Religion and Liberation: Interdisciplinary Perspectives
17 December 2010
St. Cuthbert’s Catholic Church Chaplaincy, Durham
£5 registration

‘The Future of Liberation,’ Philip Goodchild (University of Nottingham)

‘Kairos and Akairós,’ Roland Boer (University of Newcastle, Australia)

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.

• 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

We welcome submission on these or other similar topics. Please send a title and a 400 word abstract to t.j.lynch@durham.ac.uk. The deadline for submissions is 19 November. Participants will be informed by 26 November. More information is available at: http://religionandliberation.wordpress.com.

This event is jointly sponsored by the Durham University Department of Theology and Religion, Faith and Globalization Programme, and the Centre for Catholic Studies.