News and Events

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Religion For Atheists

Public Lecture : Religion for Atheists

Thursday 2 February, 6.30 – 8.00pm

Old Theatre, Old Building, LSE

Alain de Botton, author of non-fiction essays on themes ranging from love and travel to architecture and philosophy. He founded The School of Life www.theschooloflife.com and Living Architecture www.living-architecture.co.uk

Chair: Simon Glendinning, Reader in European Philosophy, European Institute, LSE and Director of the Forum for European Philosophy

Is it possible to remain a committed atheist but nevertheless benefit from the wisdom of religion? Marking the publication of his new book Religion for Atheists, Alain de Botton will argue that religion still has some very important things to teach the secular world even if we reject its supernatural claims. He proposes that we look to religions for insights into how we might live in and arrange our societies.

Podcasts of most FEP events are available online after the event. They can be accessed at www.philosophy-forum.org

All events are free and open to all without registration

For further information contact Juliana Cardinale: 020 7955 7539

J.Cardinale@lse.ac.uk

Forum for European Philosophy

Cowdray House, Room G.05, European Institute

London School of Economics, WC2A 2AE

http://www.philosophy-forum.org

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Podcast: Carole Cusack on Invented Religions

Please find details below of the latest podcast from the Religious Studies Project, with Carole M. Cusack discussing invented religions, including New Atheism. 

What is an “Invented Religion”? Why should scholars take these religions seriously? What makes these “inventions” different from the revelations in other religions? What happens when an author does not want their story to become a religious text?

You can also download this interview, and subscribe to receive our weekly podcast, on iTunes.

In this interview with David, Carole M. Cusack (Associate Professor in Studies in Religion at the University of Sydney) answers these questions and more, exploring her notion of “Invented Religions” and introducing the listener to a wide variety of contemporary and unusual forms of religion. Discussion flows through a range of topics – from Discordianism and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster to Scientology, Jediism and the New Atheism – and demonstrates how the works of authors such as Thomas Pynchon and Robert A. Heinlein can be transformed by others and take on a life of their own. In her own words, “This is a fiction so good it should be true…”

Carole Cusack trained as a medievalist and her doctorate was published as Conversion Among the Germanic Peoples (Cassell, 1998). Since the late 1990s she has taught in contemporary religious trends, publishing on pilgrimage and tourism, modern Pagan religions, new religious movements, the interface between religion and politics, and religion and popular culture. She is the author of The Essence of Buddhism (Lansdowne, 2001), Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction and Faith (Ashgate, 2010), and The Sacred Tree: Ancient and Medieval Manifestations (Cambridge Scholars Publishing), 2011.

View Carole’s page on Academia.edu. Of particular relevance to the topic of this interview is her article 
Science Fiction as Scripture: Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land and the Church of All Worlds in Christopher Hartney, Alex Norman, and Carole M. Cusack (eds), Creative Fantasy and the Religious Imagination, special issue of Literature & Aesthetics, Vol. 19, No. 2, SSLA, 2009, pp. 72-91. The full text is available here if you have an Academia.edu account (and if you don’t have an Academia.edu account, and are looking to increase your networking and ability to access the most up-to-date research in your area, we suggest that you get one now!).

If you have institutional access to the International Journal for the Study of New Religions, you may also find the following article of interest: Discordian Magic: Paganism, the Chaos Paradigm and the Power of Parody, International Journal for the Study of New Religions, Vol. 2, No. 1, May 2011.

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Society, Religion & Belief Research Group seminar series

For those of you living in or near the East Midlands, please find details of the SOCREL Society, Religion & Belief Research Group seminar series below.

For more information please contact: Dr. Kristin Aune Senior Lecturer in Sociology Head of the Society, Religion & Belief Research Group Faculty of Education, Health & Sciences University of Derby Kedleston Road Derby DE22 1GB Tel: 01332 591428

Society, Religion & Belief Research Group

Spring Semester Seminars

Tuesday, 31st January, 2012, 13:00-14:30, N414

Dr Simon Speck, University of Derby

“Fundamentalism or Cosmopolitanism: Religiosity in theories of second modernity”

Wednesday, 29th February, 2012, 16:30-18:00, N109

Prof. Susan Hogan, University of Derby

“Look At Me! – Women and Ageing”

Thursday, 22nd March, 2012, 13:00-14:30, S109

Dr Rebecca Watson, Cambridge Theological Federation

“Contextualising The Psalms of Zion: A Social-Psychological Approach”

