A Dictionary of Philosophy of Religion

A Dictionary of Philosophy of Religion is an indispensable source for students and scholars. Covering historical and contemporary fi gures, arguments, and terms, it offers an overview of the vital themes that make philosophy of religion the growing, vigorous fi eld that it is today. In addition to the entries co-authored by Taliaferro and Marty, leading scholars in philosophy of religion have contributed to the Dictionary, including Brian Davies, Pamela Sue Anderson, Paul Draper, Jerry Walls, Paul Griffi ths, Douglas Hedley, Dale Jacquette, and Victoria Harrison. The Dictionary includes a chronology, an extensive introduction to modern philosophy of religion, and a bibliography.

“…the fi rst signifi cant dictionary of its kind to appear in over 20 years. […] A need has existed for an up-to-date, high-quality dictionary to cover new topics, concepts, and people, along with new developments on established themes. Summing Up: Essential.” — Choice

Charles Taliaferro is Professor of Philosophy at St. Olaf College, MN.

Elsa J. Marty is a graduate student in theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School, IL.

The Image In Mind: Theism, Naturalism, and the Imagination (Continuum Studies in Philosophy of Religion), by Charles Taliaferro and Jil Evans [Purchase UK | Purchase US]

The Image in Mind is a philosophical inquiry into the strengths and weaknesses of theism and naturalism in accounting for the emergence of consciousness, the visual imagination and aesthetic values. Taliaferro and Evans argue that evolutionary biology alone is insuffi cient to account for consciousness, the visual imagination and aesthetic values. Insofar as naturalism is compelled to go beyond evolutionary biology, it does not fare as well as theism in terms of explanatory power.

“Were it not for the infl ationary use of the word, I would describe this contribution as ‘inspirational.’ […] The balance in these pages between poetry and philosophy, art and science, faith and reason is exemplary.” — Daniel N. Robinson, University of Oxford, UK

Jil Evans has exhibited her paintings and prints in Minnesota, Chicago, New York City, Michigan, Memphis, Washington D.C., California, Paris, and Rome.

Charles Taliaferro is Professor of Philosophy at St. Olaf College, MN.

Ontotheological Turnings?: The Decentering of the Modern Subject in Recent French Phenomenology (SUNY series in Theology and Continental Thought), by Joeri Schrijvers. [Purchase UK | Purchase US]

This incisive work examines questions of ontotheology and their relation to the so-called “theological turn” of recent French phenomenology. Joeri Schrijvers explores and critiques the decentering of the subject attempted by Jean-Luc Marion, Jean-Yves Lacoste, and Emmanuel Levinas, three philosophers who, inspired by their readings of Heidegger, attempt to overturn the active and autonomous subject. In his consideration of each thinker, Schrijvers shows that a simple reversal of the subject-object distinction has been achieved, but no true decentering of the subject. For Lacoste, the subject becomes God’s intention; for Marion, the subject becomes the object and objective of givenness; and for Levinas, the subject is without secrets, like an object, before a greater Other. Critiquing the axioms and assumptions of contemporary philosophy, Schrijvers argues that there is no overcoming ontotheology. He ultimately proposes a more phenomenological and existential approach, a presencing of the invisible, to address the concerns of ontotheology.

Joeri Schrijvers is a Postdoctoral Researcher of the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO), Faculty of Theology, at Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. He is coeditor (with Lieven Boeve, Wessel Stoker, and Hendrik M. Vroom) of Faith in the Enlightenment? The Critique of the Enlightenment Revisited.

• View Table of contents here.
• Read the first chatper here.

Publication Description:

Philosophical naturalism is taken to be the preferred and reigning epistemology and metaphysics that underwrites many ideas and knowledge claims. But what if we cannot know reality on that basis? What if the institution of science is threatened by its reliance on naturalism?

R. Scott Smith argues in a fresh way that we cannot know reality on the basis of naturalism. Moreover, the “fact-value” split has failed to serve our interests of wanting to know reality. The author provocatively argues that since we can know reality, it must be due to a non-naturalistic ontology, best explained by the fact that human knowers are made and designed by God. The book offers fresh implications for the testing of religious truth-claims, science, ethics, education, and public policy. Consequently, naturalism and the fact-value split are shown to be false, and Christian theism is shown to be true.

