Research Conference "The 'New Monarchy': Rethinking the Relations of Elites and Princes in Europe's Iron Century – 1590s to 1720s" of the European Science Foundation (ESF), Scandic Linköping Väst (hotel), Linköping, Sweden, 5-9 September 2011
www.esf.org/activities/esf-conferences/details/2011/confdetail358.html
Call for papers
Papers on early-modern political theology are particularly invited (see perspective B below).
Description: "Since the 1955 congress of European historians in Rome, the assumption of a completion of institutional absolutist state-building by the later seventeenth century has been steadily eroded. During the last fifty years, a large number of studies has emphasized that unprecedented wars and war related burdens were a major stimulus for crucial changes in the relation of regimes and elites during the seventeenth century, but that these changes should not be characterized primarily in terms of the building of a bureaucratic coercive tax state increasingly independent from society and its pressure groups. The actual early modern innovation was public debt on a hitherto unknown scale. Whatever relevance taxes had gained by 1500 (as in France, England or Castile), the exploding costs of the European arms- and war race severely qualified their contribution to paying overall cost; hence the fact of exploding public debt.
"The new monarchies such as Valois and Bourbon France, Stuart Britain, Habsburg Spain or Vasa Sweden were rather characterized by participation in an unprecedented war- and arms race and the consequences of confessionalisation, subsequent unprecedented rise in public funds, mainly financed by unprecedented debt, and a whole range of new opportunities for profit and challenges for the preservation of status for new and old elites. Rather then [sic] experiencing the emancipation of an institutional bureaucratic state from its social and ecclesiastical elites by way of secure regular enforceable taxes, regimes became increasingly dependant on old and new elites to organize and broker public debt, farm taxes, and buy or pre-finance offices, while these elites became more dependant on the vagrancies on [sic] national politics to participate in new forms of income and protect their assets.
"As Lucien Bely put it with reference to Louis XIV, 'les creanciers du roi sont des groupes financiers, et derriere eux, la noblesse et la bourgeoisie qui pretent ses avoirs'. While certain groups profited from these changes, others felt left behind. Jim Collins described for Brittany as Ronald Hutton for the officers of the royal army in the Civil War the emergence of new elites. Debates and struggles ensued among elites about the distribution of resources and privileges, about access to offices and spoils, about the best course in costly foreign wars and about the legitimacy of the whole process. In these debates, new modes of argument and ritual developed, such as national rhetoric and the imagery of monarchy as a whole. The resulting new modes of government were neither characterized by the power of a bureaucratic state nor did they resemble late medieval relationships between crown, magnates and nobility. They were rather determined by relations of the various units of the dynastic agglomerate among each other and by the new relations of regimes to old and new elites; hence the focus of this conference to compare patterns of relations among regimes and elites across Europe during the crucial 'Iron Century'.
"The most important current collections of essays dealing with the relation of regimes and elites under the impact of war, various volumes of the ESF series on the origins of the modern state, cover in each volume the whole period from 1300 to 1800. Though their value is undisputed, they necessarily attempt to capture very general developments across many centuries and cannot pinpoint the precise impact of the unprecedented burden of war on European societies precisely in Europe's Iron Century. For example, since the overriding importance of public debt is freely acknowledged and documented for the later sixteenth and seventeenth century, the volumes do not draw conclusions from this but rather insist on the long term importance of state taxes over the whole period from 1300 to 1800. Current research suggests three perspectives for the comparison here attempted, each to be approached via three topics:
"A: Representation and Integration: Negotiating Allegiance. This perspective focuses on the strategies of regimes to integrate the elites of their agglomerate polities. The emphasis here is on the forging of the unity of the agglomerate polity by whatever means (including national rhetoric) and on the representation of the regime in relation to their various political nations. Issues include constitutional responses to crises of the agglomerate polity by improvising alleged fundamental laws and constitutions embedded in an alleged 'national' past, coins, paintings, flags, coronation rites as means of political integration, and the role of the court as points of contact. B: Contemporary Analyses of the Agglomerate Polity. New kinds of analysis, in particular comparing the new regimes with the principate and emperorship of Rome, but also with the tyranny of Tiberius and the regime of favorites running illegitimate resources of power, attempted to come to terms with the new nature of politics under the pressure of war and the new needs for legitimacy and persuasion. Issues will be in particular Tacitism and Historiography and the new Political Theology.
"C: Societal Architecture and Social Integration under Pressure of War. The conference will look at the societal architecture under the pressure of war, at the new service elites and the way in which both lower nobility and burgesses and the higher aristocracy and magnates adapted to the shifts in influence happening around them. It is now widely accepted that 'as public (i.e. princely) service became a decisive criterion for social status', nobilities ceased to be elites 'constituted by their own self-consciousness and by the comportment that authorized them', but became dependant on the 'military, ecclesiastical and civil offices and privileges of precedence granted by the ruler'. But while the ability and willingness of nobilities to exercise force with means independent of the crown had significantly shrunken by 1700, we also now know that this resulted in anything but centralized modern bureaucracies. Groups that will be addressed include new service elites such as financiers and officers in church, army, and administration; lower Gentry and 'Noblesse Seconde', Magnates and Higher Aristocracy."
Invited senior scholars will participate in all parts of the programme. The ESF invites younger scholars to apply for participation with a short talk or a poster. Travel grants and financial support for up to 25 younger researchers (PhD required) are available.
Please find further information and an online application form on the above website.
Deadline: 9 June 2011
Showing posts with label conference. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conference. Show all posts
30 December 2010
CONF: Society of Christian Ethics annual meeting
2011 Annual Meeting of the Society of Christian Ethics (SCE), the Society of Jewish Ethics, and the Society for the Study of Muslim Ethics, Astor Crowne Plaza Hotel, New Orleans, LA, USA, 6-9 January 2011
www.scethics.org/annual-meetings/all/2011
A number of sessions on political theology have been scheduled for this conference, including:
Pieter Dronkers (Protestant Theological University, Utrecht), "The Netherlands: One Nation under God? Christendom, Citizenship and the Re-sacralization of National Loyalty" (7 January, 11.00 am-12.30 pm, room: Grand Ballroom B)
Abstract: "Globalization puts the question what makes a good citizen on top of the Dutch public agenda. Today, some political parties define citizenship in secularist terms, limiting the space for public religious engagement. Others argue that undivided loyalty to the Dutch nation is required. Sometimes Christendom is used to frame and sacralize this allegiance. From a political-theological perspective, the paper evaluates the Dutch debate and especially the remarkable return of Christendom. It argues that the Christian conviction that allegiance to the state is temporal is an important antidote against the idea that absolute civic or national loyalty is a precondition for building a secure society."
John E. Senior (Emory University), "Cruciform Political Agency: Politics Between the Penultimate and the Ultimate" (7 January, 4.00-5.30 pm, room: Bourbon)
Abstract: "The dominant norm of political agency in both political theory and political theology is cooperative, relational, and public discourse. But what, if any, theological sense can be made of political agency when it is uncooperative, instrumental, and even aggressive? This paper first critiques recent Augustinian ontologies of political life, arguing that these fail to respond to the morally ambiguous character of political agency. The paper then develops an alternative model of political agency, which it terms 'cruciform political agency.' This framing posits a political ontology that negotiates the tension between the world and the eschaton and thereby renders theologically intelligible complex configurations of political agency."
Karen V. Guth (University of Virginia), "Beyond Nonviolence: The Feminist/Womanist Political Theology of Martin Luther King, Jr." (8 January, 9.00-10.30 am, room: Bienville)
Abstract: "Scholars often view Martin Luther King Jr.'s contributions to political theology in terms of his philosophy of nonviolence. Drawing on feminist and womanist thought, I argue that King's theo-political practice extends beyond nonviolent resistance to include any 'agapic activity' that forms and sustains community. I uncover in King's thought a conception of agape that resonates with a number of feminists' emphases on the relational and community-oriented nature of love, and I draw on womanist thought to highlight the role of creativity in King's thought. Both suggest a vision of the church's political role as a community of creativity."
Interest Group "Ethics and Catholic Theology" session on "Racism: A Theological Analysis", with the speakers J. Kameron Carter (Duke University) and Bryan N. Massingale (Marquette University; 9 January, 9.00-10.30 am, room: St. Charles B)
Abstract: "Prof. Jay Carter will speak on 'The Christological Problem Revisited; or, The Imperial God-Man and the Catholic Invention of Race' which is material for a book theorizing at the intersection of [C]hristology and political theology. Prof. Bryan Massingale will speak on 'Idolatry/Heresy and the Challenge of Cross-Racial Solidarity,' which will examine the liberationist contention that racism represents not simply an ethical failure, but a theological defect, one which qualifies the task of the virtue of solidarity in Catholic social thought. After their presentations, our speakers will have an opportunity to briefly respond to each other, with ample time for audience questions following."
A few sessions on liberation theology have also been scheduled.
Please find additional information, a full programme, and a registration form on the above website.
www.scethics.org/annual-meetings/all/2011
A number of sessions on political theology have been scheduled for this conference, including:
Pieter Dronkers (Protestant Theological University, Utrecht), "The Netherlands: One Nation under God? Christendom, Citizenship and the Re-sacralization of National Loyalty" (7 January, 11.00 am-12.30 pm, room: Grand Ballroom B)
Abstract: "Globalization puts the question what makes a good citizen on top of the Dutch public agenda. Today, some political parties define citizenship in secularist terms, limiting the space for public religious engagement. Others argue that undivided loyalty to the Dutch nation is required. Sometimes Christendom is used to frame and sacralize this allegiance. From a political-theological perspective, the paper evaluates the Dutch debate and especially the remarkable return of Christendom. It argues that the Christian conviction that allegiance to the state is temporal is an important antidote against the idea that absolute civic or national loyalty is a precondition for building a secure society."
John E. Senior (Emory University), "Cruciform Political Agency: Politics Between the Penultimate and the Ultimate" (7 January, 4.00-5.30 pm, room: Bourbon)
Abstract: "The dominant norm of political agency in both political theory and political theology is cooperative, relational, and public discourse. But what, if any, theological sense can be made of political agency when it is uncooperative, instrumental, and even aggressive? This paper first critiques recent Augustinian ontologies of political life, arguing that these fail to respond to the morally ambiguous character of political agency. The paper then develops an alternative model of political agency, which it terms 'cruciform political agency.' This framing posits a political ontology that negotiates the tension between the world and the eschaton and thereby renders theologically intelligible complex configurations of political agency."
