
The conference was initiated and shaped by Nitzan Lebovic and Mirjam Wenzel, two former Fellows of the Leo Baeck Fellowship Programme. It is organized by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes in cooperation with the Jewish Museum Berlin and supported by the Stiftung "Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft". The programme can be found here:
www.sdvnet.de/leobaeck/Program.html
For further information and registration please contact Johannes Sabel (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes): sabel@studienstiftung.de
Deadline for registration is 10 May.
17-19 May 2009
Conference: "Bund and Borders: German Jewish Thinking Between Faith and Power"
The conference describes the history of German Jewry in light of two principle ideas: the notion of a Bund between the Jewish people and God and the need to define this Bund (Hebrew: Brith) within geopolitical and social borders.
Traditionally, German Jews stood between two systems of ideas: the world of fundamental faith and religious commitment and the world of secular power in politics. Since the Haskala, the majority of German Jews was committed to the idea of a religious Bund that should be transformed into a strong notion of cultural identity between well-defined borders. They did so by integrating the tools of intellectual critique on the one hand, and of moderate politics, on the other. Many German Jews transferred the same intermediary forms they learned and practiced to the cultures they were emigrating to, most notably to the heart of the Jewish Yishuv and then the new Jewish state. Responsible for much of the activity among Israel’s cultural elite, German Jews reworked an intensive culture of mediation and moderation.
Ingrained in today’s tension between religious and secular segments in Israeli society is the notion that many of the early achievements were rescinded. As a result, a variety of voices have recently pleaded to return to a model of German-Jewish critique, one that dares to ask difficult questions but strives to find moderate solutions. At the heart of this rediscovery lies a concept that immigrated with German Jews to Palestine; the supposedly utopian alternative to the Zionist idea of a Jewish State, or as Martin Buber called it, the "theopolitical". In the background of this utopia lies a radical critique that was formulated by the late Prague circle in Jerusalem, in Jacob Taubes’s correspondence with Carl Schmitt, and in the current debate on the relation between religion and politics in Israel.
"Bund and Borders" relates to the ideas of key German Jewish scholars who formulated a language of dialogue and defined distinctions between state and religion, power and faith, operative language and its philosophy. With regard to these scholars the conference aims at defining a fruitful and promising relation between the notion of Bund, in its religious and political form, and borders, in its geo-political context, its social as well as methodological relevance.
The first afternoon session on 18 May, 2-4 pm, is particularly concerned with "A Jewish Political Theology?":
Jacob Taubes redefined Carl Schmitt’s concept of political theology in terms of Jewish religious traditions, posing a series of questions: What is the task of political theology in a world very different from the one Schmitt knew? How did it become such a hotly debated topic? How should it be contextualized? Presentations will be given by Vivian Liska (University of Antwerp), Menachem Lorberbaum (University of Tel Aviv), Nitzan Lebovic (University of Tel Aviv/University of Sussex).
The conference was initiated and shaped by Nitzan Lebovic and Mirjam Wenzel, two former Fellows of the Leo Baeck Fellowship Programme. It is organized by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes in cooperation with the Jewish Museum Berlin and supported by the Stiftung "Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft". The programme can be found here:
www.sdvnet.de/leobaeck/Program.html
For further information and registration please contact Johannes Sabel (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes): sabel@studienstiftung.de
Deadline for registration is 10 May.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
