CONF: 2010 meeting of the American Academy of Religion

Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 30 October-1 November 2010

The increase in panels and papers accepted concerned with political theology that was to be observed at last year's AAR meeting continues this year.

First, the multi-year "Theology and the Political Consultation" will resume with a panel titled "Political Theology, Jewish, and Democratic: A Discussion of Bonnie Honig's Emergency Politics (Princeton University Press, 2009)" (A30-336, 30 October, 4.00-6.30 pm, Marriott Marquis/Marquis Ballroom C).

Description: "If Carl Schmitt offers an account of Christian political theology, what would a Jewish political theology look like? Instead of focusing on the exceptional moment, it would see every moment as exceptional. Instead of focusing on a single, transcendent sovereign, it would focus on sovereignty shared by a people and its leaders. Instead of opposing administrative discretion to juridical determinism, it would see discretion in law and determinism in administrative actions. Carl Schmitt is displaced by Franz Rosenzweig. In short, Jewish political theology is the political theology of democratic theory. These are among the claims of Bonnie Honig's Emergency Politics: Paradox, Law, Democracy (Princeton University Press, 2009). This panel will feature a critical dialogue about Honig's text. Some panelists will engage the text from a Jewish studies perspective, examining its extensive use of Rosenzweig and other Jewish sources; other panelists will engage the text as an intervention in conversations about religion and democratic theory, examining the provocative claims it makes about, for example, the political significance of miracles."

Participants: Gregory Kaplan (Rice University), presiding; Jeffrey Stout (Princeton); Nancy Levene (Indiana University); Martin Kavka (Florida State University); George Shulman (New York University); and Bonnie Honig (Northwestern University), responding

Second, the "Study of Judaism Section" and the "Critical Theory and Discourses on Religion Group" have organized a panel on "Antisemitism and Its Afterlives: Christian Studies of Judaism and the Construction of Modernity" (A31-309, 31 October, 5.00-6.30 pm, Marriott Marquis/M105).

Description: "Recent reevaluations of the secular order, for example that of Gil Anidjar, have pointed to the continuity of that order with the self-definition of Christian tradition against Judaism. Secular modernity borrowed certain of its narratives – notably, universalism and supersessionism – from Paul's definition of the Gospel as a universal dispensation of 'grace' that transcended the particularities of Jewish 'law.' Philosophers such as Jacob Taubes, Giorgio Agamben, and Alain Badiou have rediscovered the relevance of such theological categories for an understanding of the political theology of modernity. However, much historical work remains to be done to show how these categories were appropriated, altered, and sometimes inverted in the course of the self-transformation of European Christian civilization into an ostensibly secular modernity. Each of the papers on this panel contributes to filling in this genealogy, by retracing a part of the complex web of connections that connects modernity to earlier forms of Christian anti-Judaism. From Deists and their opponents in 17th-century England, to the Enlightenment philosophy of Immanuel Kant, to the 20th-century sociological project of Talcott Parsons, Judaism played a key role as the primary 'Other,' stubborn residue, and chief stumbling-block against which modernity defined itself."

Participants: Jerome Copulsky (Goucher College); Robert Yelle (University of Memphis), "Antisemitism at the Roots of Modern Ecumenicalism: The Deist Construction of 'Natural Religion' against Jewish Ritual and Revelation"; Bruce Rosenstock (University of Illinois), "Judaism and the Dialectical History of Religion: The Afterlife of Bishop Warburton's Divine Legation of Moses"; Leah Hochman (Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion), "Who's the (Ugly) Stick-in-the-Mud?: Kant, Judaism, and (Beauty's) Freedom"; and Jonathan Judaken (University of Memphis), "Talcott Parsons, Ambivalent Liberalism, and the Sociology of Modern Anti-Semitism"

Third, the "Explorations in Theology and the Apocalyptic" working group offers a panel on "Aspects of the Political Theology of Johann Baptist Metz" (M31-401, 31 October, 6.30-9.00 pm, Marriott Marquis/L403).

Description: "This is the second of two sessions exploring apocalyptic themes in contemporary Christian theology."