Karen V. Guth (University of Virginia), "Beyond Nonviolence: The Feminist/Womanist Political Theology of Martin Luther King, Jr." (8 January, 9.00-10.30 am, room: Bienville)
Abstract: "Scholars often view Martin Luther King Jr.'s contributions to political theology in terms of his philosophy of nonviolence. Drawing on feminist and womanist thought, I argue that King's theo-political practice extends beyond nonviolent resistance to include any 'agapic activity' that forms and sustains community. I uncover in King's thought a conception of agape that resonates with a number of feminists' emphases on the relational and community-oriented nature of love, and I draw on womanist thought to highlight the role of creativity in King's thought. Both suggest a vision of the church's political role as a community of creativity."
Interest Group "Ethics and Catholic Theology" session on "Racism: A Theological Analysis", with the speakers J. Kameron Carter (Duke University) and Bryan N. Massingale (Marquette University; 9 January, 9.00-10.30 am, room: St. Charles B)
Abstract: "Prof. Jay Carter will speak on 'The Christological Problem Revisited; or, The Imperial God-Man and the Catholic Invention of Race' which is material for a book theorizing at the intersection of [C]hristology and political theology. Prof. Bryan Massingale will speak on 'Idolatry/Heresy and the Challenge of Cross-Racial Solidarity,' which will examine the liberationist contention that racism represents not simply an ethical failure, but a theological defect, one which qualifies the task of the virtue of solidarity in Catholic social thought. After their presentations, our speakers will have an opportunity to briefly respond to each other, with ample time for audience questions following."
A few sessions on liberation theology have also been scheduled.
Please find additional information, a full programme, and a registration form on the above website.
27 December 2010
CFP: The Neighbor
Interdisciplinary German Studies Conference "The Neighbor" at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, 11-13 March 2011
http://german.berkeley.edu/newsevents/showevent.php?id=183
Call for papers
Description: "The image of 'the neighbor' evokes both nearness and distance, familiarity and foreignness, belonging and isolation. Pregnant with implications for kinship, community, and affiliation particular to the German-speaking world, the concept of 'the neighbor' has engendered numerous meditations on hospitality and love by thinkers from Luther and Kant to Freud, Schmitt, and Rosenzweig. At the same time, the presence of neighbors has often served as the basis for ostracism and exclusion, as an incitement to war, or as fuel for fantasies about local and global neighborhoods. How do we identify a 'neighbor' or 'neighborhood' in our current age of increased migration and mobility? How might an examination of these themes enrich our understanding of not only genocide and violence but also exchange, aid, and co-operation? For the conference, we are encouraging a comparative approach by seeking perspectives on 'neighbors' and 'neighborhoods' from scholars working in literature, history, linguistics, film, media studies, anthropology, and the social sciences.
"Possible topics include but are not limited to: The Notion of Neighbors Inside and Outside the European Union; Reactions in Theology, Philosophy, or Ethics to the Imperative 'Love Your Neighbor'; The Role of the Neighbor in Identity Formation and Identity Politics; The Status of Friends, Enemies, and Neighbors in Geographical and Territorial Disputes; Rivalries and Diplomacy between Neighbors on a Local, Regional, or National Scale; The Construction of Dialects vis-à-vis Neighbors; Linguistic Interaction between Neighboring Regions; Community, Isolation, or Gentrification in Urban Neighborhoods; The Kiez in Berlin, Grätzl in Vienna, or Veedel in Cologne; Images of Neighborhoods in Suburban and Rural Settings; The Subjection of Neighbors to Suspicion and Surveillance; Cohabitation, Intimacy and Proximity in Collective Memory; The Status of the Neighbor Before and After die Wende; Media and Neighbors in the Global Village"
Keynote speaker: Kenneth Reinhard (Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at UCLA and co-author, with Slavoj Žižek and Eric L. Santner, of "The Neighbor: Three Inquiries in Political Theology" [University of Chicago Press, 2005])
To participate, please send a 250-word abstract in English or German with a separate cover sheet indicating the proposed title, author's name, affiliation, and e-mail address to: neighbor@berkeley.edu
Deadline: 3 January 2011
http://german.berkeley.edu/newsevents/showevent.php?id=183
Call for papers
Description: "The image of 'the neighbor' evokes both nearness and distance, familiarity and foreignness, belonging and isolation. Pregnant with implications for kinship, community, and affiliation particular to the German-speaking world, the concept of 'the neighbor' has engendered numerous meditations on hospitality and love by thinkers from Luther and Kant to Freud, Schmitt, and Rosenzweig. At the same time, the presence of neighbors has often served as the basis for ostracism and exclusion, as an incitement to war, or as fuel for fantasies about local and global neighborhoods. How do we identify a 'neighbor' or 'neighborhood' in our current age of increased migration and mobility? How might an examination of these themes enrich our understanding of not only genocide and violence but also exchange, aid, and co-operation? For the conference, we are encouraging a comparative approach by seeking perspectives on 'neighbors' and 'neighborhoods' from scholars working in literature, history, linguistics, film, media studies, anthropology, and the social sciences.
"Possible topics include but are not limited to: The Notion of Neighbors Inside and Outside the European Union; Reactions in Theology, Philosophy, or Ethics to the Imperative 'Love Your Neighbor'; The Role of the Neighbor in Identity Formation and Identity Politics; The Status of Friends, Enemies, and Neighbors in Geographical and Territorial Disputes; Rivalries and Diplomacy between Neighbors on a Local, Regional, or National Scale; The Construction of Dialects vis-à-vis Neighbors; Linguistic Interaction between Neighboring Regions; Community, Isolation, or Gentrification in Urban Neighborhoods; The Kiez in Berlin, Grätzl in Vienna, or Veedel in Cologne; Images of Neighborhoods in Suburban and Rural Settings; The Subjection of Neighbors to Suspicion and Surveillance; Cohabitation, Intimacy and Proximity in Collective Memory; The Status of the Neighbor Before and After die Wende; Media and Neighbors in the Global Village"
Keynote speaker: Kenneth Reinhard (Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at UCLA and co-author, with Slavoj Žižek and Eric L. Santner, of "The Neighbor: Three Inquiries in Political Theology" [University of Chicago Press, 2005])
To participate, please send a 250-word abstract in English or German with a separate cover sheet indicating the proposed title, author's name, affiliation, and e-mail address to: neighbor@berkeley.edu
Deadline: 3 January 2011
10 December 2010
CFP: The Political in Bonhoeffer's Theology Reconsidered
XI. International Bonhoeffer Congress "A Spoke in the Wheel: The Political in Bonhoeffer's Theology Reconsidered", at the Sigtuna Foundation, Sigtuna, Sweden, 27 June-1 July 2012
Call for papers
Description: "On account of its Christology and ecclesiology, Dietrich Bonhoeffer's theology is intrinsically political. On the one hand, his theological convictions make possible opposition to government authority. Already early on in his critical engagement against the Nazi regime, in 'The Church and the Jewish Question' (1933), Bonhoeffer expected the church to oppose the state when the rights of those disdained by the state were violated. Ultimately, this stance resulted in Bonhoeffer's participation in the resistance and his violent death. On the other hand, however, Bonhoeffer advocated a conservative non-democratic political order for Germany after the war. How can one explain these seeming contradictions? How should we understand Bonhoeffer's political theology? The aim of the XI. International Bonhoeffer Congress is to encourage reflections on the continuing relevance of Bonhoeffer's political theology and ethics for the Christian church in a world that is characterized by an increasing gap between the rich and the poor. Is the church once again expected to put up political resistance?"
Sigtuna is the historical place where Bonhoeffer during the war met Bishop George Bell in secret mission. The historical Sigtuna Foundation is located only 15 minutes from the international airport of Stockholm (Arlanda). President of the congress is Bishop Martin Lind (Linköping).
The planning committee of the congress invites paper proposals for the three working days of the conference, each of which will consist of main speakers in the morning and seminar sessions in the afternoon. The topics of the three days are: "Bonhoeffer's Political Resistance" (28 June, with the subtopics: Democracy; Nationalism; Politics and Oikoumene; Europe and the Refugees), "Bonhoeffer on Church, State and Civil Society" (29 June, subtopics: Human Rights; Public Theology; Lutheran Heritage), and "How Do We Live Responsibly?" (30 June, subtopics: Religion and Ethics; Migration and Refugee Studies; Global Economy; Climate Change). The subtopics should not be seen as binding for the proposals. The organizers welcome papers discussing other dimensions of the topic of the day than the ones mentioned.
The proposals, which should explain topic, main arguments, and conclusions of the paper, should have no more than 500 words. They can be written in German or English, and the presentations at the conference can be held in English or German. Younger scholars, e.g. PhD students, are especially invited to propose papers. Proposals are to be submitted to Kirsten Busch Nielsen (University of Copenhagen): bonhoeffer2012@teol.ku.dk
Deadline: 1 June 2011
The decision, taken by a small committee, as to which proposals are accepted will be communicated via e-mail by the end of August 2011. The afternoon on which the accepted papers will be placed is not necessarily connected to the topic of the day.
Registration for the congress will be possible from June/July 2011. Congress fees, including accommodation and meals at the venue, will be approximately 500 Euro. Information about reduced fees for students is to follow.
Call for papers
Description: "On account of its Christology and ecclesiology, Dietrich Bonhoeffer's theology is intrinsically political. On the one hand, his theological convictions make possible opposition to government authority. Already early on in his critical engagement against the Nazi regime, in 'The Church and the Jewish Question' (1933), Bonhoeffer expected the church to oppose the state when the rights of those disdained by the state were violated. Ultimately, this stance resulted in Bonhoeffer's participation in the resistance and his violent death. On the other hand, however, Bonhoeffer advocated a conservative non-democratic political order for Germany after the war. How can one explain these seeming contradictions? How should we understand Bonhoeffer's political theology? The aim of the XI. International Bonhoeffer Congress is to encourage reflections on the continuing relevance of Bonhoeffer's political theology and ethics for the Christian church in a world that is characterized by an increasing gap between the rich and the poor. Is the church once again expected to put up political resistance?"
Sigtuna is the historical place where Bonhoeffer during the war met Bishop George Bell in secret mission. The historical Sigtuna Foundation is located only 15 minutes from the international airport of Stockholm (Arlanda). President of the congress is Bishop Martin Lind (Linköping).