Blurbs:

‘Whether or not one agrees with all of the far-reaching conclusions of this interesting and enjoyable book, it cannot be denied that it raises deep and probing questions concerning the ability of any purely naturalistic system of ontology to account adequately for the intentionality of mental states and the very possibility of our knowledge of the natural world. All self-proclaimed naturalists, as well as their opponents, would do well to reflect on its arguments.’ — E. J. Lowe, Durham University, UK

‘Scott Smith brings out the fact that knowledge of reality, including knowledge of knowledge, cannot be accounted for within an ontology that only admits entities from the physical world. This means that such an ontology – call it “Naturalism” – itself is not knowable. Yet it fights desperately to be the only authority on knowledge and to have the right to dictate social and governmental policy. Smith relentlessly and cogently argues that Naturalism does not have the conceptual resources to defend its position: that, indeed, it undercuts itself. The issues here are not only of abstract philosophical interest, but are also vitally related to the direction of human life. This book should be widely read for the light it casts on many current cultural quandaries.’ — Dallas Willard, University of Southern California, USA

Smart Globalisation:The case for a robust and creative distributive justice

to be given by Fr Albino Barrera OP on Friday 24^th February at Blackfriars Hall.  The lecture will start at 5pm, and will be followed by a reception.

If you would like to attend the lecture and reception, please reply to this e-mail address (lascasas@bfriars.ox.ac.uk). The Aula at Blackfriars seats a maximum of 75, so please respond promptly to ensure a place.

Fr Barrera is a Professor of Economics and Theology at Providence College, and author of Economic Compulsion and Christian Ethics, God and the Evil of Scarcity: Moral Foundations of Economic Agency, and Globalization and Economic Ethics: Distributive Justice in the Knowledge Economy.  He holds a degree in Industrial Management Engineering from De La Salle University in the Philippines, a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington DC, and a doctorate in Economics from Yale University.

Telos Press is pleased to announce the upcoming publication of The Democratic Contradictions of Multiculturalism by Jens-Martin Eriksen and Frederik Stjernfelt. This title will be available on March 1, 2012. Pre-order your copy now, and we will ship it to you as soon as it is available. Save 20% when you purchase on the Telos Press website.

What is multiculturalism? Is it every person’s right in a democratic society to choose his or her religion and culture and to express criticism regardless of taboos and moralistic norms? Or is it, on the contrary, the right of cultures and religions to be protected from insult and to preserve themselves against change? In The Democratic Contradictions of Multiculturalism, Jens-Martin Eriksen and Frederik Stjernfelt examine these questions in relation to both the ideology and the reality of multiculturalism. The discussion covers a range of issues, including the Muhammad cartoons, laws against blasphemy, hijab, the Islamic ban on apostasy, and the limits of the freedom of religion.

Eriksen and Stjernfelt focus their investigation on a multicultural country and examine the implications of this controversial concept as it is applied to political reality. What do people regard as the advantages and disadvantages of multiculturalism? How does the legal system influence the life of the individual? In what way does multiculturalism lead to a new segregation of society with respect to gender, culture, and religion? How can one explain the democratic contradictions of multiculturalism when the system clashes with universal values and human rights?

The Democratic Contradictions of Multiculturalism is an erudite manifesto for freedom and a confrontation with any kind of attempt—be it left or right—to fence people within their cultures.

