Opportunities Digest – 13 April 2012
We have moved opportunities digests until Fridays, largely to promote more discussion related to the reponse essays and podcasts, and also to give readers the chance to think about the opportunities over the weekend. We are not responsible for any content contained herein, but have simply copied and pasted from a variety of sources. If you have any content for future digests, please email editors at religiousstudiesproject.com.
In this issue:
- Calls for Papers
- Jobs
- Calls for Participants
- Voluntary Positions
- Studentships
Calls for Papers
Virtual Worlds Research Network
Second call for papers for inaugural lecture 16-18 May 2012, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Further details: www.vwrn.org
Abstract Submission: 250 words, no later than 22 April 2012
Notification of Acceptance: 25 April 2012
Submit to: vwresearchnetwork@gmail.com
CFP: An International, Interdisciplinary Conference:
POLITICS, PROBITY, POVERTY AND PRAYER: AFRICAN SPIRITUALITIES, ECONOMIC ANDSOCIO-POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION
University of Pretoria, South Africa. December 2-5, 2012
The conference will highlight and explore how and to what extent African and diaspora religious traditions and spiritualities may cohere on the critical issues, such as that of probity, equity and accountability, which confront the African continent, their faiths in relation to the wider, global community. Interrelated issues on religion, spirituality, leadership, social capital, public role, poverty, corruption, transparency will be discussed. The conference is intended to build synergies and forge dialogue on how religious/spiritual communities in Africa and the African Diaspora can combat poverty and foster probity and sustainable development.
The conference programme shall focus on the following and related sub-themes:
- African politico-economies, religious polity and accountability
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religious polity structures, corruption and transparency
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religious polity, social and religious capital
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religious values, behaviour, probity and financial accountability
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ethics, socio-cultural values, and social action
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democracy and ecclesiastical polity
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traditional (indigenous) systems of governance and probity
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religion/spiritualities, prayer and poverty
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religion, politics and socioeconomic empowerment
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church polity, apartheid and post-apartheid transformation
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religion, spiritualities and sustainable development in Africa and the African Diaspora
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Probity and African and African-derived religions/spiritualities in a new global order
Paper/presentation proposals based or related to one or more of the above themes are invited from the interested public: scholars, religious/spiritual communities and organizations, policy makers, and FBOs/NGOs. Interested panelists are invited to submit a paper/abstract proposal (max. 200 words), stating institutional affiliation, on or before 28 May 2012. The conference will be jointly hosted by the University of Pretoria, University of South Africa, The University of Edinburgh, and PANAFSTRAG. Abstract proposals and all correspondences regarding the conference should be sent electronically (email) to the conference organizers: Afe Adogame: a.adogame@ed.ac.uk and Graham Duncan: Graham.Duncan@up.ac.za
From the Immanent Frame:
“September 20-22, 2012, Universiteit Antwerpen will host a conference on secularization theory. Conference organizers are currently accepting abstracts and will do so through May 1.”
The following Special Issue will be published in Religions (ISSN 2077- 1444, http://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/) and is now open to receive submissions of full research papers and comprehensive review articles for peer-review and possible publication:
Special Issue: Religion& Globalization
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/si/religions/religion_globalization/
Guest Editor: Prof. Dr. Lionel Obadia Deadline for manuscript
submissions: 30 September 2012
You may send your manuscript now or up until the deadline.
Submitted papers should not have been published previously, nor
be under consideration for publication elsewhere. We also
encourage authors to send us their tentative title and short
abstract by e-mail for approval to the Editorial Office at
religions@mdpi.com.
This Special Issue will be fully open access, with Article
Processing Charges (APC) waived for well prepared manuscripts before 1 July 2012.
The APC for manuscripts submitted from 1 July 2012 onwards are
300 CHF per accepted paper. In addition, a fee of 250 CHF may
apply if English editing or extensive revisions must be
undertaken by the Editorial Office. More information can be found
at http://www.mdpi.com/about/apc/.
Open access (unlimited and free access by readers) increases
publicity and promotes more frequent citations as indicated by
several studies. Open access is supported by the authors and
their institutes. More information is available at
http://www.mdpi.com/about/openaccess/.
