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In this issue:
- Books
- Call for papers
- Conferences
- Jobs
- Degree/Post-doc
And don’t forget, you can always get involved with the Religious Studies Project by writing one of our features essays or resources pages. Contact the editors for more information.
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BOOKS
Images, Relics and Legends: the Formation and Transformation of Buddhist Sacred Sites. Essays in Honour of Professor Koichi Shinohara. Edited by James A. Benn, Jinhua Chen, and James Robson. Oakville, Ont.: Mosaic Press, 2012. ISBN: 9780889629097
The book can be purchased from the Mosaic Press online store.
Religion and Knowledge: Sociological Perspectives, edited by Mathew Guest and Elisabeth Arweck, was published by Ashgate in November 2012.
This is the collection of essays that grew out of the annual Socrel conference in Durham in 2009, and features essays on new atheism by Teemu Taira and on retention of fundamentalist beliefs in the context of teaching evolution to school pupils by Ryan Cragun and colleagues.
Contents:
Religion and knowledge: the sociological agenda, Mathew Guest;
Part I Institutions of Knowledge:
Reified knowledge about ‘religion’ in prisons, James A. Beckford; Faith and the student experience, Ian Fairweather; Young people in mixed faith families: a case of knowledge and experience of two traditions?, Elisabeth Arweck and Eleanor Nesbitt; The Amish in North America: knowledge, tradition and modernity, Elisabeth C. Cooksey and Joseph F. Donnermeyer.
Part II The Religious Knowledge Economy:
New atheism as identity politics, Teemu Taira; Rejection or accommodation? Trends in evangelical Christian responses to Muslims, Richard McCallum; Knowledge, tradition and authority in British Islamic theology, Stephen H. Jones; Choosing my religion: young people’s personal Christian knowledge, Sylvia Collins-Mayo; Safe and risky readings: women’s spiritual reading practices, Dawn Llewellyn; Intelligent design as a science enabler: prolegomena to a Creationist left, Steve Fuller; The influence of fundamentalist beliefs on evolution knowledge retention, Ryan T. Cragun, Deborah L. Cragun and Jason Creighton; The sea of faith: exemplifying transformed retention, Douglas Davies and Daniel Northam-Jones.
Part III Knowledge, Religion and Academic Endeavour:
On the materialization of religious knowledge and belief, Peter Collins; Bracketing out the truth? Managing bias in the study of new religious movements, Rebecca Catto.
JOURNALS
Sociology of Religion, Advance Notice – http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/recent?papetoc
Articles include:
- Religious Orthodoxy and the American Worker
-
Faith in the Age of Facebook: Exploring the Links Between Religion and Social Network Site Membership and Use
Religion, State and Society, Vol 40, no. 3-4 http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/crss20/40/3-4
Contributions to Indian Sociology, Vol 46, no. 3 http://cis.sagepub.com/
Cinema: Journal of Philosophy and the Moving Image – new issue now available
Description: Dear colleagues, We are pleased to announce that the third issue of Cinema: Journal of Philosophy and the Moving Image is now available online for free download aT http://cjpmi.ifl.pt: Issue 3 (December 2012) EDITORIAL: CINEMA, THE BODY AND EMBODIMENT Patrcia Silveirinha Castello Branco
URL: cjpmi.ifl.pt
Announcement ID: 200101
http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=200101
CALLS FOR PAPERS
CFP: International Relations and Islam
Date: 2013-02-24
Description: Dear fellow colleagues, You are kindly invited to submit a panel or paper proposal(s) for the section on the “Critical Relations between International Relations and Islam” chaired by Nassef Manabilang Adiong and Dr. Adis Duderija for the 8th Pan-European Conference on International Relations (18-21 …
Contact: info.nassefadiong [at] yahoo.com
URL: www.nassef-m-adiong.com/2012/12/critical-relations-of-international.html
Announcement ID: 199942
http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=199942
CFP: THEOLOGY AND EDUCATION
8 TO 10 APRIL 2013, UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM www.theologysociety.org.uk
Bookings are now open for the Society for the Study of Theology’s sixty-second annual conference. The theme is ‘Theology and Education’ and questions we shall be addressing include: What resources do scripture, tradition, liturgy and practice bring to a theology of learning? How might theology shape learning in church, academy, school, home and society? What have been the key theological markers in my own education? Plenary speakers will include David Ford, Mike Higton and Laurie Zoloth, and George Newlands will be delivering his Presidential Address.
This year’s room and meal rates are the lowest for several years, and an early booking rate is available until 21 FEBRUARY. Book by then to keep costs down! The final bookings deadline is 14 MARCH.
Short paper, seminar paper and bursary calls remain open until 31 January.