Tuesday, 17th April, 2012, 16:30-18:00, B102

Dr Giselle Vincett, University of Edinburgh

“Young People, Deprivation and Religion in the UK: Coping and Resistance”

Wednesday, 2nd May, 2012, 16:30-18:00, S109

Andrew Wilson, University of Derby

“Haunted by History: Representations of the Pendle Witches in Popular Culture”

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CFP: Public Benefit in the Study of Religion

Call for Papers: Joint BASR/BSA-SOCREL panel on the ‘Public benefit in the study of religion’ with keynote panel speakers Prof. Eileen Barker and Prof. Douglas Davies.

BASR annual conference, September 5-7 2012 University of Winchester. Abstracts to Dr Abby Day a.f.day@kent.ac.uk and Dr Bettina Schmidt b.schmidt@tsd.ac.uk by 1 April 2012.

Who benefits from the study of religion? How have teachers and researchers engaged with the idea of ‘public benefit’, either directly or indirectly?

The panel is jointly organised by Dr Bettina Schmidt, Hon. Secretary BASR, and Dr Abby Day, Chair, SOCREL. BASR and SOCREL are the two professional organisations that together represent the UK’s leading scholars in the study of religion.

The British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR), formerly the British Association for the History of Religions (founded in 1954), is affiliated to the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR), whose object is the promotion of the academic study of religions through the international collaboration of all scholars whose research has a bearing on the subject.

The Sociology of Religion (SOCREL) study group, founded in 1975, is the second largest discipline study group within the British Sociological Association (BSA) and, like BASR, exists to promote the discipline and its development through international networking, conferences and post-graduate development.

The topic of the panel is how research has directly benefited ‘the public’. The panel will focus on two aspects of this broad theme as it relates to the study of religion: 1) What do we mean by ‘public benefit’? How do we demonstrate it, measure it, communicate it and what are the practical and theoretical issues surrounding the idea of how the study of religion – or faith, or belief – can operate in the, or perhaps as a, public good? Are there theoretical problems in considering what is meant by ‘public’ or ‘benefit’ in different cultural and historical contexts? 2) What are some case examples of how research or teaching about religion has contributed to the public good? We are not asking here for examples about how ‘religion’ has contributed to the public but specifically how the study of and research on religion has done so.

An example of public benefits is described by the Charity Commission in a recent assessment of the Royal Opera House. The Commission explains how the staging of public performances of art, such as opera and ballet, is a recognised means of advancing the arts. The charity’s established reputation amongst the public, funders and commentators as a leading presenter of these art forms, together with many awards at national and international level, are all positive indicators of artistic quality.

Organisations focusing on the advancement of the social sciences have made efforts to clearly frame their work in the context of public benefit. The Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness state that ‘the objects for which the charity is established are for the public benefit to promote and improve social scientific research, education and scholarship in the field of the sociology of health and illness.’ This increasing need for organisations focusing on the advancement of social sciences to demonstrate their work’s public benefit provides the backdrop to the upcoming panel.

Papers are welcome that discuss how terms like ‘religion’, ‘benefit’ and ‘public’ are construed and understood, whether it is by the ‘public’, by Research Councils or other funding bodies, and how the study of religion has made a positive impact on it. The topic of the panel relates to our daily practice as researchers when asking for funding or having to present the outcomes of our research. Research Councils ask every applicant to explain the possible impact of a research project and in the coming years we will have to demonstrate as part of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) the wider impact of our research. It is therefore crucial to come to an understanding of ‘public benefits’ of our research.

Details and more information can be got by contacting Dr Abby Day, AHRC British Council Fellow Senior Research Fellow, Department of Religious Studies, School of European Culture & Languages, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF, UK Visiting Research Fellow Department of Geography University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9RH UK

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CFP Comics, Religion & Politics

‘Comics, Religion & Politics’

4-5th September 2012

Lancaster University, UK

Alongside the continued popularity of political themes in comics recent years have also seen the rise of religious themes entering into the medium. The aim of this conference is to explore the relationship between comics, religion and politics in greater depth, to show how through the unique properties of the medium comics have the ability to be as thought-provoking as they are entertaining. The conference will examine the history and impact of religious and political themes, their relationship to audiences, and consider the future of such themes in all forms of sequential art narrative.

