He is a Past President of the Canadian Philosophical Association, the Canadian Society of Christian Philosophers, and the Canadian Jacques Maritain Association. He currently serves as President of the World Union of Catholic Philosophical Societies, as President of the Istituto Internazionale Jacques Maritain (Rome), and as a member of the Steering Committee of the Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie.

Jay Newman was former president and long time member of CTS. He was a prominent Canadian scholar with a keen interest in the philosophy of religion. He authored 11 books, seven of which related to religion or the religious life. He was a member of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Guelph from 1971 until his death on June 17, 2007. Professor Newman left a bequest to CTS for the purpose of endowing an annual lecture in the Philosophy of Religion. It is his generosity that enables us to sponsor this annual lecture.

Canadian Theological Society Conference (Congress)

Wilfred Laurier University, May 2012

At our conference in 2011, numerous students expressed concern over their future career prospects. They also invited CTS to consider ways of facilitating some activity that would be helpful to them in their scholarly endeavors.

To this end, at a recent meeting the Executive of the CTS deliberated over the efficacy of the Student Essay Contest, which saw one student paper chosen for presentation at the conference. The contest has seen dwindling entries in recent years (although student participation at the conference is strong) and we wondered about a more efficacious way of supporting graduate students. We have therefore decided not to run the contest this coming year and to redirect our energies and resources to a more active event.

At the May 2012 Conference, the CTS will host a “speed-networking” luncheon whereby students can interact informally, but within a structured environment, with established scholars. There will also be time for interaction following the designated  “speed-networking” portion of the luncheon. Our intention is to provide students with a venue in which to gather practical information regarding careers in theology. We hope this event will complement existing opportunities for interaction among new and established members.

We have not yet finalized the details of the luncheon but will notify members when we have done so. The event will be free for student members.

The Executive of the CTS invites our established members (i.e., tenured, tenure-track, emeritus, contract, retired, honourary) to share their experience and wisdom with students. And we invite students to take advantage of this opportunity.

To register for this event, please email: Doris Kieser (President-Elect, CTS) at < email hidden; JavaScript is required > by April 1, 2012.

Waterloo, Ontario

The theme of this Congress—Crossroads:  Scholarship for an Uncertain World—invites us to reflect on uncertain changes in the disciplines in humanities and social sciences, as well as the need to generate scholarship that addresses challenges facing our uncertain world.  Theologians are often practiced in engaging the uncertainties that surround our religious communities, our vocation, as well as the chronic uncertainties that well up in human life.  Therefore, the theme seems one to which our members may be responsive in diverse ways.

In order to offer a cohesive program, we invite proposals on the theme of Theological Responses to an Uncertain World.  We will also consider proposals on any topic in theology.  We invite submissions in two formats:

1. 20/20 Presentations

We will again follow the 20/20 format that we used for the 2011 Congress, inviting presentations of 20 minutes with 20 minutes discussion to follow.  Typically the presentation will be an account of a larger research project.  Since members work in a variety of fields and specializations, attention should be given to presenting advanced work in an accessible way.

Submission

Submit a proposal that includes:

• Presenter’s name, institution, and contact information
• Title of presentation
• Proposal of 250-300 words which includes an abstract, the problem your scholarship engages, and the contribution you plan to make.
• Requests for audio-visual equipment (A/V equipment will be available only if it is requested in the proposal)

2. Panels

We invite panels on issues that are relevant to members, especially as related to the theme of the annual meeting.  Panel proposals should be developed to foster dialogue among the panelists and with those attending in the audience.  Thus, we discourage panels which consist of the reading of several papers.

Submission

Submit a proposal that includes:

• Convener’s name, institution, and contact information.  The convener will be the link between the panel and the CTS.
• Names, institutions and contact information of all members of the panel
• Either the name and contact information of the moderator, or a request that CTS provide a moderator
• Title of panel
• Length of panel (40 or 80 minutes)
• Proposal of 300-400 words which includes an abstract, the problem your scholarship engages, the contribution you plan to make, and how you plan to foster dialogue among panelists and audience (e.g., use and allotment of time)
• Requests for audio-visual equipment (A/V equipment will be available only if it is requested in the proposal)

All proposals should be submitted in a Word or .rtf file by email attachment by January 15, 2012 to:

Jeremy Bergen, CTS Program Chair
< email hidden; JavaScript is required >

We will confirm receipt of all proposals submitted by email.  If you do not receive such an email confirmation within 3 days of submitting your proposal, call Jeremy Bergen at 519-885-0220 ext 24234.

Selection Criteria

In selecting proposals for 20/20 presentations or for panels, the committee will consider:

• The clarity and significance of the proposal
• The quality of the contribution to scholarship
• The relationship of the presentation to the thematic focus of the annual meeting
• The contribution of the presentation to a diversity of perspectives and approaches
• The potential for inspiring discussion and engagement among the members

Our goal as a Society is to foster collegial discussion of members’ work and of the work of other Canadian theologians.  All presenters and attendees are encouraged to participate in as much of the program as possible.  We welcome all members, students, and other interested persons to join us this year at the annual meeting in Waterloo, Ontario.

2011 Programme

May 30—June 1

All events will be held in Margaret Norrie McCain Hall 101 (Recital Room), St. Thomas University, unless otherwise noted.

Monday, May 30

9:00-9:10         Welcome, Lee Cormie, CTS President

9:15-9:55         Don Schweitzer, St. Andrew’s College, “The Sociality of Jesus Christ”

10:00-10:40     Concurrent sessions

Christopher J. Duncanson-Hales, Saint Paul University, “Divine Detectives: Globalization and Niklas Luhmann’s Challenge to Theology”

Nick Olkovich, University of St. Michael’s College, “Beyond Hauerwas: Bernard Lonergan’s Liberal-Communitarianism” (location: Margaret Norrie McCain Hall 106)

11:00-12:00     Annual Jay Newman Lecture in the Philosophy of Religion

“Miracles, Models and the Laws of Nature,” Robert Larmer, University of New Brunswick

1:15-1:55         Doris M. Kieser, St. Joseph’s College, University of Alberta, “The Magical,

Mystical Penis – or – Why We Need More Marys”

2:00-2:40         John Perry, St. John’s College, University of Manitoba, “The Greed of Traders

and Bankers on ‘Coasts and Continents’”

3:00-3:50         Presidential Address, Lee Cormie, University of St. Michael’s College

3:55-5:00         CTS Annual General Meeting

7:00-8:30         Craigie Lecture (organized by CSBS, sponsored by CTS, CSSR, CSPS, CSCH):

“New Perspectives on the Sect of the Dead Sea Scrolls,” John J. Collins, Yale Divinity School (location: Margaret Norrie McCain Hall 100, Noel Kinsella  Auditorium, St. Thomas University)

Tuesday, May 31

9:00-9:40         Timothy Harvie, St. Mary’s University College, “In Search Of An Ethics Of Hope: Jürgen Moltmann, Catholic Social Thought and an Eschatological Economy”

9:45-10:25       Concurrent sessions –

Abigail Lofte, University of St. Michael’s College, “Who do you say that I am? A Postcolonial Hermeneutic of Resurrection”

Michael Tapper, Saint Paul University, “Other as Opponent: A Look at the Presuppositions of Canadian Evangelicals and their Critics” (location: Margaret Norrie McCain Hall 106)

10:40-11:20     Student Essay Contest winner: Hyunjoon (John) Park, Knox College, “The Hermeneutical Challenges in Interpreting Genesis 13:1-18”

11:25-12:05     Roundtable discussion: Unionization in Theological Schools

Moderator:      Alyda Faber, Atlantic School of Theology

Panelists:         to be confirmed

1:15-1:55         Christopher De Bono, University of St. Michael’s College, “At Sea in the New World of Clinical Chaplaincy: ‘Theology’ Overboard?”

2:00-2:40         Susan Willhauck, Atlantic School of Theology, “The Urban Dictionary, Street Wisdom and God:  An Intersection of Linguistics and Theology”

3:00-4:30         Panel:  “Joanne McWilliam’s Contribution to the Study of Religion in Canada”

Moderator:      Ellen Leonard, University of St. Michael’s College

Panelists:         Mary Ann Beavis, St. Thomas More College

Theodore de Bruyn, University of Ottawa

Jane Barter Moulaison, University of Winnipeg

Peter Slater, Trinity College

5:00-7:00         Presidents’ Reception (Congress event)

Location: Ballroom, Student Union Building, UNB
6:30                 CTS Dinner

Location: Brewbakers, 546 King Street, www.brewbakers.ca

Wednesday, June 1

9:00-9:40         Harold Wells, Emmanuel College, “God and the Rising Seas: Kenosis as Theodicy”

10:00-11:30     Panel: “The Place of Sub-Saharan African Christianity in World Christianity”

Moderator:      Lee Cormie, University of St. Michael’s College

Panelists:         Stan Chu Ilo, University of St. Michael’s College

Iheanyi Enwerem, St. Thomas More College

Joseph Ogbonnaya, University of St. Michael’s College

Also, don’t forget that the Annual Meeting of the CTS will take place in Fredericton, NB, during Congress 2011 from May 30 through June 1, 2011.

DRAFT Schedule: Annual Meeting at Congress 2011, Fredericton, NB

Canadian Theological Society

2011 Programme

May 30—June 1

All events will be held in Margaret Norrie McCain Hall 101 (Recital Room), St. Thomas University, unless otherwise noted.

Monday, May 30

9:00-9:10         Welcome, Lee Cormie, CTS President

9:15-9:55         Don Schweitzer, St. Andrew’s College, “The Sociality of Jesus Christ”

10:00-10:40     Concurrent sessions

Christopher J. Duncanson-Hales, Saint Paul University, “Divine Detectives: Globalization and Niklas Luhmann’s Challenge to Theology”

Nick Olkovich, University of St. Michael’s College, “Beyond Hauerwas: Bernard Lonergan’s Liberal-Communitarianism” (location: Margaret Norrie McCain Hall 106)

11:00-12:00     Newman Lecture, Robert Larmer, University of New Brunswick

1:15-1:55         Doris M. Kieser, St. Joseph’s College, University of Alberta, “The Magical, Mystical Penis – or – Why We Need More Marys”

2:00-2:40         John Perry, St. John’s College, University of Manitoba, “The Greed of Traders and Bankers on ‘Coasts and Continents’”

3:00-3:50         Presidential Address, Lee Cormie, University of St. Michael’s College

3:55-5:00         CTS Annual General Meeting

7:00-8:30         Craigie Lecture (organized by CSBS, sponsored by CTS, CSSR, CSPS, CSCH):

“New Perspectives on the Sect of the Dead Sea Scrolls,” John J. Collins, Yale Divinity School (location: Margaret Norrie McCain Hall 100, Noel Kinsella Auditorium, St. Thomas University)

Tuesday, May 31

9:00-9:40         Timothy Harvie, St. Mary’s University College, “In Search Of An Ethics Of Hope: Jürgen Moltmann, Catholic Social Thought and an Eschatological                                 Economy”

9:45-10:25       Concurrent sessions –

Abigail Lofte, University of St. Michael’s College, “A Postcolonial Hermeneutic of Resurrection: Christological Themes of the Body, Glorification, and Salvation”

Michael Tapper, Saint Paul University, “Other as Opponent: A Look at the Presuppositions of Canadian Evangelicals and their Critics” (location: Margaret Norrie McCain Hall 106)

10:40-11:20     Student Essay Contest winner: Hyunjoon (John) Park, Knox College, “The Hermeneutical Challenges in Interpreting Genesis 13:1-18”

11:25-12:05     Bertha Yetman, Regis College, “Newfoundland and Labrador: Seeking the Common Good after the Cod Disappeared”

1:15-1:55         Christopher De Bono, Regis College, “At Sea in the New World of Clinical Chaplaincy: ‘Theology’ Overboard?”

2:00-2:40         Susan Willhauck, Atlantic School of Theology, “The Urban Dictionary, Street Wisdom and God:  An Intersection of Linguistics and Theology”

3:00-4:30         Panel:  “Joanne McWilliam’s Contribution to the Study of Religion in Canada”

Moderator:      Ellen Leonard, University of St. Michael’s College

Panelists:         Mary Ann Beavis, St. Thomas More College

Theodore de Bruyn, University of Ottawa

Jane Barter Moulaison, University of Winnipeg

Peter Slater, Trinity College

5:00-7:00         Presidents’ Reception (Congress event)

Location: Ballroom, Student Union Building, UNB

6:30                 CTS Dinner (location TBA)

Wednesday, June 1

9:00-9:40         Harold Wells, Emmanuel College, “God and the Rising Seas: Kenosis as Theodicy”

10:00-11:30     Panel: “The Place of Sub-Saharan African Christianity in World Christianity”

Moderator:      to be determined

Panelists:         Stan Chu Ilo, University of St. Michael’s College

Iheanyi Enwerem, St. Thomas More College

Joseph Ogbonnaya, University of St. Michael’s College

The Explorations in Christian Theology and Apocalyptic working group invites individual paper proposals for an Additional Meeting to be held during the 2011 American Academy of Religion meeting in San Francisco, November 19th – 22nd, 2011.

