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Final CFP: Religion and Science, Theism and Atheism

2013 Conference of the Australasian Philosophy of Religion Association (APRA)

Theme: Religion and Science, Theism and Atheism

Date: Friday 21st June to Sunday 23rd June, 2013

Keynote Speakers:

Professor Herman Philipse, University of Utrecht, Netherlands

Professor Michael Ruse, Florida State University, USA

Professor John Bishop, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Professor Peter Forrest, University of New England, Australia

Other speakers include:

Professor Purushottama Bilimoria, Deakin University

Professor James Franklin, University of NSW

Doctor Bruce Langtry, University of Melbourne

Professor David G. Santos, University of Beira Interior Portugal

Doctor Jeremy Shearmur, Australian National University

Doctor Lloyd Strickland, Manchester Metropolitan University, Great Britain

Venue: University of Sydney, Department of Studies in Religion, Woolley Building.

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. It also 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:

p.quadrio@unsw.edu.au<mailto:p.quadrio@unsw.edu.au> OR nathanaeverson@gmail.com<mailto:nathanaeverson@gmail.com>

Abstracts due, 1 April 2013.

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.

Enquiries may be directed to:

Dr Philip Quadrio or Nathan Everson

p.quadrio@unsw.edu.au<mailto:p.quadrio@unsw.edu.au> OR nathanaeverson@gmail.com<mailto:nathanaeverson@gmail.com>

Posted on by Beth Calls for Papers, News and Events

CFP, Event: Disbelief in Antiquity: an Interdisciplinary Conference

Disbelief in Antiquity: an Interdisciplinary Conference

22-24 June 2013

Al-Jaber auditorium, Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

Online booking: http://www.oxforduniversitystores.co.uk/ (search for ‘Disbelief’ or follow Conferences and Events > Classics > Classics Events)

We plan to have a number of shorter, TED-style papers (10 minutes + 5 minutes of discussion) at 5.00 on 23rd June). If you have an idea for one of these, please send a short abstract (200 words maximum) to tim.whitmarsh@ccc.ox.ac.uk. Unfortunately we cannot guarantee financial support for these speakers.

Were there ancient versions of atheism? Who were the religious disbelievers in antiquity? What did they question? When and why did ancient religions allow dissent? This conference brings together some of the top names of Egyptology, Classics, Biblical Studies, the Ancient Near East and East Asia to address these questions.

22nd June

12.45 pm arrivals, registration, lunch

2.00 pm Cliff Ando (Chicago) ‘Disbelief and cognate concepts in Roman antiquity’

3.15 pm Teresa Morgan (Oxford) ‘Is divine-human (dis)belief analogous to intra-human (dis)belief?’

4.30 pm Tea and coffee

5.00 Xinzhong Yao (King’s London) ‘The tension between belief and disbelief in early Confucianism’

6.15 Opening reception

7.15 Dinner in College

23rd June

9.00 am Richard Parkinson (British Museum) ‘Is he asleep? Scepticism and disbelief in Middle Kingdom elite culture’

10.15 am Jan Assmann (Heidelberg) ‘Egyptian disbelief in the promises of eternity’

11.30 am Coffee

11.45 am Marianna Shakhnovich (St Petersburg) ‘The origin and transformation of disbelief in shamanism’

1.00 pm Lunch

2.00 pm Herbert Niehr (Tübingen), ‘Some aspects of ‘disbelief’ according to the sources from Late Bronze Age Ugarit’

3.15 pm Francesca Stavrakopoulou (Exeter) ‘Let sleeping gods lie: atheism, skepticism and religious reality within and without the Hebrew Bible’

4.30 pm Tea and coffee

5.00-6.30 shorter papers

7.15 Conference dinner in College

24th June

9.00 am Sarah Hitch and Emily Kearns (Oxford) ‘Atheism as literary criticism: the case of Greek poetry’

10.15 am Jim Porter (Irvine) ‘What’s the matter with God? Natural philosophy, materialism, and the sublime in Greece and Rome’

11.30 Coffee

11.45 Tim Whitmarsh (Oxford) ‘Atheism and polytheism’

1.00 Lunch

Please note that accommodation is limited at Corpus Christi. Rooms can also be booked via http://www.oxfordrooms.co.uk/. Hotels close to Corpus Christi include the Eastgate (http://www.mercure.com/gb/hotel-6668-mercure-oxford-eastgate-hotel/index.shtml) and the Old Bank (www.oldbank-hotel.co.uk/).