We invite papers that address religious and/or political themes in comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, or manga. Papers working at the interface of these two areas are particularly encouraged. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

– Comics as cultural, social, religious, political text

– Use of religious imagery and themes

– Fan culture

– Political cartoons and cartoonists

– Gothic comics

– Comics and magic

– Representation of politics, religion, spirituality

– Religious or political rhetoric of comics and their authors

– Myths, legends, fables

-Depiction of religious figures or politicians as comic characters

– Comics and science fiction

– Comics and propaganda

– Representation of apocalypse, utopia, dystopia

– Representation of war

– Superheroes and religious, political identity

– Theoretical approaches to the study of religion, politics in comics

Contributions are sought from researchers at any stage of their careers. Abstracts (300 words) for papers 20 minutes in length should be sent with a short biography to Emily Laycock (Department of Politics, Philosophy & Religion) at e.laycock@lancaster.ac.uk

 

Emily Laycock, Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YL, U.K.

Email: e.laycock@lancaster.ac.uk

or visit the website

 

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CFP Closing for Panel Discussions at the EASR 2012

THE CALL FOR PANEL SESSION-PROPOSALS FOR EASR

Dear Colleagues, the possibility to submit panel session-proposals to the EASR annual conferense 2012 – Ends and beginningswill soon close down and we will instead open for individual abstract submission first week in February. We therefore kindly ask you who are interested in organising a panel to submit your proposals before the end of January.  From February others will be able to submit their abstracts to the open panel sessions you have submitted. 

To submit a panel proposal, please click the following link: 

Panel proposal and pre-registration 

The conference will be held at Södertörn University in Stockholm on August 23-26, 2012. 

We encourage you to submit proposals for both closed panel sessions (to which you invite the participating scholars) and open panel sessions (to which anyone can send in abstracts to be assessed by you).

For more information, please see the conference web-site: http://www.sh.se/EASR2012 

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CFP Panel on Religion and Social Inequality‏

The 36th Congress of the German Society for Sociolgy (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie – DGS) will be held from 1 -5 October 2012 in Bochum and Dortmund.

The Section for Sociology of Religion is organizing a panel on “Religion and Social Inequality” during this conference. The call for paper is only in German, but papers in English are also very welcome.

In the early sociology of religion the relationship between social class and religion was a central topic. Weber for example analysed social strata as carriers of religious ideas. Following Weber this research question was picked up by Niebuhr in his exploration of the social sources of denominations and by Bourdieu in his analysis of the religious field. In the last decades, the problem of social inequality has been mostly neglected as a research question in the sociology of religion.

Papers presenting empirical findings, quantitative as well as qualitative, from a national or transnational perspective, about the  impact of social class and life conditions on religious beliefs,practices and affiliations are invited. The religions of the upper classes and the lower classes, of the privileged and the “negatively privileged” are of special interest for this panel.

Please send abstracts of 2500 signs maximum (inclunding spaces) until

March 15th to the organizers:

Prof.Dr. Gert Pickel: pickel@rz.uni-leipzig.de

Dr. Kornelia Sammet: sammet@uni-leipzig.de

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Conference Announcement: Men, Masculinities and Religious Change 20th April 2012

Registration is currently open for the Men, Masculinites and Religious change, please contact Dr Sue Morgan  (s.morgan@chi.ac.uk) for more details  about attendance.

I have posted the conference outline below, of particular note for the NSRN community is Professor Callum Brown’s paper ‘How men have lost religion since 1940’. The conference is taking place on 20 April 2012 in the Rylands Room at King’s College, Cambridge.

Men, Masculinities and Religious Change

20 April 2012, Rylands Room, King’s College, Cambridge

10am

Dr Sue Morgan, University of Chichester, and Dr Lucy Delap, St Catharine’s College – Why religion and masculinities?

