17 July 2010

CFP: Libertinism and Baroque Performativity in the 17th Century

International one-day symposium "Libertinism and Baroque Performativity in the 17th Century", organized by the IDeA research group at RITS school for audiovisual and performing arts of Erasmushogeschool Brussel (EHB) in collaboration with Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUI) and the HAR research group at Paris West University Nanterre La Défense, at EHB, Brussels, Belgium,
16 November 2010

Papers on "the political-theological body" in baroque performativity are explicitly invited.

Description: "In Sodom or the Quintessence of Debauchery, a Restoration closet drama attributed to John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester (1647-1680) and posthumously published in 1684, Bolloxian, King of Sodom, prescribes sodomy as the sole acceptable sexual practice. This simple and straightforward pornographic joke serves as the starting point of a burlesque and satirical parable in which Rochester reveals the libidinous nature state reigning at the court of Charles II, while at the same time radically and unequivocally appealing to the reader's imagination. Sodom is only one of many early modern examples in which intellectual criticism and free-thinking go hand in hand with an erotic and sometimes pornographically grotesque universe in which, through its baroque extravaganza, the distinction between the real and the fictional, between the private and the public disintegrates.

"This symposium focuses on the 17th-century libertine (sub)culture that seeks to combine the critique of everything public and political with a visual regime that lavishly indulges in the sensuous experience of baroque theatricality. Libertinism is both a means of intellectual
(self-)criticism and an utterly performative practice, it is both political reflexion and wilful transgression. It is a locus of self-fashioning, on a sexual level (experimentation with possible sexual roles and identities) and on a political level (as Jeremy Webster explains in Performing Libertinism, the debate itself is an integral part of the available political discourse), as much as it is playful make-believe, joyfully investigating the limits of representation itself. Within this complex bias of seemingly conflicting interests the physical body takes up a central role.

"Exactly this libertine body will be at the heart of this symposium, which takes a double goal as its starting point. It will address and question the culture of libertinism in terms of baroque performativity in which notions such as immersion and transgression are key-points of investigation. In other words: how does libertine discourse produce the effects it names (and shows)? And, secondly, this symposium seeks to investigate the role and the place of the baroque body in all its performative aspects (the burlesque body, the political-theological body, the satirical body, the pornographic body). We welcome any contributions addressing one or both of these questions through the presentation of concrete case studies that might be related to early modern libertine life in Europe, particularly in France and England." (bold removed)

Keynote speakers: Jeremy W. Webster (Ohio University) and Christian Biet (Paris West University Nanterre La Défense)

Please send your abstract (250 words) and a short biographical notice to Karel Vanhaesebrouck (Erasmushogeschool Brussel): karel.vanhaesebrouck@ehb.be

Deadline: 1 September 2010

The definitive programme will be published on 20 September.

The symposium will be preceded by a graduate seminar for MA- and PhD-students on 15 November 2010.

12 July 2010

Public lecture and panel discussion/web cast: The Impact and Future of Black Theology

Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Chapel of the Unnamed Faithful, 2121 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois, USA, 15 September 2010, 11.00 am (public lecture) and 3.00-5.00 pm (panel discussion)

James H. Cone (Charles A. Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology, Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York), one of the world's most prominent black liberation theologians, will deliver the convocation address at Garrett-Evangelical's annual convocation: "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen: The Cross and the Lynching Tree in the Black Experience"

www.garrett.edu/index.php/academic-convocation-2010

After lunch, three other theologians will join Cone in a panel discussion on "The Impact and Future of Black Theology": Andrea C. White (Assistant Professor of Theology and Culture, Emory University), Rothney S. Tshaka (Professor of Systematic Theology, University of South Africa), and William Ackah (Lecturer in Community and Voluntary Sector Studies, Birkbeck College, University of London).

Both events are open to the public.

They can also be seen via live web cast at:

www.garrett.edu/convocation

Internet viewers will need to download and install Apple's free QuickTime Player. Viewers may tune in 15 minutes before both events.

07 July 2010

CONF: "Politics and Religion" in the Early Church

Sixth International Triennial Conference "Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church: Politics and Religion" of the Centre for Early Christian Studies of the Australian Catholic University (ACU) and the Asia-Pacific Early Christian Studies Society, ACU Melbourne campus, 7-10 July 2010

http://prayerspirit.com.au/

This conference features a panel on "Political Theology" (Session 3 C, 9 July, 11.00 am-12.45 pm) with the following papers:

Satoshi Toda (Hitotsubashi University), "'Political Theology' of Eusebius of Caesarea: A Reappraisal"

Abstract: "It seems that the so-called 'political theology' of Eusebius, a subject of much dispute, has greatly contributed to distort the image of this bishop-scholar. I discussed the matter in some detail at the annual APECSS conference held in Sendai last September, but in view of the ever-increasing scholarly literature on the subject (especially works related to the period of Constantine the Great), more discussion seems necessary. Briefly summarising the discussion made in my previous paper, I will try to show that Eusebius has nothing to do with the so-called 'political theology', and how we should understand Eusebius' position in the church history of the time. Furthermore I will discuss some materials which were not properly covered in my previous paper."