The planning committee of the congress invites paper proposals for the three working days of the conference, each of which will consist of main speakers in the morning and seminar sessions in the afternoon. The topics of the three days are: "Bonhoeffer's Political Resistance" (28 June, with the subtopics: Democracy; Nationalism; Politics and Oikoumene; Europe and the Refugees), "Bonhoeffer on Church, State and Civil Society" (29 June, subtopics: Human Rights; Public Theology; Lutheran Heritage), and "How Do We Live Responsibly?" (30 June, subtopics: Religion and Ethics; Migration and Refugee Studies; Global Economy; Climate Change). The subtopics should not be seen as binding for the proposals. The organizers welcome papers discussing other dimensions of the topic of the day than the ones mentioned.
The proposals, which should explain topic, main arguments, and conclusions of the paper, should have no more than 500 words. They can be written in German or English, and the presentations at the conference can be held in English or German. Younger scholars, e.g. PhD students, are especially invited to propose papers. Proposals are to be submitted to Kirsten Busch Nielsen (University of Copenhagen): bonhoeffer2012@teol.ku.dk
Deadline: 1 June 2011
The decision, taken by a small committee, as to which proposals are accepted will be communicated via e-mail by the end of August 2011. The afternoon on which the accepted papers will be placed is not necessarily connected to the topic of the day.
Registration for the congress will be possible from June/July 2011. Congress fees, including accommodation and meals at the venue, will be approximately 500 Euro. Information about reduced fees for students is to follow.
09 December 2010
CFP: Daniel Paul Schreber: The Modern Experience and the Performance of Paranoia
International Conference "Daniel Paul Schreber: 100 Years Later: The Modern Experience and the Performance of Paranoia" of the Center for Literary and Cultural Research Berlin (Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung Berlin), Tel Aviv University, the Saxon Memorial Foundation (Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten), and the International Research Center for Cultural Studies (Internationales Forschungszentrum Kulturwissenschaften), at Sonnenstein Castle, near Dresden, Germany, 13-15 April 2011
Call for papers
Description: "Since its publication in 1903, Daniel Paul Schreber's Denkwürdigkeiten eines Nervenkranken [English: Memoirs of My Nervous Illness] fascinated a broad spectrum of scholars spanning from Freud and Lacan to Canetti, Foucault and Deleuze, giving rise to a wide variety of interpretations. Schreber's experience, manifested in his Denkwürdigkeiten, exposes paradoxes, a crisis of meaning and the problematic forms of his own subjective mental and physical existence. It seems that Schreber leaves none of the conventional dichotomies intact, be it man/woman, body/soul, conscious/unconscious, private/collective, God/human, etc. Consequently Schreber's unique account of his mental condition and therapy also constitutes a radical perspective on modernity.
"His transgressions and displacements open up a whole array of discursive fields, turning the discomfort and unease shared by many of Schreber's readers into a fruitful journey that has been evoking inspiring and critical ideas ever since. Exactly two hundred years after the establishment of the fortress Sonnenstein as a mental asylum (in 1811) and one hundred years after the death of Daniel Paul Schreber (on April 14, 1911) we would like to rethink Schreber's legacy through an interactive, interdisciplinary seminar, to take place at the Gedenkstätte Sonnenstein, where Schreber was hospitalized. Sonnenstein ironically gives an example to one of the most horrific consequences that modern political theology has caused, a theme we will reflect upon by bringing these two topics together spatially and conceptually.
"The seminar will be comprised of four main sessions, each focusing on one central theme, with three presentations in each session, followed by discussions. In addition we will hold reading sessions in small groups as well as an art installation and a musical performance. The first association evoked by the word Schreber in German is the Schrebergarten, an allotment garden, named after Daniel Paul's father who pursued various educational techniques inventing iron machines to control behaviour and movement of children – not least his own. Contrary to his father's constraining realm, Daniel Paul Schreber's world retains none of the fatherly visions and reveals to some extent where the moles are in Schreber's garden that rather turns out to be a paranoid park."
The conference organizers ask potential participants to submit a 300-word abstract of their interest in Schreber, the conference, and the context, together with a short biographical note. Unfortunately, their call for papers does not specify what kind of papers are invited. For further questions or assistance, or to submit an abstract, please contact: anton.pluschke@fu-berlin.de
Deadline: 9 January 2011
Speakers include: Friedrich Kittler (Humboldt University of Berlin), Eric Santner (University of Chicago), José Brunner (Tel Aviv University), Alan Read (King's College London), Zvi Lothane (Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City), and Moshe Zuckermann (Tel Aviv University)
Call for papers
Description: "Since its publication in 1903, Daniel Paul Schreber's Denkwürdigkeiten eines Nervenkranken [English: Memoirs of My Nervous Illness] fascinated a broad spectrum of scholars spanning from Freud and Lacan to Canetti, Foucault and Deleuze, giving rise to a wide variety of interpretations. Schreber's experience, manifested in his Denkwürdigkeiten, exposes paradoxes, a crisis of meaning and the problematic forms of his own subjective mental and physical existence. It seems that Schreber leaves none of the conventional dichotomies intact, be it man/woman, body/soul, conscious/unconscious, private/collective, God/human, etc. Consequently Schreber's unique account of his mental condition and therapy also constitutes a radical perspective on modernity.
"His transgressions and displacements open up a whole array of discursive fields, turning the discomfort and unease shared by many of Schreber's readers into a fruitful journey that has been evoking inspiring and critical ideas ever since. Exactly two hundred years after the establishment of the fortress Sonnenstein as a mental asylum (in 1811) and one hundred years after the death of Daniel Paul Schreber (on April 14, 1911) we would like to rethink Schreber's legacy through an interactive, interdisciplinary seminar, to take place at the Gedenkstätte Sonnenstein, where Schreber was hospitalized. Sonnenstein ironically gives an example to one of the most horrific consequences that modern political theology has caused, a theme we will reflect upon by bringing these two topics together spatially and conceptually.
"The seminar will be comprised of four main sessions, each focusing on one central theme, with three presentations in each session, followed by discussions. In addition we will hold reading sessions in small groups as well as an art installation and a musical performance. The first association evoked by the word Schreber in German is the Schrebergarten, an allotment garden, named after Daniel Paul's father who pursued various educational techniques inventing iron machines to control behaviour and movement of children – not least his own. Contrary to his father's constraining realm, Daniel Paul Schreber's world retains none of the fatherly visions and reveals to some extent where the moles are in Schreber's garden that rather turns out to be a paranoid park."
The conference organizers ask potential participants to submit a 300-word abstract of their interest in Schreber, the conference, and the context, together with a short biographical note. Unfortunately, their call for papers does not specify what kind of papers are invited. For further questions or assistance, or to submit an abstract, please contact: anton.pluschke@fu-berlin.de
Deadline: 9 January 2011
Speakers include: Friedrich Kittler (Humboldt University of Berlin), Eric Santner (University of Chicago), José Brunner (Tel Aviv University), Alan Read (King's College London), Zvi Lothane (Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City), and Moshe Zuckermann (Tel Aviv University)
07 December 2010
CFP: Representation: Kantorowicz and the Consequences
4. Berliner Kolloquium Junge Religionsphilosophie (Fourth Berlin Colloquium Young Philosophy of Religion) "Repräsentation: Kantorowicz und die Folgen" (Representation: Kantorowicz and the Consequences; my translation) of the Hanover Institute of Philosophical Research (Forschungsinstitut für Philosophie Hannover), the Catholic Academy in Berlin (Katholische Akademie in Berlin), and Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University Frankfurt's Chair for Philosophy of Religion, taking place at the Katholische Akademie, Hannoversche Strasse 5, Berlin, Germany, 24-26 February 2011
www.katholische-akademie-berlin.de/1:5431/Veranstaltungen/2011/02/30179_Repraesentation-Kantorowicz-und-die.html
Call for papers
Description: "[This colloquium] carries in its title a key term of political philosophy, legal philosophy and political theology and has [...] once more chosen a classic as the patron of our reflections: Ernst Hartwig Kantorowicz (1895-1963), who both as an intellectual and a scientist made important observations on the question of representation, particularly in his 1957 classic, The King's Two Bodies (Princeton University Press). Invited are proposals that thematize questions of the (institutional) representation of power in the context of the challenges posed by political science, jurisprudence, philosophy and theology; explore questions of the representation of the sacred and religion in art history, iconography or poetology; study the relationship of truth and myth, authority and authorship, symbolism, embodiment of power and incarnation; concern themselves with the writings of Ernst Hartwig Kantorowicz inasfar as they can be brought into fruitful tensions with the topic of the colloquium." (my translation)
The conference language is German, but papers may be proposed and presented in English. Young researchers particularly in philosophy and theology, but also other humanities and social sciences disciplines, with an interest in the philosophy of religion, are invited to send proposals (full manuscripts or outlines of presentations) to Martin Knechtges (Katholische Akademie): knechtges@katholische‐akademie‐berlin.de
Deadline: 15 December 2010
The organizers write that presentations should not exceed 5,000 characters – that is around two pages A4. Before submitting a proposal, you may want to inquire if they do not rather mean a maximum of 5,000 words.
Each presenter will be allocated 45 minutes (20 minutes for presentation, the rest presumably for discussion). All presenters are guests of the conference and will be given free accommodation and registration. They will however have to pay for their own transportation to and from Berlin. The registration fee for non-presenting participants is 75 Euro (including meals) and they can book accommodation at 100 Euro (single room) or 70 Euro (bed in a double room) for two nights. An additional night (departure on Sunday) is 50/35 Euro. The organizers write that the number of participants is limited to 30. From the website, I am not clear, though, if this includes or excludes presenters (or non-presenters).
Registration forms (in German) for both presenting and non-presenting participants are to be found on the above website. If you are going to propose a paper, please send the appropriate registration form together with your proposal. Non-presenting participants have until 30 January 2011 to register.