10.30-11.30

Dr Alana Harris, University of Oxford – ‘Modern Catholic Masculinity and the Catenian Association: 1908-2008’

Dr Sean Brady, Birkbeck, University of London – ‘Sectarianism, religion and masculinity: Northern Ireland after 1921’

11.30 coffee

11.45-1.15

Dr Amanullah de Sondy, University of Miami – ‘British Muslim Men in the late 20th Century’

Dr Stephen Hunt, University of the West of England – ‘Masculinities, Spirituality and New Religious Movements in Late Twentieth Century Britain’

Dr Tim Jones, University of Glamorgan – ‘Christianity and the Making of Modern Homosexuality’

Lunch 1.15-2pm

2pm-3.30

Dr Susan Tananbaum, Bowdoin College – “Establishing healthy minds in healthy bodies in our rising generation’: Models of Masculinity in the Jewish East End, 1890-1930s’

Dr Alison Falby, Trinity College, Toronto – ‘Buddhist Psychology and Masculinity in Early Twentieth Century Britain’

Dr Ben Griffin, Girton College, Cambridge – ‘Religious Change and Male Domestic Authority in Late Nineteenth Century Britain’

3.30-3.45 – tea

3.45-4.45

Prof. Callum Brown, University of Dundee – ‘How men have lost religion since 1940’

Dr Sumita Mukherjee, Keble College, University of Oxford – ‘The Growth of a Masculine Hindu Community in Britain, 1936-7’

4.45-5.15 Closing discussion

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LSE Religious Forum Seminars Announced

‘The Metropolis and Evangelical Life: coherence and fragmentation in “the lost city of London”‘

 This paper examines forms of cultural fragmentation experienced by members of a conservative evangelical congregation in London, focusing in particular on how evangelicals respond to their leaders’ aim to encourage them to speak publicly of their faith in their workplaces and other social settings. Drawing on Georg Simmel’s writing on city spaces and modernity, I describe how conservative evangelical subjectivities are formed in response to the contradictory cultural norms they encounter in the city, and how through particular embodied practices, members of this church develop an orientation to a transcendent source of coherence. This enables individuals to deal with internal subjective experiences of division formed through tensions associated with conflicting logics of practice in different urban spaces they inhabit, whilst also reinforcing their sense of cultural distinctive.

Anna Strhan, PhD Candidate, Department of Religious Studies, University of Kent 

and

‘Eating words through the ear: sermons as sacrifice’
Where preaching, locally understood, was said to be an act of reverent worship, I argue in this paper that such worship has to be understood anthropologically as a kind of sacrifice. Taking a new perspective on ‘traditional’ anthropological understandings of religious sacrifice as necessarily involving some form of eating (Robertson-Smith 2002 [1889]), I suggest that, when examining the act of preaching as it was experienced by the Christians of Gamrie, what is ‘eaten’ is not flesh but words. Thus, preaching (as sacrifice) is not about the imbibing of food through the mouth but rather concerns the imbibing of the ‘Living Word’ through the ear. By ethnographically distinguishing two types of sermonising – ‘preaching’ and ‘teaching’ – and by also paying attention to what needs to happen for a sermon to be deemed a performative failure (Tomlinson 2007, 2009), I suggest that sermonising, as understood through the lens of sacrifice, needs also to be understood in terms of two (often imagined) audiences, that of the ‘saved’ and the ‘unsaved’.
Dr. Joseph Webster, Research Fellow in Social Anthropology, Downing College, Cambridge University

The seminars are free and open to the public; no reservation required. They take place from 6-7:30 pm in room 1.11 in Cowdray House (COW), Portugal Street, London WC2A 2AE

Find Cowdray House on this map: http://www.lse.ac.uk/resources/mapsAndDirections/findingYourWayAroundLSE.htm

The Religious Forum also welcome application to speak at the seminar series:

CALL FOR PAPERS 

PRESENT your RESEARCH in the Forum on Religion Seminar Series:

The Forum on Religion seminar series features work in progress on religion: submissions welcome from all disciplines and any geographical foci.

Send an email with your proposed presentation topic to religionforum@lse.ac.uk.

For information about the Forum on Religion and to keep updated on Forum activities, please visit our website at www.lse.ac.uk/religionforum.

You can also join our mailing list there.

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THIS FRIDAY Matthew Engelke talks at LSE: ‘Do you realize?’ Humanism and the anthropology of non-religion.

A last minute events addition, this Friday (20 January), Matthew Engelke will be giving an extended version of the talk he previously gave at the Atheism and Anthropology workshop at UCL last year (Lorna Mumford’s useful discussion of that event provides a summary: https://thensrn.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/events-report-lorna-mumford-nsrn-net.pdf ). The talk will be part of the LSE’s Research Seminar on Anthropological Theory seminar series, which is open to all researchers. Details are as follows:

Friday 10:30am – 12:30pm

Seligman Library (OLD 6.05) Old Building, LS

 

Further info can be found here:

 

http://www2.lse.ac.uk/anthropology/events/seminars_lectures.aspx