Please visit the website of Instructions for Authors before
submitting a paper at
http://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/instructions/. Manuscripts
should be submitted through the online manuscript submission and
editorial system at http://www.mdpi.com/user/manuscripts/upload/.
Religions (ISSN 2077-1444) is an international, open access
scholarly journal publishing peer-reviewed studies of religious
thought and practice.
It is available online to promote critical, hermeneutical,
historical, and constructive conversations. It aims to serve the
interests of a wide range of thoughtful readers and academic
scholars of religion, as well as theologians, philosophers,
social scientists, anthropologists, psychologists,
neuroscientists and others interested in the multidisciplinary
study of religions.
MDPI publishes several peer-reviewed, open access journals listed
at http://www.mdpi.com/. The Editorial Board members, including
several Nobel Laureates (http://www.mdpi.com/about/nobelists/),
are all leading active scholars. All MDPI journals maintain
rapid, yet rigorous, peer- review, manuscript handling and
editorial processes. MDPI journals have increased their impact
factors, see “2010 Newly Released Impact Factors”, http://www.mdpi.com/about/announcements/121/.
In case of questions, please contact the Editorial Office at:
religions@mdpi.com
CFP: The editors of Arc, the Journal of the Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University invite submissions to the 2012/13 issue of the journal. The call for papers, on the theme of embodiment, is included below.
The editors of Arc: The Journal of the Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University are soliciting submissions on the theme of embodiment for the 2012 issue. Submissions could address various topics, including:
· The role of the body in religion,
· The valuation of the body as sacred or profane,
· Embodiment and personhood,
· The value of the body in the religious fulfillment of the human being,
· Theories of embodiment in religious studies,
· The role of the body in religious narratives,
· Body-centric rituals and practices,
· Gender and sexuality,
· Interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the body and religion.
Arc is an interdisciplinary, refereed journal published annually by the Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University. The journal combines the talents of professors and graduate students in offering space for scholarly discussions on various aspects of the academic study of religion, including method and theory in the study of religion.
Arc encourages submissions from diverse religious traditions and perspectives.
The submission deadline is June 15, 2012. For detailed submission guidelines, please consult the Guidelines for Contributors (PDF) on the website. All electronic correspondence, including requests for review copies of books, should be sent to the editors, Richard Cumming
and Ryan Jones, at the following email address: arc.relgstud@mcgill.ca.
Transformations of the Sacred in Europe and Beyond
European Sociological Association Mid-term Conference: Research Network 34 – Sociology of Religion
University of Potsdam, Germany, 3-5 September 2012
in cooperation with the German Section for the Sociology of Religion in the DGS
Submission of Abstracts: 20 April 2012
More information, submission and registration at: http://www.esareligion.org/bi-annual-conference/
Plenary Speakers:
Schirin Amir-Moazami, Institute for Islamic Studies, Free University of Berlin
Hubert Knoblauch, Institute for Sociology, Technical University of Berlin
Gordon Lynch, Religious Studies School of European Culture and Languages, University of Kent
Eva-Maria Schrage, Graduate School “Religion and Politics in the Cultures of Pre-modernity and Modernity”, University of Münster
Panel: Religions on the Move/Changes in Religious Cultures
Inger Furseth, Director of the Nordic Research Program NOREL, Oslo
Dorota Hall, Assistant Professor at the Dep. of Religious Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw
Volkhard Krech, Director of the Käte Hamburger Kolleg Dynamics in the History of Religions and speaker of the Center for Religious Studies (CERES) at the University of Bochum
Siniša Zrinščak, Department of Social Work, University of Zagreb
Conference on Historiography of Religion
Senior and emerging researchers are invited to apply.
This conference is organised by the European Science Foundation (ESF) in partnership with Linköping University (LiU).
The conference will take place on *10-14 September 2012* in *ScandicLinköping Väst, Linköping, Sweden*.
Submission Deadline: *14 May 2012*
*Grants for Young and Early Stage Researchers available.*
Further information can be found below and at:www.esf.org/conferences/12386
*Historiography of Religion*
10-14 September 2012
Chaired by:
*Jörg Rüpke* – Max-Weber-Centre, University of Erfurt, DE
*Susanne Rau* – Department of History, University of Erfurt, DE
*Programme*
The conference will focus on the question: *How, under which conditions and with which consequences are religions historicized?* The conference aims at furthering the study of religion as of historiography by analysing how religious groups (or their adversaries) employ historical narratives in the construction of their identities or how such groups are invented by later historiography (comparative historiography). Thus the biases and elisions of current analytical and descriptive frames have to be analysed, too (history of research). Combing disciplinary competences of Religious Studies and History of Religion, Confessional Theologies, History, History of Science, and Literary Studies, the participants will help to initiate a /comparative historiography of religion/ by applying literary comparison and historical contextualization to those texts that have been used as central documents for histories of individual religions and analyze their historiographic character, tools and strategies. Furthermore they will stimulate /the history of historical research on religion/; that is, identifying key steps in the early modern and modern history of research. The comparative approach will address Circum-Mediterranean and European as well as Asian religious traditions from the first millennium BCE to present.
*Invited speakers will include*
*Corinne Bonnet* – Université Toulouse, FR | *Johannes Bronkhorst* – Université de Lausanne, CH | *Cristiana Facchini* – Università di Bologna, IT | *Giovanni Filoramo* – Università Torino, IT | *Ingvild Gilhus* – Bergen University, NO | *Danièle Hervieu-Léger* – Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, FR | *Reinhard Kratz* – University of Goettingen, DE | *Chris Lorenz* – Vrije University of Amsterdam, NL | *Franziska Metzger* – University of Fribourg, CH | *Tessa Rajak* – Oxford University, UK | *Susanne Rau* – University of Erfurt, DE | *Chase Robinson* – City University of New York, US | *Jörg Rüpke* – University of Erfurt, DE |*Giulia Sfameni Gasparro* – University of Messina, IT | *Per Sorensen* – University of Leipzig, DE | *Natale Spineto* – University of Torino, IT | *Yvonne-Maria Werner* – Lund University, SE
* How to Participate*
Attendance is possible only after successful application. Application form is accessible from www.esf.org/conferences/12386
A certain number of grants are available for students and early stage researchers to cover the conference fee and possibly part of the travel costs.
Closing date for applications: *14 May 2012*
* Sponsor a Conference*
This conference will be providing the opportunity for leading scientists and young researchers to meet for discussions on the most recent developments in their fields of research. We enable collaboration between international scientists from EU, first world and emerging countries which acts as a catalyst for creating new synergistic global contacts across disciplines.
We invite you to join us in harnessing this great potential, working towards an even more cohesive scientific force in Europe and beyond by contributing to our intense, dynamic and fun events.
If you are interested, please visit our Sponsor Resource Center at www.esf.org/activities/esf-conferences/sponsor-resource-center.html
JOBS
University of Aberdeen – Lecturer in Theological Ethics
Closing date: 4 May 2012
Further information http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AEF625/lecturer-in-theological-ethics/
University of Aberdeen – Senior Lecturer/Reader/Chair in Philosophy
Closing date: 4 May 2012
Further information http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AEF589/senior-lecturer-reader-chair-in-philosophy/
Calls for Participants
Final conference: the socio-cultural integration of Muslim migrants in Europe
June 20-21, 2012
Brussels
From 2008 till 2012 a team based at six universities conducted
extensive research on the social-cultural integration of different
Muslim groups in Europe. This has resulted in the collection of unique
data sets that give new insights into the interplay of policies,
debates, and attitudes of, and, towards Muslim migrants. We are proud to
present and discuss these research findings during a two day conference
on 20-21 June 2012 in Brussels.
During the EURISLAM final conference we will present and discuss
findings on citizenship and cultural policies; the media debate on
Muslim and Islam in 30 national newspapers; leadership perspectives of
over 90 representatives of Islamic and migrant organisations, and the
attitudes and integration of nearly 5.000 respondents from Europe¹s four
largest Islamic groups (Turks, Moroccans, Pakistani¹s, and Muslims from
the former Yugoslav Republic). Data will be presented in a comparative
analysis of the six participating countries (Belgium, France, Germany,
The Netherlands, Switzerland, and The United Kingdom)
It is often assumed that specific policies can positively influence the
integration of immigrants and their offspring. The EURISLAM data will
indicate that public and political dimensions are, however, not that
strongly interlinked with the socio-economic and cultural integration of
Muslim immigrants and their offspring. Different traditions and
practices in the naturalization and cultural accommodation of Muslim
migrants appear to be only a slight factor determining their overall
integration within society. The results of the EURISLAM project hereby
contribute to new ways of thinking about the importance of national and
post-national policies concerning the accommodation and integration of
migrants.
The conference will consist of two main plenary meetings, followed by a
set of workshops. A preliminary conference programme with detailed
information on the location and workshops will soon be made available.
If you wish to attend the EURISLAM final conference, please send an
email to m.w.koomen@uva.nl, stating your full name and organisation (if
applicable).
Voluntary Positions
The Euro-Islam website is currently recruiting two students/researchers interested in Muslims iin Germany and in the UK for its website research team. Language capabilities in German are required for the research on Islam and Muslims in Germany.
Each week the researcher will collect news stories covering current events impacting Muslims in these countries, develop short a short summary for each story, and submit them to the webmaster for publishing. He/she will also participate in monthly concalls with the Euro-Islam research team. The researcher may also be called upon to develop profiles on Islam and Muslims these countries and their capital cities.
Weekly responsibilities require approximately 3-6 hours. While the Euro-Islam website unfortunately cannot offer compensation, the student researcher will benefit from weekly research opportunities, networking/collaboration opportunities through Harvard’s Islam in the
West Program, and access to a large audience of scholars, politicians, and media professionals via the web’s most reliable source on Muslims in the West.
Please refer interested students to Dr. Jocelyne Cesari, Director of Harvard’s Islam in the West Program and website coordinator: jcesari@fas.harvard.edu.
Studentships
PhD position Hebrew Bible, early Judaism and Dead Sea Scrolls
The Qumran Institute of the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies of the University of Groningen offers a four-year PhD position (0,9 fte) in Hebrew Bible, early Judaism and Dead Sea Scrolls as of the next academic year. This PhD position is financed by a grant of the SNS/Reaal Fund.
Research proposals should fit the research profile of the Faculty and of the Qumran Institute, which is aimed at studying the Hebrew Bible, early Judaism and the Dead Sea Scrolls from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective within their ancient cultural contexts (ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman). For examples of the Institute’s research profile, see the two conferences in 2008 (Authoritative Scriptures in Ancient Judaism) and 2010 (The Jewish Revolt against Rome: Interdisciplinary Perspectives).
Candidates with a degree in Biblical Studies, early Jewish Studies, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, or Ancient History are encouraged to apply.
Contact:
In case you have any questions about the compatibility of your prospected research with the Faculty’s and Institute’s research profile and for further information, please contact the Institute’s director: Mladen Popović (m.popovic@rug.nl)
Deadline: May 22th, 2012
Please include with your application:
- a curriculum vitae, including academic qualifications, grades, a list of publications (if applicable), two letters of academic recommendation from professors who can write knowledgeably about your personal and academic qualifications and your suitability for the chosen field of study
-
a letter explaining your motivation, your interest in the project, and your competence in the research field
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a proposal of max 4 pages describing how you intend to conduct the project you are applying for
-
your MA thesis
Send your application by email before May 22th, 2012 to:
Additional information
Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies
Paul among the Ancient Philosophers: ‘Pistis’ as Reasonable Trust
This position is part of the joint research project “Overcoming the Faith-Reason Opposition: Pauline Pistis in Contemporary Philosophy” between the University of Groningen and the Radboud University Nijmegen, funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).
Suitable candidates pursue an interest in Classics, Ancient Philosophy or New Testament Studies. They are fluent in English and have, or will soon have completed an MA in a relevant field.
Deadline: May 15, 2012
Interviews: June 13-14, 2012
The candidate will also closely cooperate with the research group working on the recently established ‘Brill’s Commentary on the Pauline Writings’, see www.rug.nl/philpaul.For further information, see
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AEF100/two-phd-positions-in-philosophy-and-theology/
Contact: g.h.van.kooten@rug.nl