Seminars running include: Christology; Church, Theology and Ministry; Doctrine after Christendom; Philosophy and Theology; Theological Anthropology; Theological Ethics; Theology and the Arts; Theology, Feminism and Gender; and Trinity. Further details are available online.
To book, visit www.theologysociety.org.uk.
Call for panel members:
“Witchcraft accusations and Christianity: Syncretisms and Synergies” for the Society for the Anthropology of Religion Biannual Conference April 12-14, 2013 in Pasadena. The following is an initial draft of what the panel might cover:
In many regions of the world historically studied by anthropologists, older ideologies and practices related to witchcraft accusations are being reinvigorated, in part by being reshaped into new and more “Christian” forms. As witch ideologies are reconfigured synergistically to incorporate Christian ideas of Satan, demons, and exorcism, and as Christian pastors themselves increasingly replace “pagan” diviners and “witchdoctors” as primary “carriers” of the new ideologies and divinatory/accusatory practices, witch ideologies and accusations become increasingly central to Christian communities and to Christian orthodoxies. New patterns (where orphan children are accused of being witches for example, or where exorcism is deemed the appropriate treatment for the witch) are developing. Although there is not a single instance in the Bible where one person’s affliction is attributed to another person acting through evil occult means, a significant percentage of Christian leaders in many parts of Africa or New Guinea affirm that misfortunes are caused by people in their midst (the elderly, widows, orphans) who are secretly witches acting supernaturally to bring harm. Disbelieving this is tantamount to disbelieving in God, for many Christians, as it was for John Wesley.
In many cases Christian leaders and institutions contribute to the labeling of children, old widows, and others as witches, often with severe social consequences. Of course churches often also attempt to play roles which protect the accused. There is no single pattern in the churches. This panel will explore “syncretisms and synergies”
between pre-Christian witchcraft ideologies and practices and contemporary Christian ideologies and practices related to witchcraft.
If you are interested in submitting a paper proposal for this panel, please email a one-page paper proposal with your name, academic affiliation, and email to Robert J. Priest by the deadline:
January 11, 2013
Email: rpriest [at] tiu.edu
Robert J. Priest, Professor Mission and Anthropology Trinity Evangelical Divinity School P.S. If you want to see a sample of my own writing on the topic, see my review of Adam Ashforth’s book Witchcraft, Violence, and Democracy in South Africa.
http://www.booksandculture.com/articles/2009/novdec/witchesandtheproblemofevil.html
CFP: Kalle Kananoja (EUI, Florence) and Madalina Florescu (CEAUP, Porto) would welcome proposals for their panel on the Materiality of Religion in Africa during the European Expansion to be hosted at the CHAM Conference in Lisbon
17-20 July.
Abstract:
Religious encounters were a major source of misunderstanding between Africans and Europeans. The contributions in this panel examine religion in precolonial and early colonial Africa through the lens of cultural materiality. Missionaries of different denominations had varying views on religion and materiality. While Catholic Fathers sought to replace indigenous objects with Catholic images, Protestants placed the emphasis on “inner belief” and shunned objects altogether, which was close to the strategy adopted by some New Christian or Jewish settlers in West Africa.
The wide and varied practices of using religious objects in rituals and for protection of people and communities have been addressed to a great extent by archaeologists, art historians and anthropologists of Africa, yet the changes that took place over time and in contact with Europeans are poorly understood. How did things that linked the visible/material to the invisible/immaterial transform when African traditional religions and Islam came into contact with Christianity and Judaism in different parts of the continent? What role did materiality – amulets, images of deities and ancestors, natural objects, iconography, crucifixes, prayer beads, relics play in African popular religion across time and space? The panel will also interrogate and explore the kinds of expectations, conflicts and (mis)interpretations that rose over the uses of material objects in religious life.