The group will host a panel session on the theme:

Jacob Taubes and Christian Theology.

The organizers would especially invite proposals for papers which engage in constructive theological reflection on the themes and arguments of  Taubes’ Occidental Eschatology (Stanford University Press, 2009) and the essays collected in From Cult to Culture:  Fragments toward a Critique of Historical Reason (Stanford University Press, 2009).

Paper presentation will be approximately thirty minutes in length.  Proposals should include your name, institutional affiliation, and the title of the proposed paper, as well as a 250 word abstract.

Please submit your proposal via email to

Doug Harink
(< email hidden; JavaScript is required >)

and/or

Philip Ziegler

(< email hidden; JavaScript is required >)

no later than April 15, 2010.

You can also find the call for papers on the group’s weblog here:
http://theologyandapocalyptic.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/aar-2011-call-for-papers-taubes-and-christian-theology/

Details of the second session, an invited panel which will engage theologically with apocalyptic motifs of the Gospel of Mark, will be forthcoming.

Should you have any questions about the call for papers or the general work of the Explorations in Christian Theology and Apocalyptic group, please do not hesitate to contact me.  Also,  should you know of other friends and colleagues who would be interested in the work of the group or in presenting a proposal in response to the call for papers, please do forward this post along to them.

Kind regards,
Phil

Dr. Philip G. Ziegler
Senior Lecturer in Systematic Theology
Head of the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy
School of Divinity, History and Philosophy
King’s College, University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen  AB24 3UB
United Kingdom

Douglas Harink
Professor of Theology
The King’s University College
9125-50th Street
Edmonton, AB, Canada  T6B 2H3
Ph. 780-465-3500, ext 8062
Fax. 780-465-3534

The CTS looks forward to hearing Mr. Park deliver his paper at the meetings in Fredericton on Tuesday, May 31 at 10:40am. We hope that you will attend to welcome and encourage this new scholar.

2011 Programme

May 30—June 1

All events will be held in Margaret Norrie McCain Hall 101 (Recital Room), St. Thomas University, unless otherwise noted.

Monday, May 30

9:00-9:10         Welcome, Lee Cormie, CTS President

9:15-9:55         Don Schweitzer, St. Andrew’s College, “The Sociality of Jesus Christ”

10:00-10:40     Concurrent sessions

Christopher J. Duncanson-Hales, Saint Paul University, “Divine Detectives: Globalization and Niklas Luhmann’s Challenge to Theology”

Nick Olkovich, University of St. Michael’s College, “Beyond Hauerwas: Bernard Lonergan’s Liberal-Communitarianism” (location: Margaret Norrie McCain Hall 106)

11:00-12:00     Newman Lecture, Robert Larmer, University of New Brunswick

1:15-1:55         Doris M. Kieser, St. Joseph’s College, University of Alberta, “The Magical, Mystical Penis – or – Why We Need More Marys”

2:00-2:40         John Perry, St. John’s College, University of Manitoba, “The Greed of Traders and Bankers on ‘Coasts and Continents’”

3:00-3:50         Presidential Address, Lee Cormie, University of St. Michael’s College

3:55-5:00         CTS Annual General Meeting

7:00-8:30         Craigie Lecture (organized by CSBS, sponsored by CTS, CSSR, CSPS, CSCH):

“New Perspectives on the Sect of the Dead Sea Scrolls,” John J. Collins, Yale Divinity School (location: Margaret Norrie McCain Hall 100, Noel Kinsella Auditorium, St. Thomas University)

Tuesday, May 31

9:00-9:40         Timothy Harvie, St. Mary’s University College, “In Search Of An Ethics Of Hope: Jürgen Moltmann, Catholic Social Thought and an Eschatological                                 Economy”

9:45-10:25       Concurrent sessions –

Abigail Lofte, University of St. Michael’s College, “A Postcolonial Hermeneutic of Resurrection: Christological Themes of the Body, Glorification, and Salvation”

Michael Tapper, Saint Paul University, “Other as Opponent: A Look at the Presuppositions of Canadian Evangelicals and their Critics” (location: Margaret Norrie McCain Hall 106)

10:40-11:20     Student Essay Contest winner: Hyunjoon (John) Park, Knox College, “The Hermeneutical Challenges in Interpreting Genesis 13:1-18”

11:25-12:05     Bertha Yetman, Regis College, “Newfoundland and Labrador: Seeking the Common Good after the Cod Disappeared”

1:15-1:55         Christopher De Bono, Regis College, “At Sea in the New World of Clinical Chaplaincy: ‘Theology’ Overboard?”

2:00-2:40         Susan Willhauck, Atlantic School of Theology, “The Urban Dictionary, Street Wisdom and God:  An Intersection of Linguistics and Theology”

3:00-4:30         Panel:  “Joanne McWilliam’s Contribution to the Study of Religion in Canada”

Moderator:      Ellen Leonard, University of St. Michael’s College

Panelists:         Mary Ann Beavis, St. Thomas More College

Theodore de Bruyn, University of Ottawa

Jane Barter Moulaison, University of Winnipeg

Peter Slater, Trinity College

5:00-7:00         Presidents’ Reception (Congress event)

Location: Ballroom, Student Union Building, UNB

6:30                 CTS Dinner (location TBA)

Wednesday, June 1

9:00-9:40         Harold Wells, Emmanuel College, “God and the Rising Seas: Kenosis as Theodicy”

10:00-11:30     Panel: “The Place of Sub-Saharan African Christianity in World Christianity”

Moderator:      to be determined

Panelists:         Stan Chu Ilo, University of St. Michael’s College

Iheanyi Enwerem, St. Thomas More College

Joseph Ogbonnaya, University of St. Michael’s College

May 30-June 1, 2011

Fredericton, NB

“Coasts and Continents: Exploring Peoples and Places”

The theme, ‘Coasts and Continents: Exploring peoples and places’ takes advantage of St. Thomas University and University of New Brunswick’s maritime and coastal position in Atlantic Canada and stresses the geographical, historical, literary, artistic, socio-economic and political links across the globe. Place is important as it directly and indirectly shapes an individual’s and a people’s experience. Located strategically within a global context, Congress 2011 provides a bridge to, and a link between, places and peoples.

At the same time ‘Coasts and Continents’ challenges us to reach out to take advantage of our location to embrace the Atlantic world and beyond. This theme opens up further possibilities of interchange — not only between places and peoples but also of ideas. In addition, ‘Coasts and Continents’ suggests the far-reaching potential of the humanities and social sciences for understanding the complexities of our expanding world and for challenging arbitrary borders and boundaries through interdisciplinarity.

The Congress theme of ‘Coasts and Continents: Exploring Peoples and Places’ resonates with many recent emphases in theology, such as:

• ‘globalization’, shifting cultural and religious frontiers and borderlands, new opportunities for dialogue across historic gaps and barriers;
• the emergence of post-Eurocentric Christianity age as the demographic centre of gravity shifts from North to South;
• shifting scholarly landscapes as historically marginalized voices and traditions join global dialogues;
• challenges to familiar readings of the bible, church traditions, and authority;
• fears about ‘syncretism;’ but also creative processes of religious / cultural ‘deconstruction’ and ‘reconstruction, new experiences of ‘inculturation,’ ‘hybridity,’ mestizaje;
• and recognition of theological diversity in an emerging theological pluriverse, so powerfully echoing the ancient symbol of Pentecost for a new world.

We invite papers on these and related themes, or on any topic of theology.

The specific reason for gathering as a Society is to promote discussion, debate, exchange, and collaboration among members.  To this end, the CTS/STC Executive has reconfigured the format of the “Regular Paper.”  The CTS/STC Executive also encourages all presenters to participate in as much of the program as possible.  Please remember that the CTS/STC has an inclusive language policy.

We invite proposals in one of the following three types:

Regular Paper: Presentation of 20 minutes, plus 20 minutes for discussion. Typically the presentation will be an account of a larger research project.  This format offers an opportunity to make a presentation—sketching an area of scholarly debate, key issue(s), and contribution(s) to advancing discussions—and to engage in extended dialogue with participants.  Since CTS members work in a variety of fields and specializations, attention should be given to presenting advanced work in an accessible way.

Special Paper: a formal presentation of 40 minutes, plus a 15 minute prepared response and 30 minutes for discussion.  The proposal must include the name and affiliation of the respondent.

Workshops, Panels, and Seminars: formal presentations and responses and general discussion, lasting 1½ hours. The person organizing such a session is responsible for setting the topic and enlisting participants (including moderator).

Please insure that the abstract does not include identifying information. Proposals will be reviewed anonymously, though exceptions may be made for some panels.

Proposals must have the following:

• presenter’s name, institutional affiliation, and contact information;
• title;
• type of session (regular paper, special paper, workshop, panel, or seminar);
• abstract of 200-250 words, including reference to theological dimensions and/or implications of the project;
• request for audio-visual equipment.

For all types of presentations, please submit proposal (in a Word or .rtf file by email attachment) by Friday, January 14, 2011 to:

Jeremy Bergen, CTS Program Chair
Conrad Grebel University College

e-mail: < email hidden; JavaScript is required >

*If you do not receive such an email confirmation of receipt within 3 days of submitting your proposal, call Jeremy Bergen at 519-885-0220 ext 24234.  It is your responsibility to ensure that your proposal has been received.

The CTS/STC Executive will meet in February 2011 to establish the program.

Tom Faulkner, PhD

July 24, 1945 – July 13, 2010

Passed away peacefully at the Riverview Health Centre (Winnipeg) in the arms of his  anam cara, Lesley, and with his best friend, Griff, by his side.

Tom was predeceased by his parents Charles and Mae Faulkner, and by his former wife Patricia Sinclair-Faulkner in 2002. He is survived by his  children: Matthew (Jen) and their children Aaron and Joshua, and by his  daughter Kate. Tom is also remembered by his brothers Bill (Martha) and John (Mary Anne), and by the Sinclair family: Deborah (David), Scott (Rosalynd), and Kathryn (Roger), and by his Godson Preston Walcott, and by numerous nieces and nephews.

Tom was a life long scholar of the mystery which is religion. He began his teaching career at Dalhousie University in 1975, and taught in the Faculty of Religion until 2004. He was President of St. Andrew’s and St. Stephen’s Universities from 2004 to 2006, and completed his career as an Associate Professor of Church and Society, and as Director of the Ridd Institute for Religion and Global Policy at the University of Winnipeg.

Tom was an avid guitarist, banjo player, and a member of several choirs. He loved his students, and was a strong advocate for social justice in the world. He will be lovingly remembered for his intense glare, his passion for the world of academia, his brilliant mind, and his Tilley attire!

His family express their deepest appreciation to the staff at Riverview Hospital for their compassionate and gracious care.

Executive

President

Local Arrangements Coordinator

Jeremy Bergen
Conrad Grebel University College
University of Waterloo
< email hidden; JavaScript is required >

Representative to the Board of the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion (CCSR)

Lee Cormie
Faculty of Theology
University of St. Michael’s College
< email hidden; JavaScript is required >

Alternate:
Michael Bourgeois
Emmanuel College
< email hidden; JavaScript is required >

Representatives to the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion (CCSR)
The CTS is a member of the CCSR, and is thus entitled to send up to 6 representatives to the CCSR AGM which is held during Congress. One representative is also sent to the CCSR winter meeting.

2011-2012:
Don Schweitzer
St. Andrew’s College
< email hidden; JavaScript is required >

Cristina Vanin
Department of Religious Studies
St. Jerome’s University
< email hidden; JavaScript is required >

2011-2013:
Heather Eaton
Faculty of Theology
St. Paul University
< email hidden; JavaScript is required >

John Franklin
< email hidden; JavaScript is required >

Representative to the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (CFHSS)

Simon Watson (2009-2012) The CTS is a member of the CFHSS, and thus is entitled to send a representative to the Federation on a rotating basis.

Nominations Committee (2010-2011)

Lee Cormie, Chair

The nominations committee consists of the immediate Past President as chair, and two other past presidents elected by the AGM in the previous year.

FTE supports rising scholars from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups who plan to teach religion, theology and biblical studies in theological schools and universities. About one-third of North American theological schools report they do not have a person of color on their faculties. FTE fosters excellence in the theological academy by identifying talented racial/ethnic doctoral students, accelerating successful completion of their Ph.D. degree programs, and providing professional development opportunities. The retention rate for students in FTE Doctoral Programs is over 90 percent; 79 percent of program alumni since 1998 now teach at theological schools or universities.