Shigeki Tsuchihashi (Chuo University), "The Trinity and Political Metaphor in Gregory Nazianzen's Theological Oration 29.2"

Abstract: "His Theological Oration 29.2 [sic], Gregory Nazianzen classifies opinions about the deity into three groups, using political metaphor: atheism-anarchy, polytheism-polyarchy, monotheism-monarchy. What he values among them is monarchy, not defined as the sovereignty of a single person but the single rule produced by equality of nature. In that case, however, how could we understand the relationship between the three persons of the Trinity without self-discordance (stasis). In this paper I will pursue that problem focusing attention on Gregory's emphasis upon the economy of salvation (oikonomia)."

Naoki Kamimura (Tokyo Gakugei University), "The exercitatio animi of Augustine in the City of God"

Abstract: "In his most comprehensive work, the City of God (413-427), Augustine expounds the destined beginning, progress, and end of the 'two cities' into which all humanity is divided: one is the earthly and the other the heavenly. In the first part of the work, he attempts to refute the 'false teaching' of pagan religious practices and ideas, and enters into a discussion of the philosophers proclaiming the usefulness of the cult of the gods (Books 8-10). It seems noteworthy that not only does he admire the 'entire effort of philosophy' made first by Socrates as the 'correction and regulation of morals' (City of God 8.3) but also emphasises the spiritual exercises (exercitatio animi) as overcoming the limits of Platonists' philosophical reflections. In this paper, I shall consider these seemingly similar types of training and discipline, thereby examining the significance of his critical assessment of pagan thought from the viewpoint of the division of all humanity in the City of God."

Further information (full programme, how to register, etc.) is to be found on the above website.

Book: The Gift of Difference: Radical Orthodoxy, Radical Reformation

Just published: "The Gift of Difference: Radical Orthodoxy, Radical Reformation", edited by Chris K. Huebner and Tripp York, with a foreword by John Milbank (CMU Press, July 2010):

www.cmu.ca/news/july5giftofdiff.html

Publisher's description (in a press release): "The Gift of Difference is a collection of essays in which theologians such as Craig Hovey, Harry J. Huebner, and D. Stephen Long consider the strengths and weaknesses of Radical Orthodoxy in dialogue with the Radical Reformation tradition. Writers in this volume engage topics such as ecclesiology, martyrdom, worship, oath-taking, peace and violence. In recent years, Radical Orthodoxy has become an important and influential movement in contemporary theology and philosophy. [...] Radical Orthodoxy enlists the resources of classical theology to engage the current strongholds of secular and religious thought. Proponents of Radical Orthodoxy argue that the Enlightenment project to remove reason, ethics, politics and economics from a theological framework culminates in the nihilism of postmodern discourse. They suggest that much contemporary theology is idolatrous in nature because it takes the isolation of such disciplines for granted.

"In the Foreword, John Milbank writes that '[modern Mennonites] see the Church itself as the true polity and (unlike most of the magisterial Reformation) they see the possibility of "living beyond the law" in terms of a new sort of social and political practice.' What might this concrete expression of Christian discipleship have to suggest to a movement like Radical Orthodoxy? What gifts does Radical Orthodoxy offer academics, ministers and laypeople from Radical Reformation tradition? 'This book explores both common and divergent themes between Anabaptist/Mennonite theologians and their counterparts in the Radical Orthodoxy movement,' says co-editor Chris K. Huebner. 'For example, while they jointly reject as false the dualisms characteristic of modernity, the manner in which questions of peace and justice get framed remains an ongoing debate.'"

Endorsements: "What hath the Radical Reformation to do with Anglo-Catholics – especially Anglicans who have a lingering penchant for Christendom? The answer from this book: a lot more than you might expect! Huebner and York have staged a mutually critical interaction between Radical Orthodoxy and Mennonite theology, illuminating both as a result." (James K.A. Smith, Calvin College)

"This book is a breath of fresh air. Retrieving central themes of classical theology, it is both faithful to tradition and innovative, offering a third way between liberalism and conservatism, one which sees theology as critical for public life without privatizing Christianity, on the one hand, or slipping into Constantinianism, on the other." (A. James Reimer, Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo)

Chris K. Huebner is Associate Professor of Theology and Philosophy at the Canadian Mennonite University (CMU).

Tripp York is an Adjunct Instructor of Religious Studies at Western Kentucky University.

02 July 2010

Book: Theology and the Boundary Discourse of Human Rights

Ethna Regan, "Theology and the Boundary Discourse of Human Rights" (Georgetown University Press, April 2010):

http://press.georgetown.edu/detail.html?id=9781589016422

Publisher's description: "What are human rights? Can theology acknowledge human rights discourse? Is theological engagement with human rights justified? What place should this discourse occupy within ethics? Ethna Regan seeks to answer these questions about human rights, Christian theology, and philosophical ethics. The main purpose of this book is to justify and explore theological engagement with human rights. Regan illustrates how that engagement is both ecumenical and diverse, citing the emerging engagement with human rights discourse by evangelical theologians in response to the War on Terror. The book examines where the themes and concerns of key modern theologians – Karl Rahner, J. B. Metz, Jon Sobrino, and Ignacio Ellacuría – converge with the themes and concerns of those committed to the advancement of human rights. Regan also critically engages with the 'disdain' for rights discourse that is found in the postliberal critiques of John Milbank and Stanley Hauerwas. This interdisciplinary volume will be of interest to students and scholars in the fields of systematic theology, theological ethics, human rights, religion and politics, and political theory."

The book includes sections on both political theology and liberation theology.

Ethna Regan is a Lecturer in the School of Theology at the Mater Dei Institute of Education, Dublin City University.