Organisers: Sarah Hitch (sarah.hitch@classics.ox.ac.uk), Tim Whitmarsh (tim.whitmarsh@classics.ox.ac.uk). Please contact Sarah if you would like to be considered for a student bursary.

http://www.classics.ox.ac.uk/event-reader/events/disbeliefinantiquity.html

http://www.ccc.ox.ac.uk/Forthcoming-Events/

 

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German Association for Religious Studies (DVRW): The diversity of nonreligion: secular worldviews and ways of life

German Association for Religious Studies (DVRW): The diversity of nonreligion: secular worldviews and ways of life

http://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/366073.html

31. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Vereinigung für Religionswissenschaft (DVRW)

11.9. – 14.9.2013

Die Vielfalt der Nichtreligion: Säkulare Lebensentwürfe und Weltanschauungen

The abstracts are in German only:

Panel Abstract:Fasst man unter den Begriff „Nichtreligion“ alle Phänomene, die gemeinhin als nicht religiös gelten, gleichzeitig jedoch nicht ohne Bezugnahme auf „Religion“ adäquat beschrieben und verstanden werden können, stößt man auf ein vielfältiges und eigenständiges Forschungsgebiet. Beispielsweise veranschaulichen Gleichgültigkeit gegenüber Religion auf der einen und Religionskritik auf der anderen Seite grundsätzlich verschiedene Arten der Nichtreligiosität; Mitglieder atheistischer Organisationen unterscheiden sich in vielerlei Hinsicht von individuellen Skeptikern. Allgemein gesprochen produzieren die religiösen, kulturellen und sozio-politischen Hintergründe verschiedener Gesellschaften – welche z.B. vom Staatsatheismus bis hin zur Todesstrafe für Blasphemie reichen – nicht nur unterschiedliche religiöse Traditionen und Arten der Religiosität, sondern auch spezifische Arten der Nichtreligiosität. Vor diesem Hintergrund lädt dieses Panel zu Beiträgen ein, die sich auf der Grundlage empirischer Forschung zu diesem Themengebiet mit der Ausarbeitung einer allgemeinen systematischen Religionsforschung, die eine Erforschung nichtreligiöser Lebensentwürfe und Weltanschauungen einschließt, auseinandersetzen. Hierbei könnten beispielsweise folgende Fragestellungen diskutiert werden:

  • Wie können verschiedene Arten, Grade, Gründe und Kontexte für erklärte oder zugeschriebene Nichtreligiosität theoretisiert werden?
  • Welche Konsequenzen hat die Auseinandersetzung mit „Nichtreligion“ für eine systematische Bestimmung von Aufgabe und Gegenstand der Religionsforschung?
  • Kann von einem eigenständigen Forschungsgebiet gesprochen werden, obwohl seine Bestimmung per Definition immer über spezifische Beziehungen zu „Religion“ erfolgt?
  • Wie können auf der Grundlage von empirischen Studien der Nichtreligion herkömmliche Terminologien und Klassifikationsmustern der Religionsforschung hinterfragt werden?
  • In welchem Verhältnis steht die Erforschung der Nichtreligion zu säkularisierungstheoretischen Forschungsansätzen und wie verhalten sich Konfessionslosigkeit, religiöse Indifferenz und Religionskritik zueinander?