Keynote speakers: Ulrich Haltern (University of Hanover), Jürgen Manemann (Hanover Institute of Philosophical Research), and Thomas M. Schmidt (Goethe-University Frankfurt)
www.katholische-akademie-berlin.de/1:5431/Veranstaltungen/2011/02/30179_Repraesentation-Kantorowicz-und-die.html
Call for papers
Description: "[This colloquium] carries in its title a key term of political philosophy, legal philosophy and political theology and has [...] once more chosen a classic as the patron of our reflections: Ernst Hartwig Kantorowicz (1895-1963), who both as an intellectual and a scientist made important observations on the question of representation, particularly in his 1957 classic, The King's Two Bodies (Princeton University Press). Invited are proposals that thematize questions of the (institutional) representation of power in the context of the challenges posed by political science, jurisprudence, philosophy and theology; explore questions of the representation of the sacred and religion in art history, iconography or poetology; study the relationship of truth and myth, authority and authorship, symbolism, embodiment of power and incarnation; concern themselves with the writings of Ernst Hartwig Kantorowicz inasfar as they can be brought into fruitful tensions with the topic of the colloquium." (my translation)
The conference language is German, but papers may be proposed and presented in English. Young researchers particularly in philosophy and theology, but also other humanities and social sciences disciplines, with an interest in the philosophy of religion, are invited to send proposals (full manuscripts or outlines of presentations) to Martin Knechtges (Katholische Akademie): knechtges@katholische‐akademie‐berlin.de
Deadline: 15 December 2010
The organizers write that presentations should not exceed 5,000 characters – that is around two pages A4. Before submitting a proposal, you may want to inquire if they do not rather mean a maximum of 5,000 words.
Each presenter will be allocated 45 minutes (20 minutes for presentation, the rest presumably for discussion). All presenters are guests of the conference and will be given free accommodation and registration. They will however have to pay for their own transportation to and from Berlin. The registration fee for non-presenting participants is 75 Euro (including meals) and they can book accommodation at 100 Euro (single room) or 70 Euro (bed in a double room) for two nights. An additional night (departure on Sunday) is 50/35 Euro. The organizers write that the number of participants is limited to 30. From the website, I am not clear, though, if this includes or excludes presenters (or non-presenters).
Registration forms (in German) for both presenting and non-presenting participants are to be found on the above website. If you are going to propose a paper, please send the appropriate registration form together with your proposal. Non-presenting participants have until 30 January 2011 to register.
Keynote speakers: Ulrich Haltern (University of Hanover), Jürgen Manemann (Hanover Institute of Philosophical Research), and Thomas M. Schmidt (Goethe-University Frankfurt)
05 December 2010
CFP: Religion in the Public Square and Private Worship
International and interdisciplinary seminar "Religion in the Public Square and Private Worship: in light of Hobbes' reading of 2 Kings 5:18-19" of the Italian academic journal "Politica e Religione" and the Department of Philosophy, History, and Cultural Heritage at the University of Trento, Italy, 9-10 June 2011
Call for papers
Since 2007, the journal "Politica e Religione" has been promoting seminars on the history of theological-political concepts and metaphors at the University of Trento, covering topics such as the Angels of the Nations; the Katéchon and the Antichrist; and the Spirit and the Power: Questions of Political Pneumatology. The proceedings of previous seminars have been published in the journal. Scholars from a variety of religious and disciplinary backgrounds (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, History, Philosophy, Theology, Law, Political Science, etc.) are invited to submit proposals for a contribution during the next seminar.
Description: "In the Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes reads the episode of Naaman the Syrian (2 Kings 5:18-19) as an example and a symbol of the right of a political power to control the public manifestations of any religious act. According to the biblical story, Naaman, the captain of the army of an Aramean king, converted to the faith of Israel after having been healed from leprosy, but he asked and obtained permission by a Jewish prophet to publicly worship the god Rimmon because of his obedience to the king. By distinguishing between interior conviction and external worship, the English philosopher[,] on the one hand, opens the way to the modern conception of the freedom of conscience, understood as a political tool for the resolution of religious conflicts and prevention of civil war; on the other hand, puts in doubt the ecclesiastic claims of interfering in any political and public issue precisely by making the interior convictions of the citizens irrelevant (insofar as they obey the laws of the king).
"Hobbes underlines that, by asking only for the interior faith and not for public actions, Jesus has exonerated the Church from judging the civil and political powers. And in the case when royal laws are in contradiction with the norms of the Church, or simply with the interior convictions of the citizens, they should obey those laws because such an act does not impede obtaining eternal salvation. In Hobbes' eyes, this argument frees the same concern for the eternal salvation from any political concern and puts it only within the individual, spiritual sphere. External obedience to the royal laws does not compromise the personal adhesion to norms of the Holy Scriptures. Hobbes' reflections on the biblical episode mentioned above may serve as the opportunity to think again about the relationship between public or political acts of religion, private worship, and interior convictions, in the framework of the complex process of forging the modern concept of 'religious freedom' as the foundation of all modern, secular political institutions.
"The recent claim by almost all traditional religions of a major public role in the global village is a challenge and a stimulus to renew the reflection on how states and politics should regulate the public manifestations of any religious credos in a context of pluralistic societies. Possible themes for a proposed paper: Innovative exegesis and interpretations of the biblical story of 2 Kings 5:18-19; Possible comparison with John 3:1-19 and Gal 2:11-21; How the story of Naaman was received by the Fathers of the Church; Developments of the theme in Jewish, Islamic, and Christian-Orthodox traditions; Development of the theme in the Scholastic schools of thought; The exegetical sources of Hobbes' text on the subject; New interpretations of the subject in the Modern era; Reception of Hobbes's reflections in C. Schmitt, R. Schnur, and R. Koselleck; Relationship between interior faith, domestic worship, and public acts of religion; Developments of the theme in contemporary theology."
Presentations may be given in Italian, English, French, German, or Spanish. Each proposal should include a title, the list of the disciplinary areas involved, an abstract (max. 300 words), and a limited bibliography. Proposals will be accepted on the basis of cogency and consistency with the topic and the method of the seminar. Please send proposals to Michele Nicoletti and Francesco Ghia (both University of Trento): michele.nicoletti@unitn.it, francesco.ghia@unitn.it
Deadline: 28 February 2011
The selected participants are required to submit full papers (max. 2,500-3,000 words) by 9 May 2011.
The best presented papers will be published in the journal (after the usual peer review).
Further information on the journal is to be found here:
www.morcelliana.it/or4/or?uid=morcelliana.main.index&oid=23165
Call for papers
Since 2007, the journal "Politica e Religione" has been promoting seminars on the history of theological-political concepts and metaphors at the University of Trento, covering topics such as the Angels of the Nations; the Katéchon and the Antichrist; and the Spirit and the Power: Questions of Political Pneumatology. The proceedings of previous seminars have been published in the journal. Scholars from a variety of religious and disciplinary backgrounds (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, History, Philosophy, Theology, Law, Political Science, etc.) are invited to submit proposals for a contribution during the next seminar.
Description: "In the Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes reads the episode of Naaman the Syrian (2 Kings 5:18-19) as an example and a symbol of the right of a political power to control the public manifestations of any religious act. According to the biblical story, Naaman, the captain of the army of an Aramean king, converted to the faith of Israel after having been healed from leprosy, but he asked and obtained permission by a Jewish prophet to publicly worship the god Rimmon because of his obedience to the king. By distinguishing between interior conviction and external worship, the English philosopher[,] on the one hand, opens the way to the modern conception of the freedom of conscience, understood as a political tool for the resolution of religious conflicts and prevention of civil war; on the other hand, puts in doubt the ecclesiastic claims of interfering in any political and public issue precisely by making the interior convictions of the citizens irrelevant (insofar as they obey the laws of the king).
"Hobbes underlines that, by asking only for the interior faith and not for public actions, Jesus has exonerated the Church from judging the civil and political powers. And in the case when royal laws are in contradiction with the norms of the Church, or simply with the interior convictions of the citizens, they should obey those laws because such an act does not impede obtaining eternal salvation. In Hobbes' eyes, this argument frees the same concern for the eternal salvation from any political concern and puts it only within the individual, spiritual sphere. External obedience to the royal laws does not compromise the personal adhesion to norms of the Holy Scriptures. Hobbes' reflections on the biblical episode mentioned above may serve as the opportunity to think again about the relationship between public or political acts of religion, private worship, and interior convictions, in the framework of the complex process of forging the modern concept of 'religious freedom' as the foundation of all modern, secular political institutions.
"The recent claim by almost all traditional religions of a major public role in the global village is a challenge and a stimulus to renew the reflection on how states and politics should regulate the public manifestations of any religious credos in a context of pluralistic societies. Possible themes for a proposed paper: Innovative exegesis and interpretations of the biblical story of 2 Kings 5:18-19; Possible comparison with John 3:1-19 and Gal 2:11-21; How the story of Naaman was received by the Fathers of the Church; Developments of the theme in Jewish, Islamic, and Christian-Orthodox traditions; Development of the theme in the Scholastic schools of thought; The exegetical sources of Hobbes' text on the subject; New interpretations of the subject in the Modern era; Reception of Hobbes's reflections in C. Schmitt, R. Schnur, and R. Koselleck; Relationship between interior faith, domestic worship, and public acts of religion; Developments of the theme in contemporary theology."
Presentations may be given in Italian, English, French, German, or Spanish. Each proposal should include a title, the list of the disciplinary areas involved, an abstract (max. 300 words), and a limited bibliography. Proposals will be accepted on the basis of cogency and consistency with the topic and the method of the seminar. Please send proposals to Michele Nicoletti and Francesco Ghia (both University of Trento): michele.nicoletti@unitn.it, francesco.ghia@unitn.it
Deadline: 28 February 2011
The selected participants are required to submit full papers (max. 2,500-3,000 words) by 9 May 2011.
The best presented papers will be published in the journal (after the usual peer review).
Further information on the journal is to be found here:
www.morcelliana.it/or4/or?uid=morcelliana.main.index&oid=23165
15 November 2010
CFP: Shakespeare's Imagined Orient
International Conference "Shakespeare's Imagined Orient", at the American University of Beirut (AUB), Lebanon, 4-6 May 2011
www.aub.edu.lb/conferences/shake_orient/
Description: "Shakespeare studies has recently experienced a noticeable and dramatic geographical shift. As the textual landscape of Shakespeare's drama changes, it takes on new forms and now points to new horizons, namely the East and the Orient, and more particularly the Levant. From the blasted heaths of England, Shakespeare moves to the most arid and yet fertile soils of the Levant. The aim of the conference, in this emergent field, is to reconsider Shakespeare's diffusion from both Pre and Postcolonial Middle Eastern perspectives and to examine Shakespeare's critical relevance to understanding religion and politics on both a local scale (in the Middle East/the Orient) and globally. Reaching across disciplinary boundaries, Shakespeare's Imagined Orient aims to prove how the critical and artistic reception of Shakespeare in the Orient is paramount to apprehending and reinventing Shakespeare as a cultural and social bridge uniting the 'East' and the 'West' in the landscape of global culture.
