Next week I'm off to Cambridge University for the annual meeting of the International Society for Science and Religion and a special conference on "Evolution, Religion and Suffering."
I'll be presenting and reflecting on Robert Russell's proposal for understanding non-interventionist objective divine action in light of quantum physics, with special attention to the implications for the engagement between Christian theology and Darwinian evolution.
We've now confirmed the participation of Professor Robert Neville for our second pre-Parliament of the World's Religions seminar here in Kristiansand: "Hermeneutics, Compassion and Religious Boundaries."
He will be the keynote speaker, but his work on hermeneutics, religious pluralism and other themes will also be the topic of other speakers. We hope to publish a tentative schedule soon.
For an update on the first seminar, see the project website.
On Wednesday, 27 May, we're having our first Pre-Parliament of the World´s Religions Seminar: "Politics, Compassion and Religious Boundaries."
Here is the Seminar Announcement, including speakers and topics.
Here is the link to the Parliament Website.
My friend and colleague Jan-Olav Henriksen has just published a new book:
"Desire, Gift and Recognition: Christology and Postmodern Philosophy"
Here is what I say about it on the back cover:
"This book by
Jan-Olav Henriksen fills a significant lacuna in contemporary
discourse. It focuses concretely on the explicit relation between
postmodern philosophical insights and core theological intuitions about
the identity and work of Jesus Christ. The reader is invited to attend
to and be opened up by the ‘excess' of the ‘surplus of creation,' the
‘impossible' gift of recognition, and the transformation of desire
revealed in the whole life of Christ. Henriksen engages and critically
appropriates several of the most interesting postmodern philosophers,
including Derrida, Levinas, and Marion, and squarely faces the central
challenges in articulating Christology today, developing a new
interpretation of the cross and resurrection of Jesus from different
angles. All of this makes his book disturbing — in the best and most
delightful sense of that word!"
Available at Amazon.com.
Available at Eerdmans.com
I finished the article "Transforming Theological Symbols" and this week am moving on to an essay for the Routledge Companion for Religion and Science.
My tentative title is "Religion and Science in Christian Theology." It is a survey of the field aimed at upper level undergraduates and graduate students, but is supposed to be helpful to scholars (that will sound familiar to those of you who have published chapters in such books ;)
My plan is to have these subheadings:
1. History
2. Philosophy
3. Doctrine
4. Method
5. Trends
It's been a while since I've been able to keep up with my blog and the "upcoming events" list (right sidebar) was quite outdated. So I've just updated it.
After Easter, I'm turning to work on an article tentatively called "Transforming Religious Symbols," which is part of a broader project on Peirce, Metaphysics and the Emergence of Life. Then I need to write a chapter for a Routledge reference book on theology and science in the Christian tradition. Then I'm turning back to an article on "Differentiating Religious Pluralism." If I have a chance, I'll post some ideas or questions related to these as I go along.
Happy Easter everyone!
Here is A Flyer and The Schedule for an upcoming event in which three of my former students will be participating:
Andrea Hollingsworth
Ken Reynhout
Silas Morgan
__________________________
ANNOUNCEMENT
You are cordially invited to join graduate students from around the country for the inaugural Student Symposium on Science and Spirituality—a new annual religion and science conference presented by students for fellow students, as well as faculty and the public. It is sponsored by Hyde Park Religion and Science Society and Zygon Center for Religion and Science, and will be held on Friday, May 1, 2009, at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
Student paper sessions will probe dimensions of the relationship between God/the Sacred and the world from multiple disciplinary, denominational, cultural, and religious angles. Sessions will cover topics such as chaos and emergence, metaphysics and poetics, economies of spirituality, suffering and liberation, and images of God. Additionally, the Symposium will feature a special afternoon panel on interfaith action for the environment.
The speaker lineup includes graduate students from such institutions as the University of Chicago, Regent University, Catholic Theological Union, Princeton Theological Seminary, Florida State University, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, Duke University Divinity School, Meadville-Lombard Theological School, Bethel Seminary, Loyola University Chicago, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and the University of Toronto.
The plenary speaker is psychologist and philosopher of religion Dr. James W. Jones (Rutgers University), who will deliver a lecture entitled “A Pragmatic Ecstasy: Practicing Religion and Science.”
Registration is free of charge, and the first 100 registrants receive free lunch. For more information, and to register, please visit www.zygoncenter.org. For all inquiries please email hprssstudentsymposium@gmail.com.
This year the Transforming Compassion project of Stiftlesen Arkivet is putting much of its energy into seminars on compassion and religious boundaries. This is part of our collaboration with the Parliament of the World's Religions. You can see the announcements and read more about the Parliament at this website.
The conference in Oslo on Theology and Desire went exceptionally well this past weekend. The lectures were terrific and we had a productive time on Saturday discussing the integration and flow of the volume. Here is a link to a Norwegian newspaper report on the event.
That is the tentative title of the book that will emerge out of the lectures and conversations at next week's conference in Oslo "Desire and Theology."
Here are links to recent newspaper comments on the upcoming event: Forsking and Vårt Land
And here is the announcement and schedule.