“The pace of change to a pluralistic society adds a sense of urgency to this work of developing diverse educators to teach, lead and serve diverse communities,” said Dr. Sharon Watson Fluker, FTE Vice President for Doctoral Programs and Administration.

FTE supports the next generation of leaders among pastors and scholars, annually awarding $1.5 million in fellowships and support to gifted young people from all denominations and racial/ethnic backgrounds. Since 1954, FTE has awarded more than 6,000 fellowships; its alumni serve congregations, schools and communities around the world. For more information, visit www.fteleaders.org.

Lansdowne is an alumna of Vancouver School of Theology, an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada, and member of the World Council of Churches Central Committee.

Substantial portions of this notice were derived from a press release issued by the Graduate Theological Union.

Subscriptions to SR, as the journal is known by the religious scholars in Canada, is included in the membership fees for CTS. With the development of the new online access to the journal, each CTS full member will continue to receive a print version of the journal as well as online access to the complete archive. Articles will be available online as soon as they are prepared for publication, with the print version arriving as soon as the contents are complete.  It is hoped that this will make articles available on a more timely basis.

In addition to the journal, CTS also participates in the publication series of the CCSR. There continue to be published by the Wilfrid Laurier University Press and Les Presses de l’Université Laval. We encourage CTS members to contribute to all of these publications.

NOTE: Fully-paid members of the CTS should have received an email directly from SAGE regarding online access to the journal. If you have not received your access instructions, please check your membership status with the CTS Secretary at < email hidden; JavaScript is required >. Once you have established your username and password with SAGE, you can access the journal directly from the CTS website (see the link on the menu).

Beyond Christendom: New Maps

Dr. Justo L. González

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries have brought momentous changes to the map of Christianity, so that it is no longer possible to speak of Christendom in either geographical or theological terms. How is not only the present reality, but also on the way we look at the entire history of Christianity, reflected in the interpretation of Christianity’s canonical texts? What does the incarnation of Christianity in a wide variety of often conflicting contexts imply for its unity?

Joint CSPS/CSSR/CSBS/CTS/CSCH Lecture
organized by CTS, with financial support from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Monday, May 31, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Concordia University, 1450 Guy (Montreal)
MB 1-210, reception to follow in MB 4-101

Justo L. Gonzalez, author of the highly praised three-volume History of Christian Thought and the two-volume Story of Christianity and other major works, attended United Seminary in Cuba, received his M.A. at Yale, and was the youngest person to be awarded a Ph.D. in historical theology at Yale. Dr. Gonzalez is now on the faculty of the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.

On the Correlation of the Eucharist with Christ in Peter Martyr Vermigli’s
Oxford Treatise and Disputation on the Eucharist (1549):
Considerations from the Philosophy of Religion Perspective

by Maurice Boutin
John W. McConnell Professor of Philosophical Theology & Philosophy of Religion,
Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010, 11:30 am-12:30 pm
Concordia University, 1450 Guy (Montreal)
MB 3-430

A new lectureship made possible by the estate of the late Jay Newman, a long time member and former president of the Canadian Theological Society. He was a prominent Canadian scholar with a keen interest in the philosophy of religion. He authored eleven books, seven relating to religion or the religious life. He was a member of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Guelph from 1971 until his death on June 17, 2007. Professor Newman left a bequest to CTS for the purpose of endowing an annual lecture in the Philosophy of Religion.

Confronting the Challenges: The Next 100 years of Liberal arts

Sept 30 – Oct 2, 2010

St. Thomas University, Fredericton, NB

An exceptional program!

Liberal Arts education has been challenged in recent years by neo-liberalism and corporatization, cutbacks in public funding, changes in the student population, and internationalization.  Professors and administrators are responding in diverse ways that include re-engagement with the values and roles of the Liberal Arts, innovations in curriculum and pedagogical approaches, creative and differential use of technology, and the practical matters of winning public support and retaining students.

Keynote Speakers:

• Ronald Wright The Future of the Past: escaping the parochialism of the present
• Henry Giroux Beyond Bailouts: Rethinking the Neoliberal Subject Higher Education
• Dorothy Smith Thinking it Through – Retaining Critical Thinking and Social Conscience
• Phil McShane Liberal Arts: the Heart of Future Science

4-Star accommodation (Delta Fredericton)
Registration Fee includes banquet, lunches and coffee breaks.
Early bird rates available and reduced fee for full-time students.
Over 55 excellent presentations / panel discussions, plus 4 Keynote addresses

Conference website
Conference poster
Master schedule

April 2010

Frequently, organizations such as the CTS will receive requests to post information on our website or distribute information to our membership. If we accepted all of these requests we would overload the website and flood the inboxes of our members. The volume of material would obscure our own mission, discourage visits to our website, and precipitate numerous requests to unsubscribe from the email list.

With this in mind, the CTS executive has discussed and established the following draft policy on posting announcements or other material on the CTS website and email list. All decisions are subject to review by the executive, and will be determined on a case-by-case basis. The policy will be reviewed by the executive as need arises.

A. Notices that can be shared on email list and website

1. CTS announcements
2. Congress announcements re: registration, accommodations, etc… but not re: CFHSS news or public affairs announcements
3. Calls for papers & other announcements from partner societies:
   1. CCSR and constituent societies: CSBS, CSPS, CSCH, CSSR
   2. CETA, CCHA

B. Notices that can be shared on the website, but not on the email list

1. Announcements of new initiatives by
   1. Canadian theological schools & religious studies departments
   2. U.S., British, or other countries’ theological and RS schools’ initiatives which are of interest to Canadians
2. Announcements of personal accomplishments of members: graduation, awards, publications, etc…
3. Position vacancies in Canadian theological and religious studies departments
4. Free book offers

C. Notices that may not be posted on the email list or the website

1. Announcements of a purely personal nature: births, weddings, grand-children’s photos

D. Notices that might be posted on the email list or website, on a case-by-case basis

1. obituaries of current and former CTS members
2. obituaries of significant theologians

Annual Meeting

Concordia University, Montréal
May 30, 2010

Location: Henry F. Hall Building
1455 Boulevard de Maisonneuve Ouest
(identified as building “H” on the Concordia campus map)
Room: H 429-00

Note: The CETA programme is posted here for the convenience of CTS members and others interested in attending these presentations. Complete information is available from the CETA website. Please remember to register for CETA through the Congress website.

UPDATE: added abstracts (May 7)

8:30-9:00 – Welcome and Corporate Worship

9:00-9:45 – Rev. Frank Emanuel (Saint Paul University)
Is there a Missional Bridge that can Unite Evangelicals? Exploring the Need for Clarity in Evangelical Terminology

Abstract: Many evangelicals today use the term missional to describe the way they understand their churches. It should follow that having a common language would help evangelicals understand each other and find ways to work together by identifying common goals. Yet, the opposite is too often the case. Language that could be used to bring evangelicals together is often the crux of what divides them. Consider that some missional advocates accuse other evangelical traditions of being attractional, another equally ambiguous term, to suggest that the missional position is the only correct way of being evangelical. Still other evangelicals apply the term missional in ways that do not reflect or acknowledge the growing body of literature from what is being called the Missional church movement. This confusion of terms is not a new problem for evangelicals. Distinctions in terminology often create a tension that many practitioners prefer to avoid entirely. I will look at several of the ways that the term missional is being employed by contemporary evangelicals. I will compare this with the work on the missional concept made by members of the Gospel and Our Culture Network. I will identify ways in which the term missional can be both a hindrance and proponent of evangelical cooperation.

9:45-10:30 – Timothy Nyhof (University of Winnipeg)
Christ and the Powers! An Intersection in the Dutch Reformed – Anabaptist Dialogue

Abstract: John Howard Yoder and Richard Mouw have compellingly argued that the divisions between Anabaptist and Reformed theological thought are not as polarized as has often been suggested. They contend that the differences that emanate from these communities should be viewed as intra-family quarrels that arise from different degrees of emphasis on commonalties. When viewed from this dialogical perspective, it is not surprising that John Howard Yoder found a great deal of agreement with the Dutch Reformed Theologian Hendrikus Berkhof’s Christ and the Powers. Yoder quoted extensively from Berkhof in his own influential publication, The Politics of Jesus. And while this is an encouraging area of Anabaptist-Reformed theological dialogue, there has not been an extensive evaluations of this work by Berkhof other than John Howard Yoder’s own interpretative read and his appropriation of some aspects of the work. This paper is therefore an attempt to provide a theological overview of Berkhof’s Christ and the Powers and place it within the context of Berkhof’s early career and his unique position within Dutch Reformed evangelical circles in the Netherlands. Since Yoder undertook the daunting task of introducing this work to a North American lay audience, a portion of this paper will discuss his efforts to ensure its publication in English. As well some commentary will be provided which will hint at the congruencies between Yoder and Berkhof’s and by extension the opportunities for Anabaptist and Reformed dialogue.

10:30-10:45 – Coffee Break

10:45-11:30 – Justin Klassen (Austin College)
Persuasion or Resolve? Contemporary Theology and the Paradox of Christian Hope

Abstract: Radical Orthodoxy is convinced that while reality is not within our control, it is trustworthy since ultimately its mystery is rooted in love and peace. Thus Radical Orthodox theology argues that construals of reality as manageable and objective are not genuine discoveries of reason but the result of individuals’ resistance to entering into the mystery of creation on its own terms. Moreover, Radical Orthodoxy observes that within the space of these construals faith cannot be understood as the capacity to abide uncertainty while nonetheless affirming the goodness of God. In judging that the mysteries of temporality are not resolved as much as obscured by such objectifications of existence, Radical Orthodoxy follows Kierkegaard. Where Kierkegaard and Radical Orthodoxy part ways concerns their divergent understandings of how a genuine, existential Christian faith moves through life. At odds with Kierkegaard’s iconoclasm, Radical Orthodoxy construes the continuance of faith as a matter of rhetorical persuasion. And yet recently John Milbank has argued that the Kierkegaardian “paradox” is perfectly compatible with Radical Orthodoxy’s synthesis of eros and agape. This paper will challenge Milbank’s assertion by arguing that Kierkegaard’s account of love implies a mode of expectancy that must be “unauthenticated” by rhetoric, and that only this eschewal of persuasion in favor of hope’s inexplicable resolve provides adequate resistance to the subject’s despairing desire for an objective “identity.” In this regard I will ultimately suggest that Kierkegaard offers much that can help in addressing Radical Orthodoxy’s own most central concerns.

11:30-12:15 – David Ney (Wycliffe College)
The Divine Identity of Jesus and the Nature of Christian Scripture

Abstract: One of the most well known proposals concerning Old Testament interpretation forged in recent years is Richard Hayes’ Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul. For Hayes, the New Testament offers a blueprint for the contemporary appropriation of the Hebrew Scriptures. According to Christopher Seitz, the most problematic implication of Hayes’ proposal is that it mutes the authoritative voice of the Old Testament by funneling its meaning through the New Testament. One of the apparent strengths of Hayes’ proposal is that it is able to account for the Christological readings of the Church Fathers as appropriations of Pauline exegesis. The current essay, however, argues that the Fathers do not read the Old Testament Christologically because they believe it must be made subject to the New Testament. Rather, they believe that both the Old and New Testaments are to be made subject to the regula fidei. Focusing on the work of Irenaeus, I argue, first, that the regula fidei is a theological framework that functions as a rule for Scriptural interpretation. Second, I argue that the purpose of the rule is to conform Scriptural interpretations to a Christology of Divine identity. Third, I argue that their identification of the Jesus of the New Testament with the Lord of the Old Testament compels the Fathers to uphold the Old and New Testaments as equal partners. It is no coincidence that underlying the increasingly prevalent sentiment that the Old Testament is irrelevant for contemporary Christianity is the conviction that the Old Testament presents a God of wrath and law, a God that has little in common with the New Testament Jesus of love and grace.

12:15-1:30 – Lunch

1:30-2:30 – Key Note Address: Rev. Dr. John A. Vissers, Principal of the Presbyterian College at McGill University and the First President of CETA
“What Might Canadian Evangelical Theologians Learn From Karl Barth’s Appreciative Use of Herman Bavinck’s “Reformed Dogmatics”?”

2:30 – 2:45 – Coffee Break

2:45-3:30 – Randall Nolan (Briercrest College and Seminary)
Connected Understanding, Education, and Theology

Abstract: It has become something of a commonplace to make note of the revolutionary consequences in history of the introduction of technological tools and to suggest that the internet, especially through phenomena like social networking, is having a similar impact. In reference to education, mobile devices such as cellular telephones and internet affordances (social media) like blogs and YouTube allow learners not only to be widely connected with others, but also to be creators, not just consumers of knowledge. Participation in already-existing social settings (communities) requires internalization of each community’s rules and roles; in a rapidly changing world, however, where everyone is a novice, learners can also participate in the creation/externalization (construction) of knowledge in networks of interaction. One of the most interesting developments in this area is scholarship around Activity Theory, particularly as outlined by theorists like Yrjö Engeström. His idea of “expansive learning” and his modification of Vygotsky’s thought to bring together subject, object, and community with tools, rules, and division of labour (roles) makes for an intriguing theological study. Important conversation points for theology include the notions of knowledge as constructed, connected ways of knowing, a “social epistemology,” analogy as method, and participation in—rather than mastery or ownership of—the object of study. This paper will bring together these themes in the context of theology’s engagement with culture.