"The organisers of the conference hope to offer a critical insight into Shakespeare and Early Modern political theology that would help refashion, remap broader issues that engage the status of cultural and religious identity, nation, and individuality in the landscape of global culture. With such issues in mind, we invite submissions concerning the following range of topics: Representations of the Orient in Shakespeare's Work; Christian/Muslim Representation/Interaction on Shakespeare's/the Early Modern stage; Local/Global Shakespeare (from a Middle Eastern perspective); Shakespeare's Women and The Orient; Desire, Phantasm, and the Orient; Identity and Nationhood; Material Culture and the Imagined Orient on Shakespeare's Stage."
Both paper abstracts (300 words) and session proposals are invited. Proposals should be sent as a Word file and include your name, institution, city and state or country, e-mail address, and phone number. Please attach a brief CV. E-mail your abstracts/session proposals to the conference chair, Prof François-Xavier Gleyzon (AUB), to whom you may also address questions: Shakespeare&theOrient@gmail.com
Deadline: 21 January 2011
Notifications will be sent by 15 February 2011.
Please note that each presentation is limited to 25 minutes (including questions).
Keynote speakers: Jonathan Burton (West Virginia University), Gerald MacLean (University of Exeter), Margaret Litvin (Boston University), and Daniel Vitkus (Florida State University).
The conference is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the British Council, the Anis K. Makdisi Program in Literature, the Office of the Provost, the Center for American Studies and Research, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at AUB.
www.aub.edu.lb/conferences/shake_orient/
Description: "Shakespeare studies has recently experienced a noticeable and dramatic geographical shift. As the textual landscape of Shakespeare's drama changes, it takes on new forms and now points to new horizons, namely the East and the Orient, and more particularly the Levant. From the blasted heaths of England, Shakespeare moves to the most arid and yet fertile soils of the Levant. The aim of the conference, in this emergent field, is to reconsider Shakespeare's diffusion from both Pre and Postcolonial Middle Eastern perspectives and to examine Shakespeare's critical relevance to understanding religion and politics on both a local scale (in the Middle East/the Orient) and globally. Reaching across disciplinary boundaries, Shakespeare's Imagined Orient aims to prove how the critical and artistic reception of Shakespeare in the Orient is paramount to apprehending and reinventing Shakespeare as a cultural and social bridge uniting the 'East' and the 'West' in the landscape of global culture.
"The organisers of the conference hope to offer a critical insight into Shakespeare and Early Modern political theology that would help refashion, remap broader issues that engage the status of cultural and religious identity, nation, and individuality in the landscape of global culture. With such issues in mind, we invite submissions concerning the following range of topics: Representations of the Orient in Shakespeare's Work; Christian/Muslim Representation/Interaction on Shakespeare's/the Early Modern stage; Local/Global Shakespeare (from a Middle Eastern perspective); Shakespeare's Women and The Orient; Desire, Phantasm, and the Orient; Identity and Nationhood; Material Culture and the Imagined Orient on Shakespeare's Stage."
Both paper abstracts (300 words) and session proposals are invited. Proposals should be sent as a Word file and include your name, institution, city and state or country, e-mail address, and phone number. Please attach a brief CV. E-mail your abstracts/session proposals to the conference chair, Prof François-Xavier Gleyzon (AUB), to whom you may also address questions: Shakespeare&theOrient@gmail.com
Deadline: 21 January 2011
Notifications will be sent by 15 February 2011.
Please note that each presentation is limited to 25 minutes (including questions).
Keynote speakers: Jonathan Burton (West Virginia University), Gerald MacLean (University of Exeter), Margaret Litvin (Boston University), and Daniel Vitkus (Florida State University).
The conference is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the British Council, the Anis K. Makdisi Program in Literature, the Office of the Provost, the Center for American Studies and Research, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at AUB.
23 October 2010
CFP: Religion and Liberation: Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Conference "Religion and Liberation: Interdisciplinary Perspectives" of Durham University's Department of Theology, Faith and Globalization Programme, and Centre for Catholic Studies, at St Cuthbert's Catholic Church (University Chaplaincy), Durham, UK, 17 December 2010,
9.00 am-6.30 pm
http://religionandliberation.wordpress.com
Call for papers
Description: "Current debates about religion and politics tend towards two positions: 1) concern over the danger of religious extremism; 2) criticism of religious traditions' conservative positions on social issues. While these debates are important, their dominance often eclipses the significant history of religiously rooted liberation movements. This conference aims to address this often-overlooked connection through the investigation of three themes: 1) historical analysis of religiously rooted liberation movements; 2) theoretical analysis of the connection between religious ideas and theories of liberation; and 3) critical analysis of religion's role in contemporary philosophy and critical theory. Through this investigation, we seek to show how the theoretical and historical elements within these traditions may provide a complementary critical resource which enables communities to work on solutions to the crises confronting contemporary society."
The organizers welcome submission on these or other related topics: Religious responses to the political and economic effects of globalization, including the responses of indigenous religious traditions; Theoretic, sociological, or historical perspectives on the role of religious traditions in struggles for human rights; Theoretical, sociological, or historical perspectives on Islamic or Christian liberation theology; Religion and the financial crisis; Religion and environmental activism; Connections between theological traditions and the critique of political economy; Religion and forms of social organization; Religion, politics of identity and contemporary social movements; Influence of theological traditions on political or economic structures; Regional assessments of the current status of liberation theology.
Keynote speakers: Philip Goodchild (University of Nottingham), "The Future of Liberation", and Roland Boer (University of Newcastle, Australia), "Kairos and Akairós"
To propose a paper, please send a title and a 400-word abstract to: t.j.lynch@durham.ac.uk
Deadline: 19 November 2010
Participants will be informed by 26 November.
Registration fee: £5
9.00 am-6.30 pm
http://religionandliberation.wordpress.com
Call for papers
Description: "Current debates about religion and politics tend towards two positions: 1) concern over the danger of religious extremism; 2) criticism of religious traditions' conservative positions on social issues. While these debates are important, their dominance often eclipses the significant history of religiously rooted liberation movements. This conference aims to address this often-overlooked connection through the investigation of three themes: 1) historical analysis of religiously rooted liberation movements; 2) theoretical analysis of the connection between religious ideas and theories of liberation; and 3) critical analysis of religion's role in contemporary philosophy and critical theory. Through this investigation, we seek to show how the theoretical and historical elements within these traditions may provide a complementary critical resource which enables communities to work on solutions to the crises confronting contemporary society."
The organizers welcome submission on these or other related topics: Religious responses to the political and economic effects of globalization, including the responses of indigenous religious traditions; Theoretic, sociological, or historical perspectives on the role of religious traditions in struggles for human rights; Theoretical, sociological, or historical perspectives on Islamic or Christian liberation theology; Religion and the financial crisis; Religion and environmental activism; Connections between theological traditions and the critique of political economy; Religion and forms of social organization; Religion, politics of identity and contemporary social movements; Influence of theological traditions on political or economic structures; Regional assessments of the current status of liberation theology.
Keynote speakers: Philip Goodchild (University of Nottingham), "The Future of Liberation", and Roland Boer (University of Newcastle, Australia), "Kairos and Akairós"
To propose a paper, please send a title and a 400-word abstract to: t.j.lynch@durham.ac.uk
Deadline: 19 November 2010
Participants will be informed by 26 November.
Registration fee: £5
08 October 2010
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
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
30 September 2010
CONF: Judaism and Political Theology
International conference "Traces of Judaism in Contemporary Thought" of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, at the Jewish Community Centre (JCC) of Krakow, Miodowa st. 24, Poland, 4-6 October 2010
www.jcckrakow.org/en/content/traces-judaism-contemporary-thought
This conference features a panel on "Judaism and Political Theology" (5 October, 9.30-11.30 am) with the following papers: Arthur Bradley (Lancaster University), "City of Cacos: The Savage and [the Sovereign] in Augustine's City of God XIX"; Michael Dillon (Lancaster University), "Cocking the Question: Disarming Answers"; and Petar Bojanić (University of Belgrade), "'Pazifistischer Zug': Franz Rosenzweig's 'Messianic Politics' and Ethics of War".
No abstracts provided by the organizers.
Further information (full programme, JCC contact details, etc.) is to be found on the above website.
www.jcckrakow.org/en/content/traces-judaism-contemporary-thought
This conference features a panel on "Judaism and Political Theology" (5 October, 9.30-11.30 am) with the following papers: Arthur Bradley (Lancaster University), "City of Cacos: The Savage and [the Sovereign] in Augustine's City of God XIX"; Michael Dillon (Lancaster University), "Cocking the Question: Disarming Answers"; and Petar Bojanić (University of Belgrade), "'Pazifistischer Zug': Franz Rosenzweig's 'Messianic Politics' and Ethics of War".
No abstracts provided by the organizers.
Further information (full programme, JCC contact details, etc.) is to be found on the above website.
13 September 2010
CFP: Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2011
Please circulate widely!
CALL FOR PAPERS
Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2011
Organized by: Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society (SCIS)
Location: Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the University of Geneva, Château de Bossey, near Geneva, Switzerland
Date: 12-13 July 2011
The "Political Theology Agenda" (www.political-theology-agenda.blogspot.com) has been run by the Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society since January 2009. The blog is the premier resource on the net for the comparative study of political theology and political theologies across the boundaries of various traditions and academic disciplines.
The Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2011 will be the second event we organize in conjunction with the blog. It follows on from a highly successful first symposium held in Geneva in August 2010 and two equally well-received events on comparative political theology SCIS organized earlier, namely, in September 2007, a section and symposium at the General Conference of the European Consortium for Political Research in Pisa, Italy, and, in July 2008, a stand-alone symposium at Sciences Po/the Institute for Political Studies (IEP) in Paris, France. All three events drew participants from the world over.
The Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2011 is set to be equally international and interdisciplinary in scope. We invite affiliated academics, independent scholars, and doctoral students and candidates from a wide range of disciplines, such as Theology, Religious Studies, Philosophy, Political Theory, Political Science, International Relations, Law, Literature, History, Jewish Studies, Education, Cultural Studies, Geography, and so on. Papers may not only cover any and all aspects of political theology, but also related concepts, such as liberation theology, public theology, black theology, the Christian Right, Radical Orthodoxy, religious anarchism, Minjung theology, Dalit theology, radical Islam, religious Zionism, political religion, civil religion, etc. Have a look at the blog to see what might be of interest and falls within our remit. Papers may be theoretical and/or empirical in nature. Although not a condition, we particularly encourage a comparative perspective. Work in progress is welcome too.