Please follow the links below for details of the conference:
http://www.cham.fcsh.unl.pt/CHAMInternacionalConference.html
to propose a paper:
http://www.nomadit.co.uk/cham/cham2013/panels.php5?PanelID=2303
CONFERENCES
Oxford Seminar in Advanced Jewish Studies: On the Word of a Jew: Oaths, Testimonies, and the Nature of Trust
Date: 2013-01-15
Description: October 2013 to March 2014 Seminar Leaders: Professor Mitchell Hart and Professor Nina Caputo, Department of History, University of Florida This Oxford Seminar in Advanced Jewish Studies will examine when and how Jews were considered reliable or trustworthy in the realm of the law, but also in a hos …
Contact: registrar [at] ochjs.ac.uk
URL: www.ochjs.ac.uk/home/academics/visiting-academics/visiting-fellows/ www.ochjs.ac.uk/home/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Word-of-a-Jew-OSAJS-appl-info.pdf
http://www.ochjs.ac.uk/home/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/OSAJS-App-Form-2013-14-Wrd-of-a-Jew.pdf
Announcement ID: 200015
http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=200015
Zionism in the Twenty-First Century: Perspectives From and About Israel
Location: Massachusetts
Date: 2013-02-17
Description: “Zionism in the Twenty-First Century: Contemporary Perspectives from and about Israel” An academic conference on Sunday, February 17 and Monday, February 18, 2013 at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. This scholars conference is sponsored by the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies. Con
…
Contact: scis [AT] brandeis.edu
Announcement ID: 199759
http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=199759
Religious Freedom in America, 1813 to 2013: Bicentennial Reflections on People v. Philips
Location: New York
Date: 2013-04-12
Description: Glucksman Ireland House has planned a three-part program next April that is intended to highlight the trans-disciplinary nature of Irish Studies at New York University as well as some of the surprising ways in which it intersects with American history and culture. Religious Freedom in America, 1813 …
Contact: marion.casey [at] nyu.edu
URL: www.irelandhouse.fas.nyu.edu/object/ne.religiousfreedom
Announcement ID: 199909
http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=199909
THEOLOGY AND EDUCATION
8 TO 10 APRIL 2013, UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM www.theologysociety.org.uk
BOOKINGS OPEN
Bookings are now open for the Society for the Study of Theology’s sixty-second annual conference. The theme is ‘Theology and Education’
and questions we shall be addressing include: What resources do scripture, tradition, liturgy and practice bring to a theology of learning? How might theology shape learning in church, academy, school, home and society? What have been the key theological markers in my own education? Plenary speakers will include David Ford, Mike Higton and Laurie Zoloth, and George Newlands will be delivering his Presidential Address.
This year’s room and meal rates are the lowest for several years, and an early booking rate is available until 21 FEBRUARY. Book by then to keep costs down! The final bookings deadline is 14 MARCH.
Short paper, seminar paper and bursary calls remain open until 31 January.
Seminars running include: Christology; Church, Theology and Ministry; Doctrine after Christendom; Philosophy and Theology; Theological Anthropology; Theological Ethics; Theology and the Arts; Theology, Feminism and Gender; and Trinity. Further details are available online.
To book, visit www.theologysociety.org.uk.
JOBS
Bar-Ilan University – Lecturer, Syrian-Lebanese Jewish History
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=46168
Hobart and William Smith Colleges – South Asian History
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=46171
DEGREES/POST-DOC
MSc Religion in the Contemporary World
London School of Economics and Political Science
http://www2.lse.ac.uk/study/graduate/taughtProgrammes2013/MScReligionInTheContemporaryWorld.aspx
This programme offers the following benefits:
- It provides an interdisciplinary, broad social-science perspective on the study of religion, in contrast to courses which take a religious studies or theology-based perspective.
- It covers topics of key importance, such as secularisation, religion and public policy, religion in the developing world, religion in the West and its historical development, and the understanding of Western models of religion and secularisation through comparison with the rest of the world.
- Teaching is directly informed and enhanced by the very strong tradition of fieldwork-based research within the LSE Department of Anthropology.
- We offer a full academic tutorial system, which means that students on this MSc benefit from direct and sustained contact with members of staff.
- The programme is an ideal preparation for research work in the study of religion. Many graduates from the Department go on to complete PhDs. It will also provide a foundation for those wishing to find employment in the civil service, policy and diplomacy, education, social work, and NGOs.
Master of Arts in Asian Studies at Florida International University in Miami
Location: Florida
Date: 2013-06-01
Description: The Master of Arts in Asian Studies at Florida International University in Miami is a growing interdisciplinary program drawing on excellent faculty resources in various departments. Areas of study: Political Economy of East Asia, Asian Societies, Asia and World Affairs, and Asian Arts and Culture. …
Contact: heines [AT] fiu.edu
URL: asian.fiu.edu
Announcement ID: 200063
http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=200063
The Department of Philosophy of Utrecht University is looking for:
2 PhD Researchers (2 x 1,0 fte)
The positions are part of the research project ‘Human Dignity as the Foundation of Human Rights?’ which is a five year philosophical project on the question to what extent the foundational role of human dignity in the human rights framework can be justified. The project is funded by NWO.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) articulates that human dignity is the reason why we must grant rights to all human beings. By adopting the UDHR, nearly all countries in the world have committed themselves to respect for human dignity. But the concept of human dignity raises numerous questions: Who has dignity? All and only members of the human species? What specific moral obligations follow from the attribution of dignity? How can human dignity provide a foundation for human rights? Is the concept exclusively recognised by Western culture or are there reasons for expecting universal acceptability?
The core meaning of the concept, its historical roots and its philosophical justification are insufficiently understood. This generates an urgent problem because references to human dignity increasingly play a crucial role in debates on bioethics, new technologies and globalization while there is widespread suspicion that references to human dignity merely have a rhetorical function.
In the programme, the research group as a whole will attempt to reconstruct the core meaning and normative content of the concept of human dignity in current discourses. In order to bring this about, researchers are expected to work in relevant philosopical subdisciplines such as normative ethics, political philosophy or philosophy of law. Also, each researcher in the group will work on a specific theme within the overall programme. The content of the themes has not yet been fixed: applicants are invited to submit their own proposals. Some plausible themes are bioethics, global justice and future generations. The work on these specific themes should in turn contribute to the overarching theoretical analysis. This structure will motivate intensive cooperation within the research group.
Application procedure
We are looking for two talented and dedicated young researchers with a background in a relevant area of philosophy, who are willing to work in an active team. Fluency in English is required.
We offer two full-time PhD positions, consisting of an initial period of 18 months which, after a satisfactory first year, will be extended by another 30 months (4 years in total), with a gross monthly salary starting at € 2,042,- in the first year, ending at € 2,612,- in the fourth year (1,0 fte).
Applications should contain the following:
- an application letter (max. 1 page)
-
a curriculum vitae
-
an outline that shows how you would fill in your project and position within the overall programme (max. 1 page)
Applications should be submitted online via: http://www.uu.nl/NL/Informatie/sollicitanten/Pages/vacatures.aspx .
The deadline for applications is January 27, 2013.
The full text of the proposal can be downloaded from:
http://www.uu.nl/faculty/humanities/NL/Onderzoek/onderzoekinstituten/zeno/actueel/Pages/20110713-32-583-563-human-dignity.aspx. Regarding the proposal, it should be noted that the description of the individual projects is outdated: as said candidates are now free to submit their own project proposal, as long as they can show how it fits within, and contributes to, the overall programme.
For other questions please contact S.vanVliet@uu.nl
The Department of Philosophy of Utrecht University is looking for:
1 Postdoc Researcher (1,0 fte)
The position is part of the research project ‘Human Dignity as the Foundation of Human Rights?’ which is a five year philosophical project on the question to what extent the foundational role of human dignity in the human rights framework can be justified. The project is funded by NWO.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) articulates that human dignity is the reason why we must grant rights to all human beings. By adopting the UDHR, nearly all countries in the world have committed themselves to respect for human dignity. But the concept of human dignity raises numerous questions: Who has dignity? All and only members of the human species? What specific moral obligations follow from the attribution of dignity? How can human dignity provide a foundation for human rights? Is the concept exclusively recognised by Western culture or are there reasons for expecting universal acceptability?
The core meaning of the concept, its historical roots and its philosophical justification are insufficiently understood. This generates an urgent problem because references to human dignity increasingly play a crucial role in debates on bioethics, new technologies and globalization while there is widespread suspicion that references to human dignity merely have a rhetorical function.
In the programme, the research group as a whole will attempt to reconstruct the core meaning and normative content of the concept of human dignity in current discourses. In order to bring this about, researchers are expected to work in relevant philosopical subdisciplines such as normative ethics, political philosophy or philosophy of law. Also, each researcher in the group will work on a specific theme within the overall programme. The content of the themes has not yet been fixed: applicants are invited to submit their own proposals. Some plausible themes are bioethics, global justice and future generations. The work on these specific themes should in turn contribute to the overarching theoretical analysis. This structure will motivate intensive cooperation within the research group.
Application procedure
We are looking for a talented and dedicated young researcher with a strong PhD and proven research skills in a relevant area of philosophy, who is willing to work in an active team. Fluency in English is required.
We offer a full-time position, consisting of an initial period of 24 months which, after a satisfactory evaluation, will be extended by another 12 months (3 years in total). The salary starts from €2,977,- gross per month (Scale 10, 11 Collective Employment Agreement of the Dutch Universities).
Applications should contain the following:
- an application letter (max. 1 page)
-
a curriculum vitae
-
an outline that shows how you would fill in your project and position within the overall programme (max. 1 page)
Applications should be submitted online via: http://www.uu.nl/NL/Informatie/sollicitanten/Pages/vacatures.aspx .
The deadline for applications is January 27, 2013.
The full text of the proposal can be downloaded from:
http://www.uu.nl/faculty/humanities/NL/Onderzoek/onderzoekinstituten/zeno/actueel/Pages/20110713-32-583-563-human-dignity.aspx . Regarding the proposal, it should be noted that the description of the individual projects is outdated: as said candidates are now free to submit their own project proposal, as long as they can show how it fits within, and contributes to, the overall programme.
For other questions please contact S.vanVliet@uu.nl