3:30-4:15 – Aaron Perry (Centennial Road Standard Church)
Leading from the Ear: A Sketch of the Phenomenological Role of Listening to Scripture in Shaping the Church into a Leading Community

Abstract: Insights from philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy, leadership expert Otto Scharmer, and Eugene Peterson allow me to sketch how listening to Scripture can form a people reflective of Scripture’s coming reality. I will argue that generative listening makes the listener present to the coming reality of Scripture and thereby allows the emerging future of Scripture into the listener in a transformative manner. My sketch will flow along these lines. First, Nancy argues that listening allows the other into the listener. Truth, because it is transitory, must be listened to. Listening is straining towards meaning as sound echoes within the self. As a result, meaning comes from without and from within. This is not to privilege speaking over writing in a dualistic error because listening is a physical activity of something from outside entering the self. Second, Eugene Peterson’s suggestion that believers ought to “eat” Scripture has similar phenomenological traits as listening: both describe a certain presence of Scripture in its object of address. Listening to Scripture takes Scripture into the hearer. Third, Otto Scharmer describes generative listening as listening to the emerging field. One accesses this coming future by connecting to its Source in a place of Co-Presence which is this deep listening. Co-presencing enables the upward swing of Scharmer’s U diagram of the emerging future because it is the necessary space in which the listener may begin to answer the question of identity and purpose from the emerging future. Insights from these three fields begin to show us how listening to Scripture can be formative because Scripture describes a coming reality of the presence of Jesus as universal Christ that may be taken into the listener in such a manner in which identity, purpose, and eschatological work may be discerned. In living into this work and identity corporately, the church becomes a leading community.

4:15-4:45 – Business Meeting

Panel: The Ecumenist and Critical Theology in Canada
Monday, 31 May, 9:00 – 10:30 (MB 3-210)

Panelists: Christine Jamieson, Concordia University; Scott Kline, St. Jerome’s University, University of Waterloo; David Seljak, St. Jerome’s University, University of Waterloo
Respondent: Gregory Baum, McGill University & Le Centre justice et foi
Chair: Don Schweitzer, St. Andrew’s College

This panel traces the development of The Ecumenist, a small but influential theological journal edited by Gregory Baum, from 1962 to 2004, and David Seljak, from 2004 to the present. Christine Jamieson situates The Ecumenist within the context of Gregory Baum’s critical theology, focusing particularly on Baum’s ethic of solidarity. David Seljak examines a number of the early themes in The Ecumenist, especially the reform of the Roman Catholic Church introduced by the Second Vatican Council, ecumenism and interfaith dialogue (especially with Jews). Scott Kline focuses on themes (such as the work of Karl Polanyi) that emerged in The Ecumenist from the early 1990s to the present, a period which is marked by a certain loss of cultural optimism that lead to Baum to reframe critical theology as a “theology of resistance.”

Panel: William E. Connolly’s Contestations and Augustine of Hippo’s Confessions Regarding Evil
Monday, 31 May, 9:00 – 10:30 (MB 3-445)

Presenter: Peter Slater, Trinity College, University of Toronto
Respondents: Kathleen Skerrett, Grinnell College; Nathan Colborne, University of Nipissing; Michel Despland, Concordia University
Chair: to be determined

In several texts, Connolly targets “the Augustinian imperative” to construe difference as heresy, thereby demonizing “the other,” as a major impetus to “fundamentalist unitarianism.” A pragmatic pluralist, he addresses the political ramifications of confessional discourse, allowing for contestable but not dogmatic transcendentalism, while himself espousing non-secular immanentism owing much to Nietzsche and Foucault.

Peter Slater argues that Connolly’s reading misses dialogical nuances in Augustine’s accounts of the temptations of finite goodness and construal of evil in terms of perversion and privation of loving participation in absolute goodness. Read in the context of his own times, Connolly’s  rejection of Augustine’s sense of hierarchical ordering and privileging of ambiguously embodied, egalitarian freedom raises questions for a contemporary Augustinian theology of divine grace exemplified more by Dietrich Bonhoeffer than by Osama Bin Laden or George W. Bush. The text will be circulated to those at the meeting but not read in full.

Kathleen Skerrett’s review article on Connolly’s reading of Augustine (JAAR 72:2, 2004) and subsequent studies of his tragic reading of Genesis draw attention to his essays at a “postsecular, democratic primer on asceticism for the twenty-first century” which balance moral intelligibility with embodied sensibility in any process of faith seeking understanding, whether political and/or theological.

Student Essay Contest Winner: Gregory of Nyssa’s Contra usurarios and Related Sermons
Andrew Staples, Concordia University
Monday, 31 May, 10:45 – 11:45 (MB 3-210)

Zimbabwe: Religion and Ecology in Convergence?”
Robert Matikiti, University of Zimbabwe
Monday, 31 May, 1:00 – 1:55 (MB 3-210)

Religion is a vital force in Zimbabwe. It provides a way to understand the world, a purpose for living, and power to live by. Closely linked to religion is ecology. The ecological idea is rooted in the worldview and collective experience of the people of Zimbabwe. Both religion and ecology are deeply rooted in culture. Not many examples of indigenous ecological knowledge have been reported in literature in Zimbabwe. There is a particularly marked dearth of such studies. Ecotheology is immensely enhancing the Government’s scientific methods of environmental management. The aim of this paper is describe and examine the sacred indigenous ecological knowledge and its bearing on conservation efforts. Environmental movements have been relatively slow to link traditional ecological knowledge with their ecological agenda. Now, as we face an environmental crisis, people can learn some important lessons from the people of Nharira Hills about how best to manage our natural resources and better protect our environment. In the words of M.L. Daneel (1998:239), ‘insights from the traditions of indigenous traditional people are…important groundings for emerging ecotheology”. This article is based on research in Nharira Hills, which is located 30km to the south west of Harare city in Zimbabwe. The area is located in the heartland of the people who call themselves as ‘Zezuru’. The materials presented in this paper comprise of field surveys and interviews carried out in Nharira Hills. Several persons including the headman, religious functionaries were interviewed and interacted with as regards ways of living crucial in maintaining a balance in nature.

Jesus Christ as Woman Wisdom? Complicating the Gender of Christ
Susanne Guenther Loewen, Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo
Monday, 31 May, 1:00 – 1:55 (MB 3-445)

Feminists like Luce Irigaray criticize Christianity for emphasizing a male Saviour and lacking a female divine figure. How accurate is this claim, however? Is Jesus Christ really straightforwardly male? In response, Elizabeth A. Johnson and Elisabeth Schuessler Fiorenza advocate the retrieval of biblical Wisdom imagery to provide a female divine figure, while Graham Ward and Gavin D’Costa argue against the straightforward maleness of Jesus Christ. Following them, I argue that Wisdom can help complicate the gender of Jesus Christ.

Woman Wisdom is a neglected figure whose words, actions, and even relationship to God correspond strikingly to those of Christ. The retrieval of Wisdom Christology can remind the Church that Jesus is divine, i.e. beyond male or female, and therefore can be imaged as male, female – as in Woman Wisdom – or neither.

The historical man, Jesus of Nazareth, cannot be neglected, but neither can his life be interpreted as misogynistic; he modeled the undoing of injustice, including patriarchy. In feminist/gender theory terms, Jesus can be affirmed as biologically male, but not as conforming to the “patriarchal” socio-cultural male gender of his context. Therefore, the historical life of Jesus Christ does not solidify the male gender of the Saviour, especially since Wisdom performs many of the same actions.

Finally, Jesus Christ is male and female in the members of the Body of Christ, the Church. In the Church, the Wisdom-Word of God is imaged in all believers as their lives conform to his, making the Church the multi-gendered Body of Christ.

Thomas Berry and a Cosmology of Religion
Heather Eaton, Saint Paul University
Monday, 31 May, 2:05 – 3:00 (MB 3-210)

Thomas Berry died in June 2009. Since the 1960s he has been a voice for religious response to the ecological crisis. He has influenced the thought and work of religious scholars, theologians, and activists round the world for almost five decades. Thomas Berry wrote about the need for a cosmology of religion, a larger and more comprehensive understanding than a theology, history or sociology of religion. This paper explores what he means by a cosmology of religion. It will begin with a discussion of religions in their symbolic and historical forms. The presentation will concentrate on what Berry means by religions and religious consciousness as a dynamic of Earth and cosmic processes, and what this implies for theology and religious studies as they respond to the contemporary ecological imperatives.

The Real Impossible Possibility: Reflections on Reinhold Niebuhr’s Relative Justice and the Prospect of Non-Violence
Mark Gingerich, University of Otago
Monday, 31 May, 2:05 – 3:00 (MB 3-445)

Within the writings of Reinhold Niebuhr, a central theme is his notion of imperfect nature of all human action and the subsequent need for the achievement of relative justice.  Rooted in his account of the pervasiveness sinfulness that colours all human striving, Niebuhr rejected a direct relation between the life of Jesus and the possibilities of human action, particularly in its social aspect.  Although this implicates the viability of the practice of non-violence, a careful reading of Niebuhr’s anthropology instead makes available the continuing possibility of non-violent witness.  The structure of this contention is two-fold: first, it will be argued that Niebuhr’s account of human sinfulness makes the achievement of relative justice through violent means uncertain.  That is, a thoroughly Niebuhrean account of human nature questions, rather than supports, the possibility of achieving relative justice with violent action.  Second, it will be shown that Niebuhr’s understanding of the limits of human nature, when engaged Christologically, make non-violent response possible, while remaining faithful to Niebuhr’s conception of the limits of ethical action.  It will be evident then, that Niebuhr’s rejection of pacifism for social politics is, by his own account of human sin, unfounded.  Non-violent response is no more implicated in the imperfection of human action than is violent action; and as well is not necessarily less likely to produce relative justice.  It therefore remains a response that is continually viable, both individually and socially.  The paper will conclude by offering some practices that will help strengthen pacifism’s location within the possibilities of human action.

Presidential Address: Abundance and Wretchedness: Theology as Ethics of Exposure
Alyda Faber, Atlantic School of Theology
Monday, 31 May, 3:20 – 4:10 (MB 3-210)

Beyond Christendom: New Maps
Dr. Justo L. González
Monday, 31 May, 7:30 – 9:00 (MB 1-210), reception to follow
Joint CSPS/CSSR/CSBS/CTS/CSCH Lecture, organized by CTS, with financial support from the Canadian Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries have brought momentous changes to the map of Christianity, so that it is no longer possible to speak of Christendom in either geographical or theological terms. How is not only the present reality, but also on the way we look at the entire history of Christianity, reflected in the interpretation of Christianity’s canonical texts? What does the incarnation of Christianity in a wide variety of often conflicting contexts imply for its unity?

Carl Schmitt and the Political Theology of HBO: John Adams and Rome as sites of discourse on De-differentiated Secularism and the relationship between Violence and Law
Andrew Atkinson, Wilfrid Laurier University
Tuesday, 1 June, 9:15 – 10:10 (MB 3-430)

Since Six Feet Under began airing in 2001, HBO has consistently marketed programming that integrates left wing ideals with various religious traditions.  Aside from SFU, one sees this trend in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage, The Sopranos, and the recent success, True Blood.  The star-studded miniseries, John Adams, and the raucous reinvention of the sword and sandal genre, Rome, are both productions that complicate HBO’s ideological stance and aesthetic.  These two shows delve head-long into theo-political concepts that are usually monopolized by conservatives, such as the friend-enemy distinction, the small and powerful state, and the exceptions permitted to the sovereign.  These concepts find a common focus in the writings of Carl Schmitt, the Nazi Jurist who tightly connected religion and politics in his 1922 publication, Political Theology.  Schmitt wrote, “All significant concepts of the modern theory of the state are secularized theological concepts” (36).  Interest in Schmitt’s concepts on TV has clearly been influenced by what Simon Critchley calls the “Crypto-Schmittianism” of the Bush-Cheney years (Critchley 133-48).  However, while Critchley uses this term derisively there are a great number on the left who actively endorse Schmitt’s concepts even though they are grounded in his right-wing Catholic Christology (Political Theology II 113, 124-5).  Such thinkers include Chantal Mouffe, Giorgio Agamben,  Slavoj Z?iz?ek, and perhaps most importantly Jacob Taubes, who draws our attention to Schmitt’s intellectual engagement with Walter Benjamin over the relationship between violence and law (Taubes 70-6).  This paper will seek to argue that the left-right commonality on violence and law is intimately associated with theological understandings the political; moreover, I will demonstrate that this seemingly arcane academic debate between the iconic left (Benjamin) and right (Schmitt) was significant enough for the general public that HBO produced two very expensive productions that investigated it in detail through dramatic means; they are, of course, John Adams and Rome.