Paper titels:

  • Schröder, Stefan: Säkulare Organisationen in Deutschland
  • Neef, Katharina: Säkularisten unter sich. Internationale Verflechtungen nichtreligiöser Akteure und Organisationen um 1900
  • Schuh, Cora: Das Nicht-Religiöse verstehen – Eine Auseinandersetzung mit religionswissenschaftlichen und säkularisierungstheoretischen Klassifizierungen anhand empirischer Beispiele
  • Alberts, Wanda: Nichtreligion als Gegenstand der Religionswissenschaft (am Beispiel des norwegischen Humanismus)
  • Türk, Liliane und Altman, Christiane: Anarchistische und säkulare Strömungen im Judentum: Zur Vielfalt nichtreligiöser Jiddischisten in den USA
  • Schenk, Susanne: Die Beziehung von Nichtreligion und Religion – Eine Annäherung anhand einer Analyse der Angebote und Aktivitäten humanistischer Organisationen in Schweden
Posted on by Beth Calls for Papers, News and Events

CFP: The British Society for the Philosophy of Religion

The BSPR’s Tenth Conference: Atheisms

11th-13th September 2013 

Oriel College, University of Oxford

Keynote Speakers:

Dr. Pamela Anderson (Oxford)

Professor Stephen R. L. Clark (Liverpool)

Professor Owen Flanagan (Duke)

Professor Robin Le Poidevin (Leeds)

Call for Papers:

Buddhists, Epicureans, Christians, Pantheists, Materialists, Liberal Humanists, Transhumanists, Nietszcheans and Idolaters have all at different times been content to be called “atheists”, and even the most ardent of “New Atheists” will insist that they need have no “positive” beliefs, except to reject whatever God or notion of God it is that they oppose. There need therefore be no one doctrine or way of life identified as “Atheism”. The question is rather what forms of life and thought are to be reckoned “atheistical” and why they might (or might not) seem attractive. 

Nor need the rejection of whatever God or Gods are in question always be a matter of intellectual conviction rather than politics (as anti-clericalism) or broadly “spiritual” practice (requiring the rejection of any authority superior to the individual’s own will, or to the State’s judgement).

If you would like to present a paper, please send an abstract of a maximum of 250 words to me (andrew.moore@theology.ox.ac.uk) by the end of March, 2013. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to consider abstracts that exceed the word limit or that are submitted after the closing date (allowance being made to colleagues in other time zones). The plural form “ATHEISMS” is to be noted: papers solely directed to refutations of (and refutations of those refutations of) “the Five Ways” (for example) are discouraged, as are papers directed solely to proving the non-existence of one particular deity, without regard to the alternatives.

Papers need not be on the theme of the conference, although a preference may be shown towards selecting those that are, other things being equal. Time and space at the conference will be limited, so we shall have to be selective, even allowing for the fact that we plan to run parallel sessions and request people presenting papers to keep to half-hour slots.

In order to keep to the tight timetabling required to permit participants to hear (the whole of) as many papers as possible, papers should take ideally fifteen minutes and an absolute maximum twenty minutes to deliver, leaving ten minutes or so for discussion.

Andrew Moore
Hon. Sec. BSPR

Registration Information: TBA

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New Events Report: Reflections on ‘Atheist Identities: Spaces and Social Contexts’

The NSRN announces the publication of a new Events Report by Steven Tomlins (University of Ottawa) on the three day workshop, “Atheist Identities: Spaces and Social Contexts” (November 22-24, 2012).

Please see the details and link to the document below:

Reflections on ‘Atheist Identities: Spaces and Social Contexts’
University of Ottawa, 22-24 November, 2012
Report by Steven Tomlins, University of Ottawa
Published by the NSRN, 25 February 2013

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Postdoctoral Fellowship Opportunity at the University of Göttingen

A new research network at the University of Göttingen has postdoctoral fellowship opportunities in secularism and new religiosities:

The two positions, to begin in October 2013, will be offered as two-year fixed-term contracts on a full-time basis (currently 39,8 hours per week) and will be remunerated at the TV-L E13 level (in accordance with the German public sector pay scale).The pilot project “Secularism and New Religiosities” examines new forms of religiosity that emerge under various regional or national regimes of secularism, and how these are shaped in transnational arenas of cultural, political and legal interaction […] Within this wider context, we invite post-doctoral research proposals that theoretically and empirically analyze new religiosities in comparative perspective; cross-religious as well as cross-regional comparisons are welcome. While the overall project’s main focus is on South Asia, East Asia, and Europe, proposals may broaden the comparative scope by including other regions.Successful applicants must have a PhD in a relevant field, such as history, anthropology, sociology, political science, religious studies, or area studies. Researchers will be based at the University of Göttingen, but will be permitted to conduct fully-funded field research for part of the two-year period, upon consultation with the principal investigators.