We expect that 15-20 participants will be attending the workshop-style Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2011. Over the course of two full days, each presenter will have 45-60 minutes (depending on the number of participants) to present his or her paper and discuss it with all others. The symposium starts early on Tuesday and ends Wednesday late in the afternoon. Due to the small size of the symposium, all participants are expected to attend both days.
As with all SCIS events, no fees will be charged from participants, and no funding is available to cover participants' travel and accommodation expenses. We will be glad to issue letters of acceptance on request to assist participants in securing funding from their usual sources. The 18th-century Château de Bossey, set in an outstanding natural environment overlooking Lake Geneva and the French Alps, offers comfortable accommodation at reasonable prices. Further information will be provided to confirmed participants.
Please send your proposal to: e.kofmel@sussexcentre.org
Deadline: 31 January 2011
Later submissions may still be accepted, but early submission is strongly advised and proposals may be accepted as they come in.
Cordially,
Erich Kofmel
Managing Director / Research Professor of Political Theory
Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society (SCIS)
www.sussexcentre.org
E-mail: e.kofmel@sussexcentre.org
Postal address:
Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society
1200 Geneva
Switzerland
SCIS is an international association under Swiss law.
Founded 2006 at the University of Sussex.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2011
Organized by: Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society (SCIS)
Location: Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the University of Geneva, Château de Bossey, near Geneva, Switzerland
Date: 12-13 July 2011
The "Political Theology Agenda" (www.political-theology-agenda.blogspot.com) has been run by the Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society since January 2009. The blog is the premier resource on the net for the comparative study of political theology and political theologies across the boundaries of various traditions and academic disciplines.
The Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2011 will be the second event we organize in conjunction with the blog. It follows on from a highly successful first symposium held in Geneva in August 2010 and two equally well-received events on comparative political theology SCIS organized earlier, namely, in September 2007, a section and symposium at the General Conference of the European Consortium for Political Research in Pisa, Italy, and, in July 2008, a stand-alone symposium at Sciences Po/the Institute for Political Studies (IEP) in Paris, France. All three events drew participants from the world over.
The Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2011 is set to be equally international and interdisciplinary in scope. We invite affiliated academics, independent scholars, and doctoral students and candidates from a wide range of disciplines, such as Theology, Religious Studies, Philosophy, Political Theory, Political Science, International Relations, Law, Literature, History, Jewish Studies, Education, Cultural Studies, Geography, and so on. Papers may not only cover any and all aspects of political theology, but also related concepts, such as liberation theology, public theology, black theology, the Christian Right, Radical Orthodoxy, religious anarchism, Minjung theology, Dalit theology, radical Islam, religious Zionism, political religion, civil religion, etc. Have a look at the blog to see what might be of interest and falls within our remit. Papers may be theoretical and/or empirical in nature. Although not a condition, we particularly encourage a comparative perspective. Work in progress is welcome too.
We expect that 15-20 participants will be attending the workshop-style Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2011. Over the course of two full days, each presenter will have 45-60 minutes (depending on the number of participants) to present his or her paper and discuss it with all others. The symposium starts early on Tuesday and ends Wednesday late in the afternoon. Due to the small size of the symposium, all participants are expected to attend both days.
As with all SCIS events, no fees will be charged from participants, and no funding is available to cover participants' travel and accommodation expenses. We will be glad to issue letters of acceptance on request to assist participants in securing funding from their usual sources. The 18th-century Château de Bossey, set in an outstanding natural environment overlooking Lake Geneva and the French Alps, offers comfortable accommodation at reasonable prices. Further information will be provided to confirmed participants.
Please send your proposal to: e.kofmel@sussexcentre.org
Deadline: 31 January 2011
Later submissions may still be accepted, but early submission is strongly advised and proposals may be accepted as they come in.
Cordially,
Erich Kofmel
Managing Director / Research Professor of Political Theory
Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society (SCIS)
www.sussexcentre.org
E-mail: e.kofmel@sussexcentre.org
Postal address:
Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society
1200 Geneva
Switzerland
SCIS is an international association under Swiss law.
Founded 2006 at the University of Sussex.
05 September 2010
CONF: Political Theology Reformed?
Biennial Conference of the Reformation Studies Colloquium, University of St Andrews, Scotland, 7-9 September 2010
www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~rsc2010/
This conference features a panel on "Political Theology Reformed? The Influence of the Reformation on Early Modern Political Languages in England, Germany and Poland" (Session 2/Panel 15, 8 September, 11.00 am-12.30 pm, location: Divinity Lecture 2) with the following papers: Maciej Ptaszyński (University of Warsaw), "Language of Resistance: Political, Philosophical and Theological Arguments for Disobedience in Sixteenth-Century Poland"; Philip Hahn (Goethe University Frankfurt), "The Political Language of Lutheran Preachers in Saxonia and Thuringia, ca. 1550-1675: Continuity and Adaptation of a Reformation Heritage"; Ulrich Niggemann (University of Marburg), "Divine Right, 'Courtly Reformation' or Contractarianism? Political and Theological Languages in the Funeral Sermons on King William III"; chair: Natalia Nowakowska (Oxford).
No abstracts provided by the organizers.
Further information (full programme, how to register, etc.) is to be found on the above website.
www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~rsc2010/
This conference features a panel on "Political Theology Reformed? The Influence of the Reformation on Early Modern Political Languages in England, Germany and Poland" (Session 2/Panel 15, 8 September, 11.00 am-12.30 pm, location: Divinity Lecture 2) with the following papers: Maciej Ptaszyński (University of Warsaw), "Language of Resistance: Political, Philosophical and Theological Arguments for Disobedience in Sixteenth-Century Poland"; Philip Hahn (Goethe University Frankfurt), "The Political Language of Lutheran Preachers in Saxonia and Thuringia, ca. 1550-1675: Continuity and Adaptation of a Reformation Heritage"; Ulrich Niggemann (University of Marburg), "Divine Right, 'Courtly Reformation' or Contractarianism? Political and Theological Languages in the Funeral Sermons on King William III"; chair: Natalia Nowakowska (Oxford).
No abstracts provided by the organizers.
Further information (full programme, how to register, etc.) is to be found on the above website.
20 August 2010
Report on the Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2010: Political theology goes East and South
The first event held by the Geneva-based Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society (SCIS) in conjunction with its "Political Theology Agenda" blog, the Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2010, was a full success.
It took place on 18 and 19 August 2010 at the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Château de Bossey, near Geneva, Switzerland. Bossey doubles as an institute of the University of Geneva since all degrees awarded there (Masters and PhD degrees in Ecumenical Studies) are granted by the University of Geneva.
Keynote speakers were Professor Aliakbar Alikhani, Head of the Institute for Social and Cultural Studies at the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology in Tehran, Iran, and Professor Galip Veliu from the Department of Philosophy at the State University of Tetovo in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
The Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2010 attracted seventeen papers submitted by participants from institutions such as University College London, the University of Birmingham (both UK), the University of Helsinki (Finland), the University of Quebec at Montreal (Canada), the University of Tehran (Iran), the University of the Punjab (Pakistan), the University of South Africa, the University of Zimbabwe, the National University of Malaysia, Universitas Nasional at Jakarta (Indonesia), and San Beda College in Manila (the Philippines). Other countries represented include Macedonia, Romania, Lithuania, Switzerland, and Nigeria.
Speakers – from doctoral candidates to full professors – came from the disciplines of Political Science, Philosophy, Political Theory, Theology, Church History, and Islamic Studies, giving theoretical as well as empirical presentations on subjects including secularization and religious pluralism, political theology, black theology, liberation theology, and radical Islam.
After Pisa, Italy, in 2007 and Paris, France, in 2008, this was the third symposium on political theology organized by the Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society and, once more, it opened up new frontiers for political theology. It was by far the most international event we ever organized (and quite possibly the most international event on political theology to take place anywhere as yet) with five participants from Iran alone and scores of submissions (not all accepted) from the Middle East and East Asia as well as Africa. Taken together with a high number of submissions from (South-)Eastern Europe, there is a significant trend to be observed: after gaining momentum in the Anglophone countries over the past few years, the study of political theology now goes East and South, spreading to Asia and Africa.
The Political Theology Agenda blog and the Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society will continue to be at the forefront of these developments.
(On the downside, all prospective American and Israeli participants withdrew, one by one, from the symposium once they knew that there would be Iranians present. Way to encourage dialogue.)
It took place on 18 and 19 August 2010 at the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Château de Bossey, near Geneva, Switzerland. Bossey doubles as an institute of the University of Geneva since all degrees awarded there (Masters and PhD degrees in Ecumenical Studies) are granted by the University of Geneva.
Keynote speakers were Professor Aliakbar Alikhani, Head of the Institute for Social and Cultural Studies at the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology in Tehran, Iran, and Professor Galip Veliu from the Department of Philosophy at the State University of Tetovo in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
The Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2010 attracted seventeen papers submitted by participants from institutions such as University College London, the University of Birmingham (both UK), the University of Helsinki (Finland), the University of Quebec at Montreal (Canada), the University of Tehran (Iran), the University of the Punjab (Pakistan), the University of South Africa, the University of Zimbabwe, the National University of Malaysia, Universitas Nasional at Jakarta (Indonesia), and San Beda College in Manila (the Philippines). Other countries represented include Macedonia, Romania, Lithuania, Switzerland, and Nigeria.
Speakers – from doctoral candidates to full professors – came from the disciplines of Political Science, Philosophy, Political Theory, Theology, Church History, and Islamic Studies, giving theoretical as well as empirical presentations on subjects including secularization and religious pluralism, political theology, black theology, liberation theology, and radical Islam.
After Pisa, Italy, in 2007 and Paris, France, in 2008, this was the third symposium on political theology organized by the Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society and, once more, it opened up new frontiers for political theology. It was by far the most international event we ever organized (and quite possibly the most international event on political theology to take place anywhere as yet) with five participants from Iran alone and scores of submissions (not all accepted) from the Middle East and East Asia as well as Africa. Taken together with a high number of submissions from (South-)Eastern Europe, there is a significant trend to be observed: after gaining momentum in the Anglophone countries over the past few years, the study of political theology now goes East and South, spreading to Asia and Africa.
The Political Theology Agenda blog and the Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society will continue to be at the forefront of these developments.
(On the downside, all prospective American and Israeli participants withdrew, one by one, from the symposium once they knew that there would be Iranians present. Way to encourage dialogue.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
19 June 2010
CFP: Between Rawls and Religion: Liberalism in a Postsecular World
International conference "Between Rawls and Religion: Liberalism in a Postsecular World" of the International Research Network on Religion and Democracy (IRNRD), LUISS Guido Carli University, and John Cabot University, Rome, Italy, 16-18 December 2010
Call for papers
The conference will bring together scholars in philosophy, sociology, political theory, legal theory, religious studies, and theology to discuss the problematic relationship between religion and politics in contemporary public life. It will focus particularly on John Rawls' influential treatment of liberalism in pluralist societies and on the challenges posed to such a treatment by the re-emergence of religions in public life and the development of what some have called a postsecular world.
The conference will thus consider such topics as: Religion in Rawls; Political liberalism in a postsecular world; Religious doctrines and the idea of public reason; Religions and overlapping consensus; Liberalism and political theology; The philosophical and political foundations of postsecular pluralism; Redefining the relations and boundaries between religion and public life; Accommodating religious identities in liberal societies
Speakers include: Alessandro Ferrara (University of Rome "Tor Vergata"); Andrew March (Yale, tbc); David Rasmussen (Boston College); Johannes van der Ven (Radboud University); Maeve Cooke (University College Dublin); Paul Weithman (University of Notre Dame); Peter Jonkers (Tilburg University); Samuele Sangalli (Gregoriana); Sebastiano Maffettone (LUISS Guido Carli University); Stephen Macedo (Princeton); Tariq Modood (University of Bristol, tbc); Theo de Wit (Tilburg University)
Scholars and graduate students wishing to present papers on these or related topics are invited to submit abstracts to the organizing committee. A paper suitable for presentation in 20 minutes and a 500-word abstract, both prepared for blind review, should be sent to: infophd@luiss.it
Deadline: 1 October 2010
Notice of acceptance will be provided by 15 October 2010. Selected papers will be considered for publication.
Registration fee (includes conference dinner, lunches, and refreshments): Faculty €100, Students €50.
Call for papers
The conference will bring together scholars in philosophy, sociology, political theory, legal theory, religious studies, and theology to discuss the problematic relationship between religion and politics in contemporary public life. It will focus particularly on John Rawls' influential treatment of liberalism in pluralist societies and on the challenges posed to such a treatment by the re-emergence of religions in public life and the development of what some have called a postsecular world.
The conference will thus consider such topics as: Religion in Rawls; Political liberalism in a postsecular world; Religious doctrines and the idea of public reason; Religions and overlapping consensus; Liberalism and political theology; The philosophical and political foundations of postsecular pluralism; Redefining the relations and boundaries between religion and public life; Accommodating religious identities in liberal societies
Speakers include: Alessandro Ferrara (University of Rome "Tor Vergata"); Andrew March (Yale, tbc); David Rasmussen (Boston College); Johannes van der Ven (Radboud University); Maeve Cooke (University College Dublin); Paul Weithman (University of Notre Dame); Peter Jonkers (Tilburg University); Samuele Sangalli (Gregoriana); Sebastiano Maffettone (LUISS Guido Carli University); Stephen Macedo (Princeton); Tariq Modood (University of Bristol, tbc); Theo de Wit (Tilburg University)
Scholars and graduate students wishing to present papers on these or related topics are invited to submit abstracts to the organizing committee. A paper suitable for presentation in 20 minutes and a 500-word abstract, both prepared for blind review, should be sent to: infophd@luiss.it
Deadline: 1 October 2010
Notice of acceptance will be provided by 15 October 2010. Selected papers will be considered for publication.
Registration fee (includes conference dinner, lunches, and refreshments): Faculty €100, Students €50.
13 June 2010
CFP: The Future of Continental Philosophy of Religion
Postmodernism, Culture and Religion 4 (biennial conference series) "The Future of Continental Philosophy of Religion", Syracuse University, New York State, USA, 7-9 April 2011
http://pcr.syr.edu/
Call for papers
Description: "Paper submissions are invited on the topic 'The Future of Continental Philosophy of Religion,' its past and present, its history and its prospects, in the widest possible terms, addressing the whole range of it simplications – politics, feminism, constructive theology, philosophy, history, literature, interfaith dialogue, and the hermeneutics of sacred texts. In the past, these conferences, which have provided a forum for the most influential philosophers, theologians, and cultural theorists to interact, have consisted solely of several keynote speakers. This conference will be different. It will feature three plenary speakers and offer multiple concurrent sessions devoted to papers submitted on a diversity of issues relating to the primary theme. This call for papers is deliberately open, befitting the conference's animating concern with the future.
"Papers are invited that address questions like (but not limited to) the following. What now, or what comes next – specifically, after the death, if not of God, at least of the generation consisting of Derrida, Deleuze, Foucault, Levinas, etc.? This question concerns not only the future after those significant theorists, but also the future after-life of these eminent minds who have left such a deep impact on Continental philosophy of religion. What is the future of Kant and German Idealism, of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche in Continental philosophy of religion? What remains for the future of phenomenology? Of the 'theological turn' in the phenomenology of Jean-Luc Marion and others? Of Gadamer, Ricoeur and philosophical hermeneutics? Of apophatic or mystical theology? What is the future of feminism and Continental philosophy of religion? What are the status and future of the new trinity of Agamben, Badiou and Zizek? What relevance do the political interpretations of Antonio Negri, Michael Hardt, and the more recent Continental philosophers such as François Laruelle and Catherine Malabou have to philosophy of religion and political theology?
"What about the future of sovereignty, of money and capitalism, as in the work of Philip Goodchild? What is the future of the movements of Radical Orthodoxy and of radical death of God theology, whether in their original or contemporary manifestations? What about the new sciences of information and complexity in thinkers like Mark C. Taylor and Michel Serres? What about Continental philosophy of religion and our 'companion species' in Donna Haraway? What about 'Post-Humanism'? What is the future of Continental [p]hilosophy of religion and Judaism? And Islam? Or world religions generally? What is the relationship between postmodernism, religion and postcolonialism? What role can Continental philosophy play in the future of religion in the USA? In the professional study of religion in the USA? How does Continental philosophical theology relate to the ethnological and empirical-scientific study of religion? How does Continental philosophy of religion differ from traditional philosophy of religion? Or from analytic philosophy of religion? What is continental philosophy of religion anyway?"
Plenary Speakers: John D. Caputo (Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Humanities, Syracuse University); Philip Goodchild (Professor of Religion and Philosophy, University of Nottingham); Catherine Malabou (Professor of Philosophy, Paris West University Nanterre La Défense)
Instructions: Submit electronic copies of completed papers (up to 3000 words). Abstracts cannot be considered. Papers will be subject to a double blind review by a selection committee. Include your name, paper title, and contact information on a separate page. Include the paper title but not your name on a header or footer on each numbered page of the paper itself. The papers must be previously unpublished in any format. The conference reserves the right of first refusal of the submitted paper for inclusion in a projected volume to be based upon the conference.
Deadline: 15 December 2010
Acceptances will be made by 15 February 2011.
Contact for further information and paper submissions: pcrconf@syr.edu
Coordinator: John D. Caputo
http://pcr.syr.edu/
Call for papers
Description: "Paper submissions are invited on the topic 'The Future of Continental Philosophy of Religion,' its past and present, its history and its prospects, in the widest possible terms, addressing the whole range of it simplications – politics, feminism, constructive theology, philosophy, history, literature, interfaith dialogue, and the hermeneutics of sacred texts. In the past, these conferences, which have provided a forum for the most influential philosophers, theologians, and cultural theorists to interact, have consisted solely of several keynote speakers. This conference will be different. It will feature three plenary speakers and offer multiple concurrent sessions devoted to papers submitted on a diversity of issues relating to the primary theme. This call for papers is deliberately open, befitting the conference's animating concern with the future.
"Papers are invited that address questions like (but not limited to) the following. What now, or what comes next – specifically, after the death, if not of God, at least of the generation consisting of Derrida, Deleuze, Foucault, Levinas, etc.? This question concerns not only the future after those significant theorists, but also the future after-life of these eminent minds who have left such a deep impact on Continental philosophy of religion. What is the future of Kant and German Idealism, of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche in Continental philosophy of religion? What remains for the future of phenomenology? Of the 'theological turn' in the phenomenology of Jean-Luc Marion and others? Of Gadamer, Ricoeur and philosophical hermeneutics? Of apophatic or mystical theology? What is the future of feminism and Continental philosophy of religion? What are the status and future of the new trinity of Agamben, Badiou and Zizek? What relevance do the political interpretations of Antonio Negri, Michael Hardt, and the more recent Continental philosophers such as François Laruelle and Catherine Malabou have to philosophy of religion and political theology?
"What about the future of sovereignty, of money and capitalism, as in the work of Philip Goodchild? What is the future of the movements of Radical Orthodoxy and of radical death of God theology, whether in their original or contemporary manifestations? What about the new sciences of information and complexity in thinkers like Mark C. Taylor and Michel Serres? What about Continental philosophy of religion and our 'companion species' in Donna Haraway? What about 'Post-Humanism'? What is the future of Continental [p]hilosophy of religion and Judaism? And Islam? Or world religions generally? What is the relationship between postmodernism, religion and postcolonialism? What role can Continental philosophy play in the future of religion in the USA? In the professional study of religion in the USA? How does Continental philosophical theology relate to the ethnological and empirical-scientific study of religion? How does Continental philosophy of religion differ from traditional philosophy of religion? Or from analytic philosophy of religion? What is continental philosophy of religion anyway?"
Plenary Speakers: John D. Caputo (Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Humanities, Syracuse University); Philip Goodchild (Professor of Religion and Philosophy, University of Nottingham); Catherine Malabou (Professor of Philosophy, Paris West University Nanterre La Défense)
Instructions: Submit electronic copies of completed papers (up to 3000 words). Abstracts cannot be considered. Papers will be subject to a double blind review by a selection committee. Include your name, paper title, and contact information on a separate page. Include the paper title but not your name on a header or footer on each numbered page of the paper itself. The papers must be previously unpublished in any format. The conference reserves the right of first refusal of the submitted paper for inclusion in a projected volume to be based upon the conference.
Deadline: 15 December 2010
Acceptances will be made by 15 February 2011.
Contact for further information and paper submissions: pcrconf@syr.edu
Coordinator: John D. Caputo
10 June 2010
CONF: American Political Science Association annual meeting 2010
106th Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA), Washington, DC, USA, 2-5 September 2010
http://apsanet.org/content_65547.cfm?navID=193
The programme of this year's APSA meeting features a panel on "God and Political Representation: Is a Democratic Political Theology Possible?", organized by APSA's "Foundations of Political Theory" and "Religion and Politics" sections (2 September, 2.00 pm).
Speakers: James R. Martel (San Francisco State University), "Benjamin and Derrida on the Theology of Immanence"; Miguel E. Vatter (Universidad Diego Portales), "Political Theology without Sovereignty: Some 20th Century Examples (Voegelin, Maritain, Badiou)"; Kathleen Roberts Skerrett (Grinnell College), "Sovereign Power and Theological Themes of Plenitude and Plurality"; Eric Gregory (Princeton), "Augustine, Augustinianism, and Democracy"
Also: The panel "Crossing Boundaries: Religious and Political Voices", organized by the "Religion and Politics" section, includes a paper by Melissa Marie Matthes (Yale Divinity School), "Mourning JFK and the Hard Times of 1963: The Political Theology of the Sermons of the Crisis" (2 September, 8.00 am), and "Poster Session 9: Related Fields" includes a poster by Jenna Silber Storey (University of Chicago), "Schmitt's Nationalism and its Relation to his Political Theology" (4 September, 2.00 pm).
Further information and the full programme are to be found on APSA's website.
http://apsanet.org/content_65547.cfm?navID=193
The programme of this year's APSA meeting features a panel on "God and Political Representation: Is a Democratic Political Theology Possible?", organized by APSA's "Foundations of Political Theory" and "Religion and Politics" sections (2 September, 2.00 pm).
Speakers: James R. Martel (San Francisco State University), "Benjamin and Derrida on the Theology of Immanence"; Miguel E. Vatter (Universidad Diego Portales), "Political Theology without Sovereignty: Some 20th Century Examples (Voegelin, Maritain, Badiou)"; Kathleen Roberts Skerrett (Grinnell College), "Sovereign Power and Theological Themes of Plenitude and Plurality"; Eric Gregory (Princeton), "Augustine, Augustinianism, and Democracy"
Also: The panel "Crossing Boundaries: Religious and Political Voices", organized by the "Religion and Politics" section, includes a paper by Melissa Marie Matthes (Yale Divinity School), "Mourning JFK and the Hard Times of 1963: The Political Theology of the Sermons of the Crisis" (2 September, 8.00 am), and "Poster Session 9: Related Fields" includes a poster by Jenna Silber Storey (University of Chicago), "Schmitt's Nationalism and its Relation to his Political Theology" (4 September, 2.00 pm).
Further information and the full programme are to be found on APSA's website.
07 June 2010
CONF: Political Theology as the Problem
International conference "Political Theology as the Problem" of the Institute of Political Science and International Relations of the Jagiellonian University and the Institute of Political Science of the Jesuit University of Philosophy and Education "Ignatianum", at the Ignatianum, ul. Kopernika 26, Krakow, Poland, 16-17 September 2010
www.ignatianum.edu.pl/ptheology/
Description: "Political theology is the problem that a modern science of politics should be apt to confront. For that kind of theology means primarily an intellectual as well as moral (with 'moral' coming first) attitude towards the very foundation of a political community that ought to be connected with divine command rather than purely human invention. The political theologian deals with the issues of order, authority, subordination to the Law of God or His will. Indeed, what is at stake is the most basic question of the best way of life men can lead; the life that now appears to be lived according to the command from above. And what is the relation between such a command and the workings of unassisted human reason? Is the possibility of political theology in its current guise not deeply pervaded by a growing distrust of philosophy and science? Is it not a kind of mere abreaction against the world of disenchantment and secularization provided by modern political philosophy? Yet the attitude characteristic of a political theologian may also bear witness to the fact that modern philosophy or science has never truly resolved the tension between what is rational and what is political, between the reason and passion of a citizen. Hence some tradition that preceded anti-traditional modernity must be seriously taken into consideration.
"The problem of political theology refers to a large number of highly differentiated domains of theoretical research. It also has its counterpart on the side of political practice insofar as a continual struggle between various political-theological attitudes can be found within each of the societies of the West. We can perceive, too, some menacing political-theological pressure born in societies that evidently do not share the prevalent Western position, i.e. a conviction that the core of religious matters must be situated in the private sphere. To have our present situation plausibly explained a broad undertaking in the whole field of the history of ideas must be launched. The present conference marks an attempt towards such an undertaking. We want to discuss the problem of political theology as well as some of its sources rooted in ancient and medieval traditions of thought. Thus the problem of political theology may be connected with the problem of modern political atheism in light of some obvious limitations of the modern solution regarding the relations between Reason and Revelation we now face. Last but not least, this is an opportunity to confront some prevalent views on political-theological issues as they appear in the different contexts of the different countries the participants come from."
Speakers include: Victoria Kahn (Berkeley), "Political Theology and Modern Culture: Strauss, Schmitt, Spinoza, and Arendt"; Daniel Tanguay (University of Ottawa), "Democracy as Negative Political Theology: Marcel Gauchet's Theory of Democracy"; David Janssens (Tilburg University), "Violent Grace: The Theologico-Political Problem in Ancient Poetry and Philosophy"; Herfried Münkler (Humboldt University of Berlin), "Politische Mythen als eine Form der politischen Religion" ("Political Myths as a Form of Political Religion"; organizers' translation); Ryszard Legutko (Jagiellonian University), "Problem ciągłości kulturowej narodu w kontekście teologiczno-politycznym" ("Cultural Continuity of a Nation as a Theologico-Political Problem"; organizers' translation); Leora Batnitzky (Princeton), "Law and Belief: Judaism, Christianity, and the Theologico-Political Predicament of Modernity"; Till Kinzel (Braunschweig University of Technology), "Political Theology, Hermeneutics and Bible Criticism: English Thinkers on Reason and Revelation between 'libertas philosophandi' and 'conservatio tranquillitatis' in the 17th and 18th Century"; Emmanuel Patard (University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne), "The Theologico-Political Problem and the Strauss-Voegelin Debate"; Marek A. Cichocki (University of Warsaw), "Carl Schmitt's Political Theology"; John McCormick (University of Chicago), "Post-Enlightenment Sources of Political Authority: Biblical Atheism, Political Theology, and the Schmitt-Strauss Exchange"; Arkadiusz Górnisiewicz (Jagiellonian University), "The Problem of the Closure of any Political Theology: Remarks on the Controversy between Erik Peterson, Carl Schmitt, and Hans Blumenberg"
The registration section of the website does not yet provide any information.
People interested in participating may therefore want to contact: tpolityczna@ignatianum.edu.pl
Coordinators: Paweł Armada, Krzysztof Matuszek (both Ignatianum), Mateusz Filary, Arkadiusz Górnisiewicz (both Jagiellonian University)
www.ignatianum.edu.pl/ptheology/
Description: "Political theology is the problem that a modern science of politics should be apt to confront. For that kind of theology means primarily an intellectual as well as moral (with 'moral' coming first) attitude towards the very foundation of a political community that ought to be connected with divine command rather than purely human invention. The political theologian deals with the issues of order, authority, subordination to the Law of God or His will. Indeed, what is at stake is the most basic question of the best way of life men can lead; the life that now appears to be lived according to the command from above. And what is the relation between such a command and the workings of unassisted human reason? Is the possibility of political theology in its current guise not deeply pervaded by a growing distrust of philosophy and science? Is it not a kind of mere abreaction against the world of disenchantment and secularization provided by modern political philosophy? Yet the attitude characteristic of a political theologian may also bear witness to the fact that modern philosophy or science has never truly resolved the tension between what is rational and what is political, between the reason and passion of a citizen. Hence some tradition that preceded anti-traditional modernity must be seriously taken into consideration.
"The problem of political theology refers to a large number of highly differentiated domains of theoretical research. It also has its counterpart on the side of political practice insofar as a continual struggle between various political-theological attitudes can be found within each of the societies of the West. We can perceive, too, some menacing political-theological pressure born in societies that evidently do not share the prevalent Western position, i.e. a conviction that the core of religious matters must be situated in the private sphere. To have our present situation plausibly explained a broad undertaking in the whole field of the history of ideas must be launched. The present conference marks an attempt towards such an undertaking. We want to discuss the problem of political theology as well as some of its sources rooted in ancient and medieval traditions of thought. Thus the problem of political theology may be connected with the problem of modern political atheism in light of some obvious limitations of the modern solution regarding the relations between Reason and Revelation we now face. Last but not least, this is an opportunity to confront some prevalent views on political-theological issues as they appear in the different contexts of the different countries the participants come from."
Speakers include: Victoria Kahn (Berkeley), "Political Theology and Modern Culture: Strauss, Schmitt, Spinoza, and Arendt"; Daniel Tanguay (University of Ottawa), "Democracy as Negative Political Theology: Marcel Gauchet's Theory of Democracy"; David Janssens (Tilburg University), "Violent Grace: The Theologico-Political Problem in Ancient Poetry and Philosophy"; Herfried Münkler (Humboldt University of Berlin), "Politische Mythen als eine Form der politischen Religion" ("Political Myths as a Form of Political Religion"; organizers' translation); Ryszard Legutko (Jagiellonian University), "Problem ciągłości kulturowej narodu w kontekście teologiczno-politycznym" ("Cultural Continuity of a Nation as a Theologico-Political Problem"; organizers' translation); Leora Batnitzky (Princeton), "Law and Belief: Judaism, Christianity, and the Theologico-Political Predicament of Modernity"; Till Kinzel (Braunschweig University of Technology), "Political Theology, Hermeneutics and Bible Criticism: English Thinkers on Reason and Revelation between 'libertas philosophandi' and 'conservatio tranquillitatis' in the 17th and 18th Century"; Emmanuel Patard (University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne), "The Theologico-Political Problem and the Strauss-Voegelin Debate"; Marek A. Cichocki (University of Warsaw), "Carl Schmitt's Political Theology"; John McCormick (University of Chicago), "Post-Enlightenment Sources of Political Authority: Biblical Atheism, Political Theology, and the Schmitt-Strauss Exchange"; Arkadiusz Górnisiewicz (Jagiellonian University), "The Problem of the Closure of any Political Theology: Remarks on the Controversy between Erik Peterson, Carl Schmitt, and Hans Blumenberg"
The registration section of the website does not yet provide any information.
People interested in participating may therefore want to contact: tpolityczna@ignatianum.edu.pl
Coordinators: Paweł Armada, Krzysztof Matuszek (both Ignatianum), Mateusz Filary, Arkadiusz Górnisiewicz (both Jagiellonian University)
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