Dusting Off the Doctrine
Catherine MacLean, St. Paul’s United Church, Edmonton
Tuesday, 1 June, 9:15 – 10:10 (MB 3-435)

The purpose of this paper is to enliven the understanding of doctrine in preaching. It addresses regular preaching in denominations that have no strict requirements of doctrine.  Written from within the United Church of Canada, it refers to both the 1925 Doctrine Section of the Basis of Union and the 2006 statement A Song of Faith.

Engaging Anselm’s homiletical theory of faith seeking understanding, I warn of the danger of default doctrine. I establish a discipline to ensure that regular homiletical preparation involves more than simple grace, and engages hard questions. By using one doctrine – grace, say, or hope – often at the neglect of others, we preachers fall into default. The danger is idolatry, losing sight of the fullness of God and centering our faith narrowly. I propose that intentionally preaching doctrine shields the congregation from a preacher’s hobbyhorse, widens biblical study beyond the Common Lectionary, and protects the preacher from excessive use of one dogma.

A preaching practice of dusting off the doctrine moves parishioners beyond a default way of seeing God and life, into deeper theological reflection guided by the traditional wisdom of the church. I propose a discipline for this preaching practice and focus on the doctrine of end things to prove it. United Church preachers tend to be silent on the rapture.

Dusting off articles of theology, one uncovers treasures of meaning which bear on contemporary life in mainstream denominations. This discipline brings coherence not only to the pastoral and intellectual lives of our parishioners but to the fullness of the preaching practice.

Le mimetisme comportemental: un mecanisme de l’apprentissage de la theologie
Frederic Belley, Institut d’archéologie Saint-André, Montreal
Tuesday, 1 June, 10:15 – 11:10 (MB 3-430)

L’objet de cette communication sera de montrer, à la lumière des travaux que nous avons réalisé récemment sur le mimétisme, qu’il existe une manière de parler de la génétique et de la religion qui n’interfère pas avec la théologie.  Les résultats de découvertes récentes en génétique suggèrent qu’une réconciliation est souhaitable, voire nécessaire entre cette discipline, l’archéologie et la théologie.  Cette communication présente les résultats d’un projet de recherche en archéologie et met les résultats dans un cadre plus large.  La religion est-elle l’expression d’actes mimétiques?  La littérature scientifique montre que l’archéologie, la génétique et la théologie sont les interfaces d’un même fait, perpétué sous la forme de vestiges matériels, d’une mémoire génétique et d’une création théologique.  Quand des généticiens, avec la collaboration des archéologues, réalisent des analyses génétiques, ils se heurtent à l’obstacle de la mémoire génétique.  Plus nous voulons connaître les origines d’un personnage et d’un fait historiques et plus un vestige matériel est ancien, plus il est difficile d’en extraire tout l’ADN pour en reconstituer un portrait complet et parfait.  Le contexte sociohistorique révélé par l’archéologie et la génétique est le produit de tentatives de reconstitution du portrait des personnages, comme Jésus, qui sont à la base de la théologie.  Reconstituer des connaissances liées à un personnage historique est un processus d’apprentissage.  Cette communication montre certaines limites aux analyses génétiques, à l’archéologie et réfléchit sur la contribution de ces disciplines à la théologie.  En conclusion, la reproduction d’un acte est le fondement de la mémorisation d’une technique.

Public Hope in Dialogue: The Debate Between Moltmann and Ratzinger as a Means to Public Theology
Timothy Harvie, St. Mary’s University College
Tuesday, 1 June, 10:15 – 11:10 (MB 3-435)

In 2008, eminent theologian of hope, Jürgen Moltmann, published a critical response to Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Spe salvi.  This paper will analyze the main contours of Moltmann’s argument in light of a summary of the theological contents of the relevant papal encyclical and highlight the ongoing debate between Moltmann’s public theology and Joseph Ratzinger.  This paper will use the above mentioned debate as a launching point to analyze the relatively unexplored topic of Moltmann’s engagment with Catholic theology (Jean-Louis Souletie, La Croix de Dieu [Cerf: 1997]) with a particular view to the ethical critiques prominent in Moltmann’s account (i.e. Moltmann, Trinität und Reich Gottes [Chr. Kaiser:1980], pp.217-227).  By outlining Moltmann’s eshcatological and ethical theology of hope this paper will analyze the ad hoc engagement with Catholic theologians which Moltmann employs throughout his writings.  The paper will call several of these readings into question utilizing encyclicals from the Catholic social tradition and documents from the Second Vatican Council complimented by the doctrine of hope outlined by St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae (IIaIIae.17-22). This intersection between Moltmann and the Roman Catholic Church on the ethical relevance of theological doctrines raises pertinent issues regarding the potential for an eschatologically informed public theology to be a potential avenue of viable theological dialogue between traditions through a coherent and ecclesiologically informed public ethic.

Newman Lecture
Maurice Boutin, McGill University
Tuesday, 1 June, 11:30 – 12:30 (MB 3-430)

On the Correlation of the Eucharist with Christ in Peter Martyr Vermigli’s Oxford Treatise and Disputation on the Eucharist (1549): Considerations from the Philosophy of Religion Perspective

Reinterpreting the Doctrines of Original Sin and Sanctifying Grace: Integrating Insights from Sociology and the Evolutionary Sciences
Nick Olkovitch, University of St. Michael’s College
Tuesday, 1 June, 1:45 – 2:40 (MB 3-430)

This paper aims to investigate and integrate two complementary attempts to account for what Canadian philosopher and theologian Bernard Lonergan regards as moral impotence, those forms of personal and group egotism – traditionally termed concupiscence – that are central to the classical doctrine of original sin. Whereas proponents of the ‘cultural-transmission model’ such as Piet Schoonenberg account for the universality of moral impotence in neo-Pelagian terms by stressing the prevolitional inheritance of certain culturally mediated predispositions to personal and group egotism, advocates of the ‘evolutionary-transmission model’ – typified by the work of Stephen J. Pope, Philip Hefner and Daryl Domning – argue that this emphasis is at best only half-correct. From a broader perspective that places personal and cultural development within the context of biological evolution, concupiscence refers not only to certain culturally mediated proclivities but also to certain biologically inherited predispositions to disordered forms of self-interest, kin love, reciprocity, and group identification. In the absence of grace, these evolved predispositions constrain the subject’s ability to discern and respond to her emergent desire for cognitive and moral self-transcendence, thereby negatively conditioning the distinctively human process of personal and cultural development. Grace does not negate these predispositions but reintegrates and perfects them by subordinating these proclivities to the subject’s desire for knowledge of, and communion with God. Only this synthesis of sociobiological, sociological and theological insights is capable of providing a sufficiently comprehensive foundation for reinterpreting the anti-Pelagian intention of the doctrine of original sin and for developing a credible, contemporary theology of grace.

Critical Political Theology in an Apocalyptic Key: A Reception of the Work of Jacob Taubes
Kornel Zathureczky, University of Sudbury
Tuesday, 1 June, 1:45 – 2:40 (MB 3-435)

Jacob Taubes’ last lecture on ‘The Political Theology of Paul’ offered a significant opening to help to reconsider – as a phenomenon imbued with the tensions that exists before a an ultimate separation – the central figure of Christian history from the perspective of the tradition of Jewish messianism. Taubes’ other recently translated works, ‘Occidental Eschatology’ and ‘From Cult to Culture,’ generated an added impetus to revisit this hidden core of Christianity. Essential in this enterprise is a reconsideration of the enduring significance of comic Gnostic dualism for a better understanding of what is at stake with the, often suppressed and marginalised, apocalyptic dimension of Christianity and how by retrieving this dimension may serve to construe a critical political theology in what many, including Taubes, consider as a post-Christian stage in history, an epoch that corresponds to Joachim of Fiore’s ‘ecclesia spiritualis.’

The paper’s purpose is thus two-fold: First, it offers a critical reception of the thought of Taubes, one that evaluates his contribution to the genealogy of political theologies. Second, it proposes to draw up the outlines of a contemporary political theology in an apocalyptic key. Here, the recent work of Žižek and Milbank on the apocalyptic substrate of God’s kenosis in Christ serves as a vital conversation partner to further the development of a new political theology in a post-political global bio-polis.

Eco-Theology and the State of Christian Environmentalism in Québec
Robert Smith, Concordia University
Tuesday, 1 June, 2:45 – 3:25 (MB 3-430)

This paper draws from the results of a recent interdisciplinary project at Concordia University entitled “River Ecology, Policies, and Values.” The endeavor is part of a pilot project aimed at creating a multidisciplinary Institute of Sustainability Studies that includes humanistic disciplines like Theological Studies.

The emphasis of this paper centers on the field of Environmental Theology as it relates to socio-spiritual values, and the interface between Church communities and conservation efforts in the Québec region.  An introductory section includes a sociological examination of the human-environmental interactions and challenges of the Saint Lawrence River, as well as a brief discussion on the practical relation between spiritual values, environmental attitudes and behavior.  A second section compares the lack of environmental activism in the mainstream Church in Québec, which tends to separate environmental and social justice issues, with the efforts of more progressive grassroots organizations such as the Green Church and the Guardians of Creation.  This includes an examination of hermeneutical differences, which reflect a shift in the Christian environmental consciousness that corresponds to historical, scientific and technological trends.  A fourth and final section seeks to define (1) how people in the region see the environment as part of their lives, (2) why spiritual values should be understood as part of future environmental policy developments, (3) what approaches have already been tried and what lessons can be learned, and (4) how the Church can collaborate with science and technology to aid society in transitioning towards truly sustainable policies and practices.

Martin Luther on Preaching the Real Presence of Christ
Allan Jorgenson, Waterloo Lutheran Seminary
Tuesday, 1 June, 2:45 – 3:25 (MB 3-435)

In this paper I explore the significance of the so-called Finnish interpretation of Luther Studies for Luther’s theology of the Word and his recommendation of the praxis of preaching.  The Finnish interpretation suggests that Luther’s epistemology was closely aligned with that of his Medieval forebears in his closely linking epistemology to ontology.  This perspective of Luther was lost on many early interpreters of Luther, who operated with the Kantian divorce of epistemology from ontology.  In sum, this view suggests that Luther’s understanding of faith was one in which to know Christ is to know him as present.  In faith Christ himself is present (in ipsa fide Christus adest).  In bringing this insight to bear upon Luther’s theology and praxis of preaching, I explore how preaching itself is an instantiation of the presence of Christ insofar as it calls forth faith.  This understanding of preaching, then, is more carefully connected with sacramental life and so invites the embodied character of the sacraments to be understood as properly a part of proclamation.  In conclusion I consider what this might mean for the praxis of preaching in an age in which the body is too often eclipsed by technology.

World-Making and the Device Paradigm: Constructing a Theology for ‘Connected Understanding’
Kevin Guenther Trautwein, Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo
Tuesday, 1 June, 3:40 – 4:35 (MB 3-430)

The decrease of attention spans is commonly identified as an obstacle to effective teaching and learning, prompting the use of increasingly complex multimedia in the educating enterprise. While such multimedia may be appropriate in scientific, artistic, or political endeavours, the question remains whether they are appropriate for theology. This paper explores the implications of Aleida Assmann’s claim that, like the printing press and the bound book before it, the shift to digital media entails a fundamental change in human cognition, and that attention is what is at stake in this latest development. The loss of attention will be further examined through the lens of Albert Borgmann’s “device paradigm,” according to which the very success of technological devices is responsible for lowering the threshold of effort. While this may seem to be merely a pedagogical concern, Jacques Ellul’s reflections on “words” and “images” provoke questions like, “What happens when the elusive “word” of God becomes a tangible “image” within human control, and is subsequently digitized?” and “Can theology speak of Truth in the face of digital Reality?” These questions are addressed by briefly reviewing historical shifts in media, then describing the current technological milieu and its effects; finally, the majority of the paper is spent outlining a way for theology to move forward. Rather than proposing a luddite retreat from technology, this paper develops Walter Brueggemann’s concept of “world creation” as the positive activity through which theologians contribute to a “connected understanding.”