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CFP: Secularism and Secularity – American Academy of Religion (AAR) Annual Meeting

CFP: Secularism and Secularity – American Academy of Religion  (AAR) Annual Meeting

Over the course of the last few decades, theoretical reappraisals of the secular have tried in a variety of ways to destabilize and revalue the notion of the secular so that it no longer means simply the “absence of religion.” Yet vernacular uses of the secular frequently continue to orbit around that very understanding. With this in mind, we invite proposals for papers or panels that explore “the secular” at its various sites of construction. In concert with this year’s conference theme, we are particularly interested in proposals that critically engage public understandings of secularism as well as those that investigate the constitution of the secular in religiously plural publics, in multiple identity formations (especially among the so-called religious “nones”), and in and through a range of social practices (for example, those related to death and dying). In addition, for a possible cosponsored session with the Death, Dying, and Beyond Group, we seek proposals on secular approaches to death.

To submit a paper proposal please follow the instructions on the AAR website found here. All proposals must be submitted no later than March 1 March 4, 2013.

Questions can be directed to the program unit co-chairs (Per Smith and Jonathan VanAntwerpen) at secularism.secularity@gmail.com

UPDATE – The AAR has extended its deadline for proposals to Monday, March 4th.

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CFP: Is the Post-Colonial Secular?

Conference in Syracuse, NY
September 20-21, 2013

Description and Call for Papers:

Across the humanities, critical scholarship on the secular / secularism / secularization has recently ballooned. Scholars of history, anthropology, political theory, and religion have begun revisiting questions of enchantment and disenchantment, political theology, blasphemy, religious freedom, and much more. Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age in particular has garnered wide attention, but Taylor’s narrative focuses on the disenchantment of modern Christian Europe. Before and after A Secular Age, scholars have probed the boundaries of the secular beyond Christian Europe, and beyond the confines of intellectual history.

Some have asserted that the ideologies of secularism and colonialism are deeply intertwined. Others have asserted that post-colonial religiosity remains a symptom of colonial control of reason and affect. Still others have pointed to neo-liberalism as the shared basis of contemporary racial, religious, and post-colonial regimes.

We invite proposals that probe the question, “Is the Post-Colonial Post-Secular?” Projects may employ methods of history, literary criticism, theoretical reflection, ethnography, or cultural studies. We are interested in projects from a variety of regions and periods, for example contemporary Africa, the early U.S., or nineteenth century Haiti.

Please send 300 word abstracts, or questions, to: Owais Khan (mokhan01@syr.edu) and Vincent Lloyd (vwlloyd@syr.edu).
Deadline for abstracts: March 25; Notification: April 10.

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS: 
Gauri Viswanathan (Columbia, Literature)
Barnor Hesse (Northwestern, African American Studies)
Pamela Klassen (Toronto, Religion)
Uday Mehta (CUNY, Political Science)
Matthew Engelke (LSE, Anthropology)
Gyanendra Pandey (Emory, History)
Ludger Viefhues-Bailey (Philosophy, Le Moyne)

This symposium is sponsored by the Syracuse University Religion Department in cooperation with Le Moyne College.

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CFP: Religion and Society in Central and Eastern Europe (RASCEE)

RASCEE

Religion & Society in Central and Eastern Europe – Journal of the International Study of Religion in Eastern and Central Europe Association (ISORECEA) | ISSN: 1553-9962 http://www.rascee.net

Religion and Society in Central and Eastern Europe (RASCEE) is an open-access peer-reviewed annual (published in December) academic journal reflecting critical scholarship in the study religion in the region. Journal Religion and Society in Central and Eastern Europe is included in Index to the Study of Religions Online (A cross-searchable database and bibliography of journal articles) and in EBSCO Publishing – Academic Search Complete, SocIndex with Full Text and in Central and Eastern European Academic Source., while it is in the review process with Religious and Theological Abstracts, ATLA Religion Databases and ProQuest.