Early Praise for The Democratic Contradictions of Multiculturalism

“Who is allowed to say what and when? This is the central question that this superbly illuminating and spirited book takes up. Multiculturalism has taken modern liberalism hostage, and Jens-Martin Eriksen and Frederik Stjernfelt show, in unsparing detail and fully drawn case studies, how we got here. From the Rushdie affair, to the murder of Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam, to the Danish cartoon crisis, and countless other struggles over freedom of expression, liberalism made its compromises in the name of tolerance. No other work I know of has depicted this landscape with such skill and authority—and no small amount of intellectual courage.” —Fouad Ajami, Senior Fellow, The Hoover Institution, and author of The Arab Predicament: Arab Political Thought and Practice Since 1967

“The Democratic Contradictions of Multiculturalism is a very important book in this day and age. It provides a thorough, systematic survey and analysis of contemporary versions and trends within multiculturalism, discloses its origins, and looks at its place in current politics, philosophy, and religion. A book not to be missed by anybody interested in the state of the world. That means, not to be missed by anybody.” —Vincent F. Hendricks, Professor of Formal Philosophy, University of Copenhagen and Columbia University

“What would a society be like in which the ideals of ‘hard multiculturalism’ are made real—a society in which communities may enforce their own mores and traditions on their members, may even mobilize their own police force and legal system? In this brilliant book, Jens-Martin Eriksen and Frederik Stjernfelt, well known for their studies of Bosnia and Serbia, explore from both an empirical and a theoretical point of view what happens when culture becomes a political ideology.” —Barry Smith, Julian Park Professor of Philosophy, University at Buffalo

About the Authors

Jens-Martin Eriksen is a Danish writer based in Geneva who has won several literary awards including the lifelong Grant of Honor from the Danish Endowment for the Arts.

Frederik Stjernfelt is a professor in cognitive semiotics and cultural studies at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. He is a member of the Danish Academy of Letters as well as the Royal Danish Academy of the Sciences.

Click here to download a PDF flyer for the book.

2012 Conference of the

Australasian Philosophy of Religion Association (APRA)

Keynote speakers:

• Richard Kearney (Boston College)
• Marilyn McCord Adams (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
• Kevin Hart (University of Virginia & Australian Catholic University)
• Constant Mews (Monash University)

Dates: Friday June 22 – Sunday June 24, 2012

Venue: Australian Catholic University, Melbourne campus (Victoria Parade, Fitzroy)

Conference theme: Religious Diversity and Its Philosophical Significance

The Australasian Philosophy of Religion Association (www.apra.org.au) aims to encourage, publicise and circulate scholarly work within the field of philosophy of religion. Italso hopes to foster greater ties between scholars working in the field by providing a forum for a constructive and critical analysis of religion.

If you would like to present a paper, please submit a title, a short abstract (of up to 200 words), and a brief bio to Nick.Trakakis@acu.edu.au. Proposals relating to the above conference theme are particularly welcome, though the organising committee also welcomes papers on any topic in the philosophy of religion or philosophical theology.

Abstracts are due 10 February 2012.

Enquiries may be directed to:

Nick Trakakis: Nick.Trakakis@acu.edu.au, or phone: (03) 9953 3263.

Alban Books is the exclusive UK/European distributor for Eerdmans Publishing Company in the USA. Preorder your copies of the two new titles in the Interventions series - Metaphysics: The Creation of Hierarchy by Adrian Pabst and Words of Christby Michel Henry  - at 20% discount, post free. Simply visit www.albanbooks.com, add the titles to your basket and then enter offer code IV0112 at the checkout.

This offer extends to any other title featured on our website.

Words of Christ can be found here and Metaphysics here.

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PORTSMOUTH ABBEY SCHOOL ANNOUNCES THE

2012 PORTSMOUTH INSTITUTE ON MODERN SCIENCE/ANCIENT FAITH

www.portsmouthinstitute.org

January 24, 2012
Portsmouth, RI

Dear Friends,

The Portsmouth Institute has announced an expanded list of speakers for its June 22-24 conference on Modern Science/Ancient Faith.

Speakers include Abbot James Wiseman, O.S.B. of Catholic University of America and St. Anselm’s Abbey, Washington, D.C., Dr. Kenneth Miller of Brown, Dr. William Dembski ’78 of the Discovery Institute, Rev. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P. of Providence College, Dr. John Haught of the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, Dr. Michael Ruse of Florida State University, Dr. Joseph Semmes ’67, and Rev. Dom Paschal Scotti, O.S.B. of Portsmouth Abbey. Dr. Blake Billings ’77, Tim Seeley ’77, Robert Sahms and Dom Francis Crowley, O.S.B. will convene a panel exploring the practical implication of teaching faith and science at a school such as Portsmouth.