God’s Patience: Bringing Barth into Dialogue with the ‘Deep Time’ of Evolution
Adrian Langdon, Nipissing University
Tuesday, 1 June, 3:40 – 4:20 (MB 3-435)

Although it has been commonly pointed out that Karl Barth was reluctant to put his theology into dialogue with science, this does not imply that he thought Christian belief to be in conflict with modern science. In this paper I will bring Barth and his theology of time into conversation with notions of deep time found in theories of cosmic and biological evolution. It will be suggested that there are several places in Barth’s thought which invite such a conversation. These openings include his interpretation of Genesis 1-3 as Saga, discussions of the imago dei, his view of natural law and providence, and his general view of the eternity-time relation. But bringing Barth into dialogue with the theory of evolution also entails a critique of Barth, especially his rejection of continuous creation, and suggesting ways in which his theology would need to be supplemented. These supplements include reflections on such topics as divine agency in the process of evolution and a fuller view of the Holy Spirit’s work in creation, both of which point beyond Barth’s focus on divine activity in the history of Jesus Christ.  This constructive and critical dialogue will occur while engaging such thinkers as John Polkinghorne, Arthur Peacocke, and Robert John Russell.

The Suffering Spirit of God: A Pneumatological Critique of the Doctrine of Divine Impassibility
Andrew Gabriel, McMaster Divinity College
Wednesday, 2 June, 9:00 – 9:55 (MB 3-430)

Most trinitarian critiques of the doctrine of divine impassibility focus on the implications that the passion of Christ has for the suffering of God. However, trinitarian doctrines of the divine attributes consistently ignore the implications of pneumatology for the doctrine of impassibility. When these pneumatological implications are adequately integrated into a trinitarian doctrine of the divine attributes, pneumatology confirms for trinitarian theology what has frequently been argued christologically, namely, that God suffers. The biblical texts attribute grief to the Holy Spirit. This divine ‘grief’ includes connotations of suffering, even if one should understand the term ‘grief’ as a metaphor. The notion of the Holy Spirit groaning through and with the prayers of believers as well as the biblical metaphor of ‘rebirth’ further support the conclusion that the Spirit is passible. Lastly, though the Spirit is distinct from creation, the Spirit is indeed immanent to creation and actively enters into the suffering of creation, suffering with creation’s suffering. Overall, these pneumatological perspectives present God as suffering within and along side of that which God has created.

Two Theological Movements in India that complicate Western Reformed Identities
Don Schweitzer, St. Andrew’s College
Wednesday, 2 June, 9:00 – 9:55 (MB 3-435)

This paper argues that Reformed Christian identity tends to lie in characteristics typical of Reformed Christianity, which promote interaction between Reformed churches and the cultures they inhabit. Through this interaction aspects of these cultures enter into their identities. As Reformed churches exist in different cultures around the world, their identities have become diverse and a common Reformed identity difficult to define. The paper then examines how this interaction complicates Western Reformed Christian identities by looking at the challenges posed to Western Reformed Christian identities by two doctrinal developments in India: Indian Christian Theology and Dalit theology.  It examines the demand of Indian Christian theology for the inculturation of the gospel in India, the Christological basis for this, and how this inculturation creates an understanding of the gospel incorporating elements of Hinduism that contrasts sharply with traditional emphases in Western Reformed theology. It analyzes how Western Reformed Christian identities need to be modified in light of this challenge. It then shows how this cross-cultural tension is further complicated by Dalit theology, which demands of Western Christians solidarity with the Dalit struggle against caste oppression, but also resists Western economic and cultural imperialism.

Christian ‘Just War’ Theology and the ‘Eschatological Delay’
David Deane, Atlantic School of Theology
Wednesday, 2 June, 10:05 – 11:00 (MB 3-430)

This paper begins by suggesting a doctrinal answer to the question, “Why, when so many voices from early Christianity offer a pacifist perspective, does Christian pacifism become such a relative rarity after the 5th century?” Central to my argument will be an analysis of a key move Augustine makes that becomes a central facet of Christian Just War theory* ever since, that is, an ‘eschatological delay’ of human participation in the divine life. Augustine, I will argue, is significantly less comfortable with the concept of active embodied participation in the divine life than are many of his predecessors, notably Alexandrian Christian pacifists such as Athenagoras, Origen and Tertullian. Locating coherent participation in the divine life eschatologically, and with it any coherent Christian peacefulness, Augustine must legislate for the now in terms of the hegemony of fallenness. As the now is understood precisely as ‘not the Kingdom’, Christian pacifism begins to be seen in terms of a dereliction of duty towards the, inevitable, victims of violence. I will show that this understanding is inconsistent with other aspects of Augustine’s theology, such as his understanding of sacramentality. I will conclude by suggesting that the reinvigoration of Christian pacifism needs to be based on an active reinvigoration of the soteriological concepts that are avoided in Just War positions, not least, an Alexandrian grammar of theosis. While using doctrinal questions from “Patristic Theology” as its framework, the paper is moving toward the suggestion of a type of soteriology that can fuel Christian pacifism today. As such it could be categorized as historical or systematic theology.

* Not least today through such voices as Oliver O’Donavon and Jean Bethke Elshtain; both of whom use what I call Augustine’s “Eschatological Delay” significantly in their work.

Sexual Theology and Adolescent Female Realities: Integrating Experiences
Doris Keiser, St. Joseph’s College, University of Alberta
Wednesday, 2 June, 10:05 – 11:00 (MB 3-435)

Subject: The Synergy of Psychological Theory and Empirical Evidence Pertaining to Adolescent Females, and Roman Catholic Sexual Theology

Contemporary scholars acknowledge four distinct sources of theology: Scripture, tradition, philosophy, and experience. The fourth source, experience, endeavors to account for the lived realities of persons in the world, both individually, that is, anecdotal evidence and communally, that is, empirical evidence. Thus, theologians address and integrate knowledge from other disciplines as a means of furthering the theological enterprise. However, Roman Catholic sexual theology, particularly official Church teaching, does little to account for the varied developmental and social realities among human persons regarding sexuality and sexual experiences, for instance, adolescent female sexuality. While prematurely sexualizing young females, for example, La Senza Girl, we simultaneously decry their ever earlier sexual debut and the resulting negative consequences, such as sexually transmitted infections or unplanned pregnancies. The Western cultural concern regarding adolescent female sexuality is reflected in the broadly Christian moral insistence on sexual abstinence until marriage. In Canada, however, almost 50% of females will likely engage in sexual intercourse at least once by the time they complete Grade 11. Clearly, the social sexual realities of adolescent females are not in tune with Christian sexual moralities. In this paper, I explicitly engage psychological theory and empirical data pertaining to adolescent female sexualities within a sexual theology accounting for their experiences. I will also address healthy sexuality, as it pertains to adolescent females, in the broader context of sexual flourishing. My purpose is to shed light on young females’ sexual realities and iterate a theology relevant to them.

Please also remember that Congress registration does not constitute membership in the CTS. To become a CTS member, please visit the CTS membership page for instructions.

• 2010 CTS program [updated room assignment for Gonzalez reception and CTS dinner location]
• 2010 CCSR combined program (containing the seessions planned by the CSCH, CSBS, CSSR, CSPS, and CTS)
• Abstracts of the papers at CTS 2010
• CETA program for Congress 2010 [updated with added abstracts]
• Registration for Congress 2010
• CTS membership renewals
• 2010 Registration guide
• Travelling to Montréal for Congress 2010
• Concordia campus map
• Accommodations at Concordia
• Services on campus at Congress 2010

UPDATES:
The Gonzalez lecture on Monday evening will be in room MB 1-210, with a reception to follow in MB 4-101
The CTS dinner on Tuesday evening, June 1st, is at Mesa 14 (1425 Bishop, at the corner of St. Catherine, walking distance from Concordia).

Annual Meeting
Concordia University, Montréal
May 31st to June 2nd, 2010
Connected Understanding

• Abstracts of papers for CTS 2010
• 2010 CCSR combined program (containing the seessions planned by the CSCH, CSBS, CSSR, CSPS, and CTS)
• CETA program for Congress 2010 [updated with added abstracts]
• Registration for Congress 2010
• 2010 Registration guide
• Travelling to Montréal for Congress 2010
• Concordia campus map
• Accommodations at Concordia
• Services on campus at Congress 2010

All papers will be presented in the Molson School of Business, 1450 Guy. The Presidential Reception is in the Grey Nuns Residence, 1185 St. Mathieu. The CTS dinner on Tuesday evening is at Mesa 14 (1425 Bishop, at the corner of St. Catherine, walking distance from Concordia).

There is an early-bird deadline fast approaching on April 1st. “The payment of Congress registration and Association meeting fees are compulsory for every delegate, including speakers, presenters, panelists and those chairing or attending a session.” Congress registration is also required for access to the Book Fair.

When registering, don’t forget to include your registration for the CTS Association meeting. The CTS association meeting fee is only $10 (or $8 for students, retired, and unwaged).

REMEMBER: The Association Fees paid to Congress are not for membership in CTS, they are only for attending the CTS meeting. To join or renew your CTS membership, please visit http://cts-stc.ca/membership/.

Those who have already renewed their CTS membership will be receiving an email from SAGE Publishers soon regarding online access to the journal Studies in Religion. SAGE will be sending you an account number and instructions for access to their website. You will be required to establish a username and password on their website to allow you to access full-text of the latest SR issue and past issues. You will also receive a print copy of the journal.

If you have not yet sent your membership renewal, please download the membership form and send it to Rob Fennell with your membership fee. We will add you to the SR subscription list and ensure that you get back issues.

Membership in the CTS is open to all (students, faculty, researchers, lay, clergy, and members of religious orders). There are a variety of membership categories: regular, student, retired, and unwaged. Each of these categories enjoys the same privileges and responsibilities of membership.

Full membership includes a subscription to Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses (SR). To facilitate membership in other CCSR societies for which SR subscriptions are also included, it is possible to be an associate member of CTS. Associate members have all the privileges of full membership, but do not receive a subscription to SR.

Membership in the CTS follows the calendar year, January to December. This corresponds to the publishing year for the journal. CTS members are encouraged to renew their membership sufficiently early so that their subscription does not lapse. New memberships will be entered for the current year, unless otherwise requested.

Please note: CTS membership fees do not include registration fees for Congress or the CTS annual meeting. These are paid directly to the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences through the Congress website.

To join or renew your CTS membership:

Pay by credit card

Access the new online membership management system found here and pay by credit card.

Pay by cheque

Access the new membership management system found here, and select the cheque option.

Please make cheques payable to the “Canadian Theological Society”.
Send by regular mail to:
Rob Fennell
CTS Secretary
Atlantic School of Theology
660 Francklyn Street
Halifax, NS
B3H 3B5
CANADA

Journal subscriptions will not be submitted to the publisher until membership fees are received. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the CTS secretary at < email hidden; JavaScript is required >.

Membership fees

Membership fees are for the calendar year. This corresponds to the publishing year of the journal. New memberships will be entered for the current year, unless otherwise requested.

The membership fees are as follows:

* Associate membership is intended for those who receive a journal subscription through full membership of another CCSR society: Canadian Society of Biblical Studies (CSBS), Canadian Society for the Study of Religion (CSSR), Canadian Society of Church History (CSCH), Canadian Society of Patristic Studies (CSPS), Société canadienne de théologie (SCT), and Société québécoise pour l’étude de la religion (SQÉR).

** Honorary members are elected for life by the annual general meeting of the CTS.

Where does your money go?

The fees collected by the CTS consist of membership fees for the CTS and the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, as well as your journal subscription. Here is a breakdown of the fees.

The CTS portion of the fees is established by the annual general meeting at Congress each year. The journal subscription fee is established by the Canadian Corporation for the Study of Religion (CCSR). We are hopeful that CCSR will noticeably lower the subscription fee once Sage, the new publisher, settles on a firm subscription rate for CCSR members (in 2011). The CFHSS fee is a membership fee. Congress registration is a separate transaction payable directly to the CFHSS.

Data privacy

Your address and email address will be used by the CTS to communicate with you. It will also be sent to the CCSR and Sage Publications to facilitate your subscription to the journal, and by the CFHSS to facilitate Congress registration. The CTS membership list is not public, and will not be shared or sold for advertising purposes. Most communication from the CTS will use the new CTS email list, so an accurate email address is essential.

Please forward this message to colleagues in theology who may not be CTS members.

Student Essay Contest

Subject: “Connected Understanding” or another topic in theology

Eligibility: any Canadian student currently registered in a university or theological college, in Canada or elsewhere, or any other student registered in a Canadian university or theological college

Length: 20 pages, typed and double spaced (5,000 words)

Due Date: February 5, 2010 (by e-mail only)

Essays need not be written originally for this contest and may be assignments from a course in theology or religious studies. The topic, however, must be theological in nature. This year’s theme allows for exploration of, for example, theology and globalization, the relation of theology to other disciplines, or the relation of Christianity to other religions.

A letter or e-mail from a member of the theological or religious studies department to which the student belongs, indicating that the student is registered and in good standing with the university or college, must also be submitted for each applicant.

The author of the winning essay will receive a $100 student prize; an invitation to read the paper at the annual meeting of the Canadian Theological Society at Concordia University, Montreal, 31 May-2 June 2010; payment of conference registration and accommodation costs; and a subvention towards travel costs.