Call for papers

RELIGION IN THE SOCIETIES OF FORMER SOVIET UNION TERRITORIES:ROLES, MANIFESTATIONS AND TRANSFORMATIONS In the early 1990s the territories of the former Soviet Union opened up to social and religious innovations. After generations of nurturing the idea of a homogenous society, different states emerged,some of them with homogenous, and some of them with heterogeneous, religious fields, with different ways of living and coping with the new conditions of religious freedom, and with different conceptions of the role of religion in society. Looking back after two decades, we can state that religion in the territories of the former Soviet Union has undergone transformations: from forced secularization, to offering new roles, and having a variety of manifestations within contemporary societies that are marked by modernization, individualization and globalization. Is it possible to talk about a religious revival or not? What are the roles of religion in post-Soviet societies? What are the manifestations of new forms of religiosity? How has religion been transformed and mutated in the last two decades? Which religions have been successful and which have failed?Throughout this period a new generation of social scientists and humanities scholars have grown up,and we are particularly interested in their interpretations of the social situation in the region. How does the new generation of scholars understand and interpret the roles, manifestations and transformations of religion in the former Soviet Union?

Religion and Society in Central and Eastern Europe invites submissions for a special issue dedicated to religion in the former Soviet Union. We welcome both empirical and theoretical contributions from diverse areas of the social sciences, such as: sociology, anthropology, political science, religious studies, history and law, and that focus on the post-Soviet religious landscape and its post-Communist transformations.

Religion and Society in Central and Eastern Europe (RASCEE) is an annual, open-access, peer-reviewedacademic journal that reflects critical scholarship in the study of religion in the region.

Language: English

Website for the submission of articles: http://www.rascee.net/index.php/rascee

Deadline: June 1, 2013

Contact: Milda Alisauskiene at m.alisauskiene@smf.vdu.lt, or Annika Hvithamar ahvit@sdu.dk

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CFP: Global Secularisms at NYU, Due 3/31

Call For Papers

Global Secularisms

The Global Liberal Studies Program at New York University is currently seeking paper submissions for its inaugural conference on the topic of Global Secularisms — to be held on November 15 and 16, 2013 in New York, NY.

From a global perspective, Western secularism, and for example the American debate regarding the separation of church and state, appear as very parochial issues. Secularism is a vexed topic with global implications and consequences, affecting virtually every part of the world, every nation state and every culture, traditional or modern. Questions related to secularism have become increasingly urgent and involve enormous real-world implications. From the emergence of the “new atheism,” to battles over shariah law in Europe and the Middle East, to the reemergence of religion in the politics of India, to battles over the authority of science in the United States, to struggles both intellectual and political over the shape of the public sphere, the question of secularism proves critical.

Some scholars question the assumption that the modern social order is undergoing, or indeed has ever undergone, the process of secularization; others hold that we have entered a post-secular era. Still others associate secularism with western cultural, social, economic or political hegemony. And on the other hand, some of the most compelling thinkers insist that secularism is the only possible means of negotiating sectarian strife and establishing and maintaining a democratic state. Equating secularism with the rejection of the transcendent, secular humanists insist that secularism is the best way to achieve real human flourishing. Yet the very meanings of the words “secularism” and “religion” have been questioned. The history of secularism — and the word should be made plural — helps define the crises of our moment. This conference returns to these issues, in the light of these recent discussions and of recent events that are having serious effects on the way we live now, on the shape of global politics and culture for the immediate future.

This conference hopes to appeal to scholars and creative authors from the major divisions of the academy, including the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as to independent scholars and writers from outside of the academy. We welcome engagement with questions involving secularism and the arts, culture, economics, history, international relations, religion, philosophy, politics, and science. Among the possible broad areas that papers might address, we offer the following possibilities:

  • Secularist movements/figures, past and present
  • Secularism and/as religion
  • Secularism and the arts, literature
  • Secularism and human flourishing
  • Secularism and the state
  • Anti-secularism, anti-atheism
  • Secularism and imperialism
  • Secularism and rights
  • Secularism in colonial/postcolonial contexts
  • The secularization of knowledge, science
  • The secularization of culture
  • The secularization of the university
  • Secularism and feminism
  • Post-secularism

Please email abstracts of 150-300 words by March 31, 2013 to:
Dr. Michael Rectenwald (michael.rectenwald@nyu.edu)

The conference steering committee will respond to submissions by June 1, 2013.