In addition to scholarly presentations, the Institute will feature a dramatic production based on the life and work of scientist, Dom Stanley Jaki, O.S.B., by Kevin O’Brien, founder of Theater of the Word and a frequent EWTN contributor. There will also be musical presentations including The Chichester Psalms by Leonard Bernstein and Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copeland.

Highlights of previous conferences can be seen at www.portsmouthinstitute.org. Please pass this along to your colleagues, friends or students who may be interested in this fascinating subject.

 If you have any questions or need additional information, please do not hesitate to contact Cindy Waterman at cwaterman@portsmouthabbey.org or 401-643-1244.

DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSIONS: MARCH 15, 2012
(see details below)

Conference Theme

Recent developments appear to end the “end of history” and foreshadow instead the end of the West. After 1989, many expected a gradual convergence toward Western models of liberal market democracy. But Western responses to 9/11 and the 2007–8 transatlantic “credit crunch” have exposed the limits of U.S. international primacy and accelerated the global shift of power from West to East and North to South—as evinced by the rise of China, India, and other emerging markets.

Politically and economically, that shift seems to portend the emergence of a post-American and perhaps even a post-Western world. Yet the United States is still the default superpower whose military might and economic energy ensure its pre-eminence for the foreseeable future. Likewise, Europe’s institutions, culture, and way of life remain attractive across the globe. Even the near meltdown of Wall Street and the mishandling of the sovereign debt crisis have so far not led to a decoupling of the rest from the West.

Historically, the transition from a unipolar to a multipolar world order appears to restore a more “natural” global balance that had prevailed before China’s isolationist withdrawal beginning with the Ming dynasty in 1433 and the West’s growing domination following the discovery of the New World in 1492. At the same time, contemporary global multipolarity seems to coincide with the crisis of the modern centralized state and the modern free market that were instituted by the West. That crisis might mark the end of the Westphalian settlement, which is coextensive with Western global hegemony. However, non-Western powers are wedded to Western principles (e.g., national sovereignty and territorial integrity) and to the international system of nation-states instituted by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648.

In terms of present and future trends, there is some evidence to suggest that the dominant mode of globalization is synonymous with the demise of Western-style nation-states and the resurgence of non-Western empires—imperial spheres of influence and colonialist powers. Examples seem to abound: Turkey and Iran in the Middle East; Russia in the Caucasus and Central Asia; China in East Asia and Africa; India and Brazil in parts of the southern hemisphere. Or is globalization promoting a shift toward global cities and the institutions of civil society that are a distinct legacy of the West?

Philosophically, it is not clear whether the global shift in power confirms or refutes the utopia of linear, boundless progress that characterizes the dominant Western ideologies of liberalism and Marxism. What about cyclical conceptions of history that have been popular since the work of Jacob Burckhardt, Friedrich Nietzsche, Oswald Spengler, and Arnold Toynbee on the twilight and demise of the West? Perhaps the rise of China and other emerging markets in Asia is evidence in support of certain Hegelian or Marxist accounts such as world system analysis or cycles of hegemony. In what way do these ideas reflect Western “historicism,” which portrays the West’s peculiar and contingent history as universal, necessary, and even normative? Which Western and non-Western alternatives to historicism are available to us?

Theologically, ideas of the West are closely connected with the three Abrahamic faiths in general and the Christian fusion of Greco-Roman Antiquity and the biblical legacy in particular. Just as the Renaissance and the Enlightenment have their origins in medieval Christendom, so too late (or post-)modernity is inextricably intertwined with theological categories and the greater visibility of religion in public political life. That, coupled with the growing presence of Islam, raises questions about the distinctly Judeo-Christian identity of the West—including notions of the secular and the modern.