Send essays by e-mail by February 5, 2010 to Lee Cormie at < email hidden; JavaScript is required >

Please include with your submission: institutional affiliation, mailing address, phone number(s), and e-mail address. Submission via e-mail attachment in Microsoft Word is preferred.

Send letters verifying a student’s registration in a theological college or university to the above e-mail address, or by mail to Lee Cormie, Faculty of Theology, St. Michael’s College, 81 St. Mary St., Toronto, ON  M5S 1J4

Canadian Evangelical Theological Association

Annual Meeting

Concordia University, Montréal

May 30, 2010

The Executive of the Canadian Evangelical Theological Association (CETA) welcomes proposals for papers to be presented at the May 30, 2010 Annual Meeting to be held in conjunction with the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences at Concordia University in Montréal.

CETA encourages submission of high quality papers on any topic of theological relevance to Canadian Evangelicalism. The theme for this year’s Congress is Connected Understanding (www.congress2010.ca). Papers which address this theme in relation to Canadian Evangelicalism are encouraged.

Papers should be scholarly but not highly specialized presentations aimed at an audience of scholars from across the spectrum of theological disciplines, including biblical studies and historical, systematic, moral and pastoral theology. Proposals from graduate students are welcome.

Proposals should be approximately 250 words in length and should be accompanied by a short CV. To facilitate anonymous review of proposals, please include your name, institutional affiliation, and contact information on a separate page from your paper proposal.  All proposals should be submitted electronically to the address below in either Word or PDF format by February 15, 2010. Please entitle your email “CETA 2010 Paper Proposal.” Papers chosen for participation will be notified by March 5, 2010.

Email all conference paper proposals to:

Dr. Jeffrey McPherson
President, Canadian Evangelical Theological Association
< email hidden; JavaScript is required >

The 2010 Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences theme of “connected understanding” invites an exploration of the impact of digital technology on scholarly research and research-creation, the links that scholars make with their colleagues in other fields and with larger audiences beyond the academic world. Theological reflections on this theme may include topics such as:

• the synergies of interdisciplinary work in theology (with bioengineering, cosmology, ecology, epidemiology, genetics, nanoscience, neuropsychology, political science, popular culture, literature, etc.)
• engagements between theological doctrine and preaching
• digital technology’s influence on church and theological scholarly practice
• public theology and a multi-faith, intercultural society
• engagements with theologies of the global south
• ministry in unconventional settings

While we invite you to submit proposals on any theological subject, we encourage you to consider topics which relate to this theme.

See the complete 2010 Call for Papers.

Congrès annuel
Université Concordia, Montréal
du 21 mai au 2 juin 2010
Le savoir branché

Le thème du Congrès des sciences humaines 2010 évoque l’impact croissant de la technologie numérique sur la recherche et sur la recherche-création.  Il renvoie aussi aux liens que les chercheurs créent avec des confrères travaillant dans d’autres domaines et avec le public au-delà du milieu universitaire.  La réflexion théologique sur ce thème peut inclure des sujets tels que :

• la réflexion théologique interdisciplinaire (en lien avec le génie biologique, la cosmologie, l’écologie, l’épidémiologie, la génétique, les nanosciences, la neuropsychologie, les sciences politiques, la culture populaire, la littérature)
• les relations  entre la doctrine théologique et le sermon
• les effets des technologies numériques sur les communautés religieuses et la réflexion théologique
• la théologie publique et une société multiconfessionnelle et multiculturelle
• l’engagement avec des théologies de l’hémisphère  sud
• le ministère dans les lieux non-traditionnels

Bien que nous vous invitons à soumettre des propositions sur n’importe quel sujet théologique, nous vous encourageons à considérer des sujets reliés à ce thème.

Voir l’appel de communications pour Congrés 2010.

Annual Meeting
Concordia University, Montréal

May 31st to June 2nd, 2010

Connected Understanding

[Cet appel de communications est aussie disponible en français]

The 2010 Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences theme of “connected understanding” invites an exploration of the impact of digital technology on scholarly research and research-creation, the links that scholars make with their colleagues in other fields and with larger audiences beyond the academic world. Theological reflections on this theme may include topics such as:

• the synergies of interdisciplinary work in theology (with bioengineering, cosmology, ecology, epidemiology, genetics, nanoscience, neuropsychology, political science, popular culture, literature, etc.)
• engagements between theological doctrine and preaching
• digital technology’s influence on church and theological scholarly practice
• public theology and a multi-faith, intercultural society
• engagements with theologies of the global south
• ministry in unconventional settings

While we invite you to submit proposals on any theological subject, we encourage you to consider topics which relate to this theme.

We invite you to submit proposals in one of the following four types and in either French or English.

Regular Papers: formal presentation of 40 minutes, plus 15 minutes for discussion.

Special Papers: formal presentation of 40 minutes, plus a 15 minute response and 30 minutes for discussion.

Work in Progress: informal presentation of no more than 20 minutes, plus 20 minutes for discussion.

Workshops, Panels, and Seminars: formal presentations and responses and general discussion, lasting 1½ hours. The person organizing such a session is responsible for setting the topic and enlisting participants.

To facilitate anonymous review of proposals, please include your name, institutional affiliation, and contact information on a separate page from your paper proposal; if you submit your proposal by e–mail, the CTS/STC secretary will remove any information identifying you from the proposal submitted to the executive.

Proposals must have the following information:

• Presenter’s name, institutional affiliation, and contact information on a separate page
• Title and proposed subject
• Request for one of the above categories (Regular Paper, Special Paper, Work in Progress, and Workshops, Panels, and Seminars)
• Abstract of 200-250 words
• Explicit connection of the subject matter to theology
• Audio-visual equipment needed

For all types of papers, please submit proposal (preferably by e-mail) by Friday, January 15, 2010 to:

Jeremy Bergen
Conrad Grebel University College
140 Westmount Rd. N.
Waterloo, ON    N2L 3G6
Phone:  519-885-0220 ext. 24234
Fax:  519-885-0014
e-mail: < email hidden; JavaScript is required >

*Please request a confirmation of receipt when submitting your proposal by e-mail, and if you do not receive such a confirmation within 3 days, call Jeremy Bergen.

The CTS/STC Executive will meet in February 2010 to establish the program. If your proposal is accepted we will notify you shortly after that time and request that you bring a single–spaced, typed copy of your paper for inclusion in the Society’s archives. Please remember that the CTS/STC has an inclusive language policy.

The 2010 Call for Papers is also available in PDF.

Congrès annuel
Université Concordia, Montréal

du 21 mai au 2 juin 2010

Le savoir branché

[This call for papers is also available in English]

Le thème du Congrès des sciences humaines 2010 évoque l’impact croissant de la technologie numérique sur la recherche et sur la recherche-création.  Il renvoie aussi aux liens que les chercheurs créent avec des confrères travaillant dans d’autres domaines et avec le public au-delà du milieu universitaire.  La réflexion théologique sur ce thème peut inclure des sujets tels que :

• la réflexion théologique interdisciplinaire (en lien avec le génie biologique, la cosmologie, l’écologie, l’épidémiologie, la génétique, les nanosciences, la neuropsychologie, les sciences politiques, la culture populaire, la littérature)
• les relations  entre la doctrine théologique et le sermon
• les effets des technologies numériques sur les communautés religieuses et la réflexion théologique
• la théologie publique et une société multiconfessionnelle et multiculturelle
• l’engagement avec des théologies de l’hémisphère  sud
• le ministère dans les lieux non-traditionnels

Bien que nous vous invitons à soumettre des propositions sur n’importe quel sujet théologique, nous vous encourageons à considérer des sujets reliés à ce thème.

Nous vous invitons à soumettre des propositions soit en français soit en anglais dans une des quatre catégories suivantes.

Conférence régulière : présentation formelle de 40 minutes en plus de 15 minutes de discussion.

Conférence spéciale : présentation formelle de 40 minutes en plus d’une réplique de 15 minutes et 30 minutes de discussion.

Travail en chantier : présentation informelle de 20 minutes au maximum en plus de 20 minutes de discussion.

Ateliers, tables rondes, séminaires : présentation formelle, réplique et discussion d’une durée d’une heure et demie. La personne qui organise une telle séance est responsable du sujet et du recrutement des participants.

Afin de faciliter l’arbitrage anonyme des propositions, veuillez inclure votre nom, votre affiliation et votre information personnelle sur une feuille séparée de votre proposition. Si vous le faites par courriel, le / la secrétaire de la STC / CTS enlèvera toute information susceptible de vous identifier à votre proposition.

Les propositions devront inclure :

• votre nom, votre affiliation, votre information personnelle sur une feuille séparée
• le titre et le sujet proposé
• le choix d’une des catégories ci-haut (conférence normale ou spéciale, travail en chantier, atelier, table ronde ou séminaire)
• un résumé de 200-250 mots
• le lien explicite entre le sujet et la théologie

Quelle qu’en soit la nature, veuillez soumettre votre proposition (par courriel de préférence) au plus tard le 15 janvier 2010 à :

Jeremy Bergen
Université Collège de Conrad Grebel
140 Westmount Rd. N.
Waterloo, ON    N2L 3G6
tél.: 519.885.0220 ext. 24234
télécopieur : 519.885.0014
courriel : < email hidden; JavaScript is required >

*Quand vous soumettez votre proposition par courriel, exigez confirmation que celle-ci a bel et bien été reçue. Si vous n’avez pas reçu une telle confirmation dans un délai de 3 jours, téléphonez à Jeremy Bergen.

L’exécutif de la STC / CTS se réunira en février 2009 afin d’établir le programme. Si votre proposition est acceptée, nous vous le ferons savoir peu après cette date et nous vous demanderons d’apporter au congrès une copie de votre conférence (dactylographiée à simple interligne) pour les archives de la STC. Veuillez vous rappeler que la STC / CTS a une politique linguistique inclusive.

L’appel de communication pour Congrés 2010 est aussi disponible en PDF.

The new domain name of the website is CTS-STC.CA. This is intended to be a bilingual address. At this point in time, there is very little French material on this website, but we hope that it will be possible to increase the francophone participation in the CTS and that a volunteer might be found who can translate the existing pages and help us develop new content.

In addition to the website, there is another opportunity made possible by the new domain name. We now have an email listserv. This is an automated email distribution system. This will allow the CTS executive to communicate with the list members quickly and effectively.

• Subscription to the email list is currently open to the public, it is not restricted to CTS members
• This is not a discussion list. The list is intended only for the distribution of CTS- and Congress-related announcements. The CTS Facebook group is available for some discussion
• There is a list archive in case you misplace an announcement
• To avoid spam, the list requires subscribers to reply to a “confirmation email” before their subscription is activated
• The automated list allows subscribers to revise their subscription details (email address, name, html or text, etc…)
• The webmaster can assist with changing subscription details
• Our existing list of CTS members has been automatically subscribed to the new list

To add, edit, or cancel your subscription to the email list, please visit http://cts-stc.ca/email-list or email < email hidden; JavaScript is required >

Finally, one other feature of the website is the new RSS feed. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a means of distributing new website postings, such as this one. By subscribing to the RSS feed with an RSS reader or aggregator, you will be notified as soon as a new post is added to the CTS website.

Please note: The CTS no longer publishes a printed newsletter. The content of this website will be further developed so as to replace it. Thank you for your patience.

CTS participants are encouraged to become members and to attend the sessions and AGM at Congress each year. To register for Congress, participants should visit the Congress website and complete the registration process. Participants are expected to register for each of the societies that they intend to visit during the annual conference. Fees are specified for each society as well as an overall registration fee for Congress.

• 2014 — Brock U
• 2013 — U of Victoria
• 2012 — Wilfrid Laurier & U of Waterloo
• 2011 — U of New Brunswick/St. Thomas U, Fredericton (May 30-June 1)
  – Coasts and Continents: Exploring Peoples and Places
  – Rivages et continents : Exploration des peuples et des lieux
• 2010 — Concordia University — Connected understanding & Le savoir branché
• 2009 — Carleton University — Capital Connections: Nation, Terroir, Territoire
• 2008 — UBC — Thinking Beyond Borders: Global Ideas; Global Values / Penser sans Frontières: Idées Mondiales; Valeurs Mondiales
• 2007 — U of Saskatchewan — Bridging Communities: Making Knowledge Public, Making Public Knowledge
• 2006 — York University — The City: A Festival of Knowledge
• 2005 — U of Western Ontario — Paradoxes of Citizenship: Environments, Exclusions, Equity
• 2004 — U of Manitoba — Confluence: Ideas, Identities, and Place
• 2003 — Dalhousie University
• 2002 — U of Toronto — Theology: With or Without Boundaries?
• 2001 — Université Laval — The Theologian in Church, Academy and Society
• 2000 — U of Alberta — Violence, Healing and Hope
• 1999 — Université de Sherbrooke/Bishop’s University

The CTS has met annually since its foundation in 1955. If you have any archival material (programmes, papers, AGM minutes, etc…), please send them to < email hidden; JavaScript is required >.