Participants: Benjamin Myers (Charles Sturt University), presiding; Matthew Eggemeier (College of the Holy Cross), "Christianity or Nihilism?: The Apocalyptic Discourses of Johann Baptist Metz and Friedrich Nietzsche"; Jason McKinney (University of Toronto), "The Sins of the Father: Suffering, Guilt, and Redemption in Benjamin and Metz"; Christopher Craig Brittain (University of Aberdeen), "Positivity and Negativity in Political Theology: Metz and Adorno on the Nature of Apocalyptic Hope"; and Kyle Gingerich Hiebert (University of Manchester), "The Architectonics of Hope: On the Tragic Configuration of Johann Baptist Metz's New Political Theology"

Fourth, the "Theology of Martin Luther King Jr. Consultation" has put together a panel on "The Promised Land: Political Theology and Contemporary Social Movements" (A30-236, 30 October, 1.00-3.30 pm, Marriott Marquis/Marquis Ballroom B).

Participants: Hak Joon Lee (New Brunswick Theological Seminary), presiding; Lane Van Ham (University of Arizona), "Undocumented Immigration and the 'World House': Spirituality in the Immigrant Advocacy Movement"; Rosemary P. Carbine (Whittier College), "Transforming Spaces for Social Change: Prophetic Praxis in the United States Civil Rights and New Sanctuary Movements"; Karen V. Guth (University of Virginia), "Beyond Nonviolence: The Feminist/Womanist Political Theology of Martin Luther King Jr."; Frederick L. Ware (Howard University), "'Prophesy the Common Good!': The Promise and Problem of Moral Realism in the Political Theology of Martin Luther King Jr."; Rosetta E. Ross (Spelman College), responding

Fifth, "The Word Made Fresh", an annual lectureship held in conjunction with the Society of Evangelical Scholars (M29-411, 29 October, 7.00-9.00 pm, Marriott Marquis/International 6).

Description: "The Word Made Fresh [...] seeks to stimulate creative dialogue among scholars on themes reflective of evangelical Christianity".

Participants: Thomas Oord (Northwest Nazarene University), presiding; Amos Yong (Regent University), "In the Days of Caesar: Pentecostalism and Political Theology"; J. Kameron Carter (Duke University), responding; Serene Jones (Union Theological Seminary), responding; Graham Ward (University of Manchester), responding

Sixth, the "Søren Kierkegaard Society" panel on "Selfhood, Church, and Society" (M30-124, 30 October, 9.00 am-12.00 pm, Marriott Marquis/International 3) includes a paper by Robert L. Perkins (Stetson University), "Kierkegaard's Political Theology".

Seventh, the "Religion and Politics Section" panel on "Religion and Politics in Theory and Practice" (A31-105, 31 October, 9.00-11.30 am, Marriott Marquis/A706) includes a paper by John Senior (Emory University), "Tradition Reconsidered: Political Theology, Narrative, and the Formation of Political Identities".

Eight, the "Reformed Theology and History Group" panel on "Reformed Churches and Historically Marginalized People" (A30-325, 30 October, 4.00-6.30 pm, Marriott Marquis/A706) includes a paper by Matthew J. Tuininga (Emory University), "Reformulating the Two Kingdoms Paradigm: A Political Theological Approach to Racism".

The AAR annual meeting online programme (including abstracts of the papers, if provided) is available and searchable at:

http://meeting.aarweb.org/

Further information and registration:

www.aarweb.org/Meetings/Annual_Meeting/Current_Meeting/default.asp

CFP: Political theology at AAR 2010

Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 30 October-1 November 2010

Calls for panels and papers on political theology

Hent de Vries (Johns Hopkins University) and Corey D.B. Walker (Brown University) will continue their multi-year "Theology and the Political Consultation":

Whither political theology? Why the recent proliferation of scholarship on political theology? How useful is the concept for understanding historic and contemporary flows in politics, religion, society, and thought? Is the very ubiquity of the concept suggestive of a general malaise in critical thinking in our contemporary moment? Whither political theology for all that we know now? We invite paper proposals that critically examine the theoretical and political opportunities and challenges of the use and deployment of ideas and formulations of political theology across disciplinary boundaries. We are particularly interested in proposals that provide new and innovative possibilities for critical engagements with this concept in light of contemporary configurations of political and economic power.

They accept proposals submitted online or by e-mail (no attachment; include the Participant Form for E-mail Submission): hentdevries@jhu.edu, cdbwalker@brown.edu

Johnny B. Hill (Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary) organizes the "Theology of Martin Luther King Jr. Consultation":

This Consultation invites papers and panel proposals related to the life and thought of Martin Luther King Jr., the Civil Rights movement, and contemporary social justice movements. We are especially interested in proposals exploring critical reflection on King and political theology, theological understandings of prophetic Christianity, as well as broader religious perspectives on justice and social transformation.

Online proposal submission only.

Contact: jhill@lpts.edu

Reid Locklin (University of Toronto) and Kurt Anders Richardson (McMaster University) are the chairs of the "Comparative Theology Group":

This Group invites comparative, constructive proposals in the following areas: 1) Revelation and natural theology (possibly cosponsored with the Christian Systematic Theology Section); 2) Political theologies; 3) Mystical marriage or union (possibly cosponsored with the Mysticism Group); 4) Frank Clooney on comparative theology; 5) Critical inquiry/critical immunity – the place of critical reasoning in contemporary theologies; 6) Apologetics, polemics, and debate; 7) Theologies mediated through arts; 8) Election/vocation; and 9) Unacknowledged pioneers of comparative theology. We strongly encourage panel proposals and welcome a wide variety of methodological approaches. Proposals on other topics will also be taken into consideration.

Online proposal submission only.

Contacts: reid.locklin@utoronto.ca, kar@mcmaster.ca

There will also be a "Liberation Theologies Consultation", chaired by Thia Cooper (Gustavus Adolphus College):

This Consultation asks, "What does liberation theology mean in and for the twenty-first century?" We encourage cross-over dialogue – between contexts and between disciplines – and reflection on the implications of liberationist discourse for the transformation of theology as a whole – methodologically and theologically. In this vein, we will invite a panel of practitioners and activists, directly and through this call, to engage their particular contexts (economics, politics, sex, gender, ethnicity, race, environment, etc.) with the two themes in this forum. We would like to include a broad spectrum of panelists, representing the medical field, law, journalism, civil society organizations, etc.

Online proposal submission only.

Contact: tcooper@gac.edu

There is a number of other calls that may be of interest, namely from the "Study of Islam Section" (political Islam), the "Theology and Religious Reflection Section" (relationship between aesthetics and the political, between beauty and liberation; intersections of theological and religious reflection with philosophical and political issues), the "Buddhist Critical-Constructive Reflection Group" (Buddhist political philosophies), the "Kierkegaard, Religion, and Culture Group" (social and political implications of Kierkegaard's concept of the "single individual"; can a politics that speaks to contemporary concerns be derived from Kierkegaard's critique of his time), and the "Christian Zionism in Comparative Perspective Seminar" (faith-based Christian political support for the State of Israel).

You have 1,000 words to make the case for your paper proposal. In addition, you will need a 150-word abstract. Prearranged paper sessions/panels require a separate 1,000 word proposal for each paper in the session. Individual paper abstracts will be listed in the online Program Book.

Submit your proposal via the method requested by the program unit.

Deadline: 1 March 2010

If you have any questions about your proposal, contact the chair of the program unit or the person noted in the call for papers.

Carefully note any audiovisual needs before you submit your proposal. A limited number of meeting rooms are supplied with LCD projectors for connecting to a personal laptop. AAR encourages participants to bring or share a personal or departmental laptop to run any PowerPoint, CD, or DVD presentation. Analog equipment such as overhead projectors, slide projectors, etc. are available to rent at the participant's cost. All AV requests must be received at the time of the proposal. Late requests cannot be accommodated.

Online submission and further information here:

www.aarweb.org/Meetings/Annual_Meeting/Current_Meeting/Call_for_Papers/

Notification of your proposal's acceptance status will be sent by 1 April 2010.

Membership is not required to submit a proposal. However, all participants accepted to the program must be current (2010) AAR members and registered for the Annual Meeting by 15 June 2010. Membership waivers are available to participants working outside the field of the study of religion or participants from developing nations. Contact the program unit chair for more details on how to arrange a waiver.

Participants may appear no more than two times in any capacity (e.g. paper presenter, panelist, presider, or respondent). The only exception is business meeting presiders. A person can have only one role in a session. You cannot preside and present a paper in the same session. The only exception is business meeting presiders. People can submit no more than two proposals in response to the call for papers. This includes submitting the same proposal to two separate units or two different proposals to two different units.

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

Roundtable discussion on “Theology and the Political”

Those interested in philosophical theology as it relates to the political may wish to have a look at the most recent issue of the journal “Political Theology” (no. 1, 2009):

www.politicaltheology.com/ojs/index.php/PT/issue/view/653

Some four years after publication of the book, the journal offers a roundtable discussion of “Theology and the Political: The New Debate” (eds. Creston Davis, John Milbank, and Slavoj Žižek, Duke University Press 2005).

Note of caution: Creston Davis, one of the book's editors, is now a review editor at the journal. One of the contributors to the roundtable discussion is also a contributor to the volume, and other roundtable participants are closely linked to book contributors. Still, those interested particularly in the (self-styled) “new debate” and/or Radical Orthodoxy will find this of interest.