Call for Papers

In choosing the theme of the West, the Telos Institute launches its biannual colloquia in Europe. The first colloquium will take place September 7–10, 2012, in L’Aquila, Italy—the birthplace of Telos’s founding editor, Paul Piccone. Building on the success of the annual Telos conferences in New York City since 2006, these colloquia bring together scholars from the United States, Europe, and elsewhere to explore and analyze the ongoing political, socio-economic, cultural transformations across the globe.

The twin focus of the first colloquium is on the legacy of the West and its future. The conference organizers invite papers that address the complex dimension of one or both aspects, whether in terms of the West itself or the Western interactions with the rest of the world.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

• Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome: the origins and legacy of the West
• Hegel, Marx and Spengler: philosophies of history and the evolution of the West
• Universalism, relativism and Western culture
• The West and the rest: the United States and Europe in the emerging world (dis)order
• Culture shock? The legacy and future of the transatlantic alliance
• Faith in the West: U.S. exceptionalism and European secularism?
• The United States and Europe: divided by a common history?
• Russia and Turkey: the European non-West?

Speakers include (in alphabetic order)

• Russell Berman
• Alain de Benoist
• Alessandro Campi
• Michael Ledeen
• Tim Luke
• Giacomo Marramao
• John Milbank
• Adrian Pabst
• Marcia Pally
• David Pan
• Carla Pasquinelli
• Luciano Pellicani
• Carlo Ruzzo

Submissions: Abstracts of conference papers should be 200 to 250 words in length and should be sent to Adrian Pabst at laquila@telosinstitute.net with the words “L’Aquila Telos Conference” in the subject line. The deadline for abstracts is March 15, 2012.

Additional information about pre-registration, hotel accommodations, and other matters will be available soon. For more details, contact telos@telospress.com.

Visit the Telos Institute online at www.telosinstitute.net.

Dear Colleagues,

Please see the attached poster for the next Keble Theology Workshop, scheduled for Tuesday 7^th February. This will feature a discussion and debate on the subject, ‘Can the West Live With Islam?’ Our two high-profile speakers are Prof. Nigel Biggar, Oxford University’s Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology, and Dr Tim Winter, Cambridge University’s Sheikh Zayed Lecturer in Islamic Studies.

We hope once again that this will prove highly attractive to students interested in a wide range of theological disciplines – from Oxford and well beyond. All are welcome.

Our aim with these workshops remains to set out theology’s “shop window” in order especially to attract present and potential graduate students to the discipline, and to show that engagement with theology’s subject matter is both exciting and important for today’s world.

I would be grateful if you could circulate and/or display this to any of your students interested in exploring the possibility of doctoral work in an area of biblical or theological studies. 

While we are not in a position to subsidize transport or accommodation costs for the participants, we hope some students may be able to receive assistance from their home departments. Nevertheless, anyone deterred solely by the cost of attending should please feel free to contact me.  We may also be in a position to assist in suggesting affordable accommodation.

Early booking is advisable as space is limited. As before, all that is needed to register is a brief email to kebletheology@gmail.com for each person attending; that is enormously helpful to keep track of numbers.

With thanks and all good wishes,

Markus Bockmuehl

2012-02 Biggar-Winter (Islam) Keble workshop poster

• Transcendence and Phenomenology, eds. Peter M Candler, Jr and Conor Cunningham. Was £40.00, now £15.00. [Link]
• Belief and Metaphysics, eds. Peter M Candler, Jr and Conor Cunningham. Was £35.00, now £15.00. [Link]
• Theology, Psychoanalysis, and Trauma, by Marcus Pound. Was £25.00, now £5.00. [Link]
• Tayloring Reformed Epistemology: Charles Taylor, Alvin Plantinga, and the de jure challenge to Christian Belief, by Deane-Peter Baker. Was £19.99, now £8.00. [Link]
• Christ, History, and Apocalyptic: The Politics of Christian Mission, by Nathan R. Kerr. Was £35.00, now £15.00. [Link]

The Regent of Blackfriars Hall, Oxford very much regrets to inform you that we were today notified by Professor Jean-Luc Marion that, on medical grounds, he is unable to deliver the Aquinas Lecture in Oxford and Cambridge at the end of this month as planned.  We will be in contact with you again shortly with further news.

See the original schedule, originally posted here.

“Cunningham is not shy about pulling the ontological pants of materialism down to its ankles. He supplies an unremitting attack on the scientific and philosophical views of Dawkins and his ilk. The level of scientific sophistication on display is remarkable for a theologian; his reading and his ruminations have been extensive, more than sufficient to provide a devastating critique of the narrative stories and metaphors of Dawkins not just with respect to religion, but also with respect to evolutionary biology itself.”

Michael Rose, ‘Gods and Darwinists,’ The Quarterly Review of Biology 86, no. 4 (December 2011): 323-328. [Link]

Diagonal Advance: Perfection in Christian Theology

Publication Description:

Diagonal Advance argues for a radical revision of Christian thinking about the purpose of human life. Perfection is neither a vertical drop from the divine, nor a horizontal progression through social and personal development. Rather, it is a diagonal advance into the divine perfections through the perfecting of material culture. This vision is, the author argues, in line with the account of human ends that emerges from the Greek and Hebrew background, in the New Testament and in the classical Christian era. When the late medieval and early modern writers of theology and literature begin to name the problem differently, the classical vision is distorted, so that human perfecting and the divine perfections have little to do with one another. Through a critical engagement with contemporary texts, concluding with a dramatic revision of the Prometheus mythology, the author argues for a renewed diagonalizing of Christian perfection.

Blurbs:

‘I am a Methodist which means I have never trusted the language of perfection. So I am in Anthony Baker’s debt for reclaiming the notion of perfection. This is a wonderful book that is not only sound scholarship but is morally profound.’ —Stanley Hauerwas

‘Perfection is a crucial theme in the New Testament which lurks in much patristic thinking and was first foregrounded by the Wesley brothers. Within their tradition, and yet transcending it, Tony Baker provides us with the most sophisticated theological treatment of this topic to date – ranging over the Bible, Philosophy, Literature and Cultural History with a distinctive elan. He shows in particular how the loss of the metaphysics of participation was equally a loss of a sense of our relationship with God as a progress in perfection which was as much vertical as it was horizontal. This book is as close to perfection as one could hope for.’ —Catherine Pickstock, University of Cambridge

‘Is this a book or a symphony? Both. Does it concern theology or human existence? Both. In four movements, this book traces the emergence and deformations of the concept of perfection. Is perfection the plenitude of finite existence? The never-satisfied desire for the infinite? The imitation of God? Divinisation? Movement in repose? Without an empty nostalgia, A. Baker offers a critical history of Christian representations of perfection. He shows how the oppositions between nature and supernature, between the Bible and Hellenism, have been surmounted, but also how they have given place to a still provisional synthesis. He covers diverse “styles”–of concepts, which are also forms of life. He even offers his own style, in opposing the “distortions” to a more sound concept of perfection. A book immense with regard to stakes, dense with regard to the current mobilised culture. A book of supple and full construction, which will reward both the patient and the impatient.’ —Olivier Boulnois, Directeur d’Etudes, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes

And coming soon in the Interventions series through Eerdmans are the following two publications:

Metaphysics: The Creation of Hierarchy, by Adrian Pabst, with a foreword by John Milbank. [Pre-order UK | Pre-order US]

This comprehensive and detailed study of individuation reveals the theological nature of metaphysics. Adrian Pabst argues that ancient and modern conceptions of “being” — or individual substance — fail to account for the ontological relations that bind beings to each other and to God, their source. On the basis of a genealogical account of rival theories of creation and individuation from Plato to ‘postmodernism,’ Pabst proposes that the Christian Neo-Platonic fusion of biblical revelation with Greco-Roman philosophy fulfills and surpasses all other ontologies and conceptions of individuality.

“This book does nothing less than to set new standards in combining philosophical with political theology. Pabst’s argument about rationality has the potential to change debates in philosophy, politics, and religion.” (from the foreword)

Words of Christ, by Michel Henry, translated by Christina M. Gschwandtner, with a foreword by Jean-Yves Lacoste and an introduction by Karl Hefty. [Pre-Order UK | Pre-Order US]

In Words of Christ Michel Henry, an important French philosopher, asks how Christ can be both human and divine. Also, how can we as humans experience Christ’s humanity and divinity through his words? Are we able to recognize certain experiences or words as divine? How do divine words differ from human words? Henry approaches these questions from the angle of material phenomenology — the study of reality as we experience it. Startling possibilities — and further questions — emerge as Henry systematically explores these enigmas. For example, do divine phenomena possess their own kind of phenomenality, and do we have access to this other realm? Henry’s perspective on Christ’s words — here translated into English for the first time — is highly original and interdisciplinary in nature, in keeping with other volumes of the Interventions series. This was Henry’s last published work before his death in 2002.

Department of Theology and Religious Studies

Seminar Programme 2011-12

SPRING SEMESTER

22 February 2012
Adam Lipszyc (Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Science)
The Time of the Poem: Poetry as Messianic Action in Paul Celan’s Meridian Speech
4pm Staff Club Room B7

14 & 15 February 2012         Firth Lectures
Terry Eagleton
Culture and the Death of God
5.30pm, Kings Meadow Studio

 29 February 2012
Philip Esler (Principal, St Mary’s University College, London)
Reading Old Testament Narrative With Its Ancient Audience: An Anthropological Approach
4pm Staff Club room B7

14 March 2012
Yvonne Sherwood (Professor of Bible, Religion and Culture, University of Glasgow)
TBC
4pm Staff Club room B7

21 March 2012
David Thomas (Professor of Christianity and Islam, University of Birmingham)
The Islamic Construction of Christianity: A Channel and Obstacle to Understanding
4pm Staff Club room B7

28 March 2012
Daniel H.Weiss (Polosky-Coexist Lecturer in Jewish Studies, University of Cambridge)
‘Where man calls, God opens an ear’: Franz Rosenzweig, divine attributes, and the anti-theoretical style of the Hebrew Bible
4pm Staff Club Room B7

Theology-enquiries@nottingham.ac.uk

Telephone  (0115) 9515897

Hilary 2012

Thomas Aquinas and Contemporary Culture 

[Cancelled] Fri 27 Jan        Jean-Luc Marion (Universities of Paris and Chicago) “The Ontological Argument Again: Thomas Aquinas and Kant, Anselm and Descartes”

 Thurs 2 Feb     David Albert Jones (Anscombe Bioethics Centre, Oxford) “Aquinas as an Advocate of Abortion?  The Appeal to Thomas Aquinas in Contemporary Bioethical Debates on the Human Embryo”

 Thurs 9 Feb     Héctor Velázquez (Universidad Panamericana, Mexico)  “Teleology and Nature: The Relevance of Aquinas’ Position in a Self-Organised World”

 Thurs 16 Feb   Thomas Joseph White, OP (Dominican House of Studies, Washington,D.C.)  “Monotheistic Rationality and Divine Names: Why Aquinas’ Analogy Theory Transcends both Theoretical Agnosticism and Conceptual Anthropomorphism”

 Thurs 23 Feb   Conor Cunningham (University of Nottingham) “Modernity: The End of Culture and Nature in Light of Evolution”

 Fri 2 March    Rudi te Velde (Tilburg School of Theology, The Netherlands) “Does Praying Make Sense in Light of the Certainty of God’sProvidence?”

Fridays, Weeks 2 and 7, Thursdays, Weeks 3-6

4.30pm – 6.00pm

Aula of Blackfriars, St. Giles

 For further information: william.carroll@bfriars.ox.ac.uk

A conference organised by the Department of Foreign Languages at the University of Bergen, Norway; funded by the Bergen Research Foundation through the ‘Modernism and Christianity’ research project.

The modernist imperative ‘Make it new!’ posits a break with traditional artistic forms, but also with the entire mould of a civilization felt to be in a state of terminal decay (‘an old bitch, gone in the teeth’, as a second dictum by Ezra Pound has it). Modernism was steeped in the language of apocalyptic crisis, generating multiple (and contradictory) millennial visions of artistic, cultural, religious and political transformation. This conference will examine the continuing impact of Christianity upon the modernist thinking of Apocalypse in Western culture, covering the period of early-to-high modernism (c. 1880-1945), with glances towards the immediate aftermath of World War II and the Bomb. ‘Modernism’ is not here confined to the arts, and contributions are invited from scholars across the humanities and social sciences.

Conference organisers:
Dr Erik Tonning
Dr Matthew Feldman

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:
Professor Paul S. Fiddes (University of Oxford)
Professor John Milbank (University of Nottingham)
Professor Hans Ottomeyer (Former Director of the German Historical Museum)
Professor Marjorie Perloff (Stanford University)

INVITED SPEAKERS:
Professor C. J. Ackerley (University of Otago)
Professor Mary Bryden (University of Reading)
Professor Gregory Maertz (St. John’s University, NY)
Dr Malise Ruthven (Independent writer)
Professor Shane Weller (University of Kent)

For a full CFP, see:

http://www.uib.no/filearchive/modernismconferencecfp.pdf

Conference venue: Hotel Solstrand (outside Bergen, Norway)
Conference fee (early bird rate): NOK 3700: This covers two nights at the hotel with full board, plus a
direct conference bus (at c. 11 am) to the hotel from Flesland airport (18th), with a return on Friday afternoon (20th, at 4 pm). There is also a postgraduate rate of NOK 3200 available.

PLEASE NOTE: Registration at this rate is limited to 75 delegates. Once this number of delegates has been reached (first come first served), additional registrations will cost NOK 4400. All delegates registering after 1 May 2012 will also be charged at this higher rate. Early registration is thus strongly recommended.

Please submit your abstract by 1 April 2012 at the latest.

To register: Please send your title, abstract (100-200 words) and
biographical information to erik.tonning@if.uib.no for consideration.

Download Conference Poster here.

The Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion conducts research into religious beliefs and theological concepts in relation to the sciences. The Centre is a part of the Theology Faculty at the University of Oxford.

BSA Meeting Room, Imperial Wharf, London
15 December 2011, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Religion is not a neutral subject. As with other significant constituents of identity, such as sexuality, gender, ethnicity, or class, the subject of ‘religion’ as a topic for study is not straightforward. And yet, we study it, deconstruct it, analyse, and measure it, recognising as we do that definitions are bound to be contested, fluid, and sometimes slippery. What are the particular challenges and choices this presents in different disciplines, in different places and times? And what are the ethical, political and methodological implications of this?

To find out more about how participants from a variety of disciplines and contexts have engaged with the choices and challenges of teaching and studying religion, join us on December 15 at the BSA Meeting Room in London, for a BSA Socrel symposium, chaired by Abby Day (Department of Religious Studies, University of Kent and Department of Anthropology, University of Sussex) and Anna Strhan (Department of Religious Studies, University of Kent). We are grateful to the Higher Education Academy, for funding. It won’t be your usual ‘stand-and-deliver’ event. Our presenters have worked hard to condense their work into short summaries that will be distributed to all participants in advance of the day. All participants will be expected to read the summaries and come prepared for a full day of engaging in vibrant exchanges across disciplines, countries, methods and other conventional boundaries.

Total delegate numbers are restricted to 30. Registration for the symposium is now available on the BSA website, at http://bsas.esithosting.co.uk/public/event/eventBooking.aspx?id=EVT10172

Information on the venue location and transport links, is available at http://www.britsoc.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/62CE3722-EE65-4B30-8058-90E8ACEFB636/0/BSA_Imperial_Wharf_directions041209.pdf

For any further information, please contact Abby Day (a.day@sussex.ac.uk) and Anna Strhan (as702@kent.ac.uk). The full programme for the day will be published on the BSA Socrel website: http://www.socrel.org.uk/

Keynote lecture by Adam Dinham, Director of Goldsmiths Faith and Civil Society Unit and Programme Director for the ‘Religious Literacy Leadership in Higher Education’ programme