The following files contain the agenda and minutes of the Annual General Meetings (AGM) of the Canadian Theological Society. The AGM is held during the annual conference of the CTS at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. AGM minutes are approved by the subsequent AGM. By resolution of the executive committee, the minutes of meetings that have not yet been approved by the AGM are not posted online. Please contact the CTS secretary for draft minutes.

• 2009 Minutes
• 2008 Minutes
• 2007 Minutes
• 2006 Minutes
• 2005
• 2004 Agenda
• 2003 Agenda | Minutes
• 2002 Agenda | Minutes | Minutes | Minutes
• 2001 Minutes | Minutes
• 2000 Minutes | Minutes
• 1999 Minutes | Minutes

Minutes from years prior to 1999, or those which are missing from this list, can be sent to the webmaster for inclusion in this archive.

Additional documents of interest

• Constitution of the Canadian Theological Society (as amended June 1984)
• Website Content Policy: A draft policy to guide the selection of content for the CTS website and email list (listserv) (April 2010)
• old CTS newsletters

May 7-8, 2010

In May, 2010, North America’s largest ecumenical consortium of theological colleges will be hosting a conference celebrating 40 years of preparing people for ministry and academic theology around the world.  The general theme of this conference is to reflect on the ecumenical calling of the Toronto School of Theology and its calling to train and equip men and women in Christian leadership within a world of almost innumerable and often competing claims.  The Christian faith itself is also comprised of numerous and dissonant communities, each claiming to be participants in the one Church.

A keynote address will be delivered by Dr. John McGukin, a professor at Union Theological Seminary who was installed as the first Ane Marie and Bent Emil Nielsen Professor in Late Antique and Byzantine Christian History in 2008. He is a Stavrophore priest of the Orthodox Church (Patriarchate of Romania) who came to New York from England in 1997 where he was formerly a Reader in Patristic and Byzantine Theology at the University of Leeds.  He has authored numerous books, including St. Gregory of Nazianzus: An Intellectual Biography (2000; Nominated for the 2002 Pollock Biography Prize).  In 2005, Prof. McGuckin was invited onto BBC Radio Belfast for a Public Radio discussion on the meaning of salvation in contemporary thought and life. He is also currently working with Co-Director Norris Chumley on a feature film about monastic prayer life, entitled: ‘Sophia Secret Wisdom.’ In 2007 he was on site filming extensively in Sinai, the Egyptian desert, and the monasteries of Transylvania.

We seek proposals from a wide variety of fields that can speak to this issue and its relation to Christianity, including but not limited to systematic theology, philosophy, biblical studies, history, ethics and pastoral theology.

Proposals should be 300 – 500 words and include your name, the title of the paper and your college/university affiliation.  Proposals are due October 30, 2009.  Please send to < email hidden; JavaScript is required >.

Friday Night Public ForumMay 22, 2009

Laurentian Leadership Centre, 252 Metcalfe Street, Ottawa

7:30 pm — “Differing Biblical Rationales and Approaches for Christian Non-Government Organizations Engaging with Parliament Hill”

A panel discussion by NGO leaders chaired by Janet Epp Buckingham, director of the Laurentian Leadership Centre.

Panelists:

Joe Gunn (Citizens for Public Justice),
Ron Parker (National House of Prayer),
Don Hutchson (Evangelical Fellowship of Canada)

Hosts: Canadian Evangelical Theological Association, the Laurentian Leadership Centre, and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada

The Friday Night Night Public Forum is open to the general public. Registration is not required.

Annual Meeting
Saturday, May 23, 2009

Carleton University, Ottawa

Note: The CETA programme is posted here for the convenience of CTS members and others interested in attending these presentations. Complete information is available from the CETA website. Please remember to register for CETA through the Congress website.

Location: MacOdrum Library, Room 402

8:30 am — Welcome and Opening Reflections – TBA

8:35 am — David Guretski (Briercrest Seminary, Caronport, SK)

“‘Karl Barth on Mark Kinzer’s ‘Non-Supersessionist and Post-Missionary Ecclesiology’: Yes! and No!”

9:30 am — Adrian Langdon (McGill University, Montreal, QC)

“The Vinculum of Contemporaneity: The Holy Spirit and time in Barth”

10:15 am — Dustin Resch (McMaster University, Hamilton, ON)

“The Great Disruption: Irenaeus, Augustine and the Theological Function of the Virgin Birth of Christ”

11:00 am – Coffee break

11:150 am — J. Richard Middleton (Roberts Wesleyan College, Rochester, NY) and David Belles (Northeastern Seminary, Rochester, NY)

“Variant Eschatologies in the Great Awakenings and the Social Gospel: Case Studies in Jonathan Edwards, Dwight L. Moody, and Walter Rauschenbusch”

12:00 noon — Lunch

1:15 pm — Peter Robinson (Saint Paul University, Ottawa, ON)

“An analysis of the impact of religious experience on the theology of Clark Pinnock as reflected in his hermeneutical approach to biblical materials”

2:00 pm — Nicholas Jesson (St. Thomas More College, Saskatoon, SK)

“Towards a Roman Catholic Policy on the Validity of Evangelical Baptisms”

2:45 pm — Coffee break

3:00 pm — Albert D. Spalding (Trinity Theological Seminary, Newburgh, IN)

“Identifying and Promoting Pre-Spiritual Virtues”

3:45 pm — CETA 2009 Annual General Business Meeting (Presiding: TBA)

4:30 pm — Adjournment of CETA Meeting

Carleton University, Ottawa
May 25th to 27th, 2009

The 2009 CTS annual meeting will be held May 25-27 at Carleton University, Ottawa. For more information and registration, visit the Congress 2009 website.

The theme of the 2009 Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences is

Capital Connections: Nation, Terroir, Territoire

This theme invites an exploration of identity as physical space, of the space of a people, a nation, and their historic ‘terroir.’ It asks the question: Has globalization produced a sea-change in our understanding of the relationship between place and who we are? Theological reflections on this theme may include topics such as: ecclesiology, missiology, and right relations with First Nations, especially in light of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission; the public role of churches in a multi-faith and intercultural society; the affect digital technology on the identity of religious communities and the spaces (physical and virtual) in which they practice. While we invite you to submit proposals on any theological subject, we encourage you to consider topics which relate to this theme.

• 2009 Call for papers (PDF version)
• 2009 appel de communications
• 2009 Student Essay Contest
• CCSR Combined program
  

Programme

Except where indicated, all sessions will be held in the Herzberg Laboratories, rooms 4351 and 5115. The Herzberg Laboratories are designated “HP” on the Carleton University Map

Monday, May 25th, 2009
Herzberg Laboratories, Room 4351		Herzberg Laboratories, Room 5115
8:45 -8:55	Welcome – Michael Bourgeois (CTS President)
9:00-9:55	John Rawls, Sovereignty, and the Suspension of Anathema – Kathleen Roberts Skerrett, Grinnell College In an unpublished note, “On My Religion,” John Rawls recalled the reasons for his de-conversion from Christianity. He recounted that his experiences as a soldier in World War II created within him a terrible aversion to theological justifications of violence. He became convinced that the “great curse of Christianity” was the persecution of dissenters as heretics. We have grown accustomed to reading Rawls as a “contractarian” political theorist and a philosopher of public reasonableness. Yet the word “contract” very rarely appears in the hundreds of pages of Political Liberalism, and the phrase “public reasonableness” was very strictly defined. Rawls was more openly concerned with the problem of political legitimacy — the proper exercise of sovereign power through legitimate force. In this, he opposed Carl Schmitt who argued that legitimacy depends upon the sovereign decision to distinguish citizen from foe. This decision sanctifies a democracy by anathematizing the “providential foes” that pose an existential threat to its existence. The state can therefore legitimately demand from its citizens the readiness to die and to kill its foes in exchange for peace within its territory. As Miguel Vatter has observed, this is the “original position” of citizens in Schmitt’s account. But here the enemy has the status of heretic. Rawls found this deeply immoral. His own account of the “original position” made persecution of dissenters as heretics unthinkable. Yet Rawls’s famous “proviso” holds that religious citizens will at some undetermined time frame their arguments in terms of a reasonable conception of justice. I argue that this should not be read as an I.O.U. to put one’s case in secular or contractual terms. Rather, it is a commitment to suspend anathema as a legitimate exercise of sovereign power. John Rawls, Sovereignty, and the Suspension of Anathema – Kathleen Roberts Skerrett, Grinnell College	9:00-10:30	Panel: Strangers in a Strange Land: Engaging Religious Pluralism in Canadian Contexts – Robert Mundle, University of St. Michael’s College (Chair) With diversity a defining characteristic of Canadian culture, this workshop will address the public roles of religion and theology in a multi-faith and intercultural society. For example, it will question what theologians may contribute to Canadian workplaces, including business environments and healthcare systems, which seek a productive “values consensus.” And it will respond to the institutionalist charge that theological “contracting” for behavioural ethics is now inefficient and ineffective. (Wagner-Tsukamato, 2008). This workshop will engage these questions with reference to specific Canadian contexts of workplace ethics, hospital chaplaincy, immigration policy analysis, missiology and right relations with First Nations. In the course of the workshop, brief case scenarios will be presented for discussion; arguments for and against the leading theological approaches and paradigms for inter-religious dialogue will be reviewed; and participants will be engaged in focused discussion and debate. A respondent will summarize and critique the details of the workshop. The four presenters include a business ethicist/theologian, a board certified hospital chaplain, an Anglican Priest from India, and a Roman Catholic Priest from Ghana. Each will thus bring to this presentation a unique perspective and valuable insights gained from professional experience. Participants in this workshop will gain front-line data on a variety of theological challenges from various representative Canadian contexts, and will share creative strategies for approaching inter-religious dialogue. Summaries of various theological approaches, an annotated bibliography of recent publications, and links to online resources on the topic of religious pluralism as theological challenge will be provided. Presenters • John Dalla Costa, PhD candidate, Regis College, University of Toronto • Robert Mundle, PhD candidate, University of St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto; Chaplain, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute • Rev. Manoj M. Zacharia, PhD candidate, Trinity College, University of Toronto • Rev. Jerome Damst, PhD candidate, Regis College, University of Toronto Panel: Strangers in a Strange Land: Engaging Religious Pluralism in Canadian Contexts – Robert Mundle, University of St. Michael’s College (Chair) Presenters • John Dalla Costa, PhD candidate, Regis College, University of Toronto • Robert Mundle, PhD candidate, University of St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto; Chaplain, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute • Rev. Manoj M. Zacharia, PhD candidate, Trinity College, University of Toronto • Rev. Jerome Damst, PhD candidate, Regis College, University of Toronto
10:05-12:15	Panel: Augustine on Public Theology Connecting Cities, Engaging Politics: An Examination of Contemporary Augustinian Mappings of the Public – Stephen W. Martin, The King’s University College While his appeal has historically extended across the theological spectrum, Augustine has recently gained an innovative reading among younger political theologians seeking a way beyond tired liberal and conservative polarities. This paper engages the work of two such writers: William T. Cavanaugh and Charles T. Mathewes. Both writers eschew a model of “public theology” that professes to mediate Christian “particularity” and “the naked public square.” The ekklesia is for each the primary locus for Christian political action. In contrast to Cavanaugh, Mathewes develops a theology of citizenship which claims involvement in the civitas terrena can provide a site of training for membership of the City of God. Cavanaugh’s relation of the two cities is more radically disjunctive, assuming an apocalyptic understanding of their respective times (saeculum and eschaton), while suggesting each contests the same space. Because of its narrow mapping of the world into territorially defined “nations” and restrictive and exclusive “citizenships,” the nation-state represents cupiditas, love turned in on itself. The nation-state therefore represents a rival soteriology to that of the ekklesia, in contrast to the latter’s genuinely cosmopolitan caritas. However, Cavanaugh leaves open the question of how to engage in a politics in situations where the breakdown of the nation-state coincides with near “apocalyptic” social crises such as HIV-Aids, refugees, and desperate poverty. Mathewes offers another Augustinian way of enacting citizenship, where constructive engagement with state actors can both prevent the church from morphing into a substitute state, thus loosening eschatological tension, while limiting evil in that part of the world. Connecting Cities, Engaging Politics: An Examination of Contemporary Augustinian Mappings of the Public – Stephen W. Martin, The King’s University College Lord of Two Cities: Christological or Political Realism in Augustine’s City of God? – Jane Barter Moulaison, University of Winnipeg Perhaps more than any other theologian, Augustine of Hippo has been marshalled to champion a broad range of causes, both theological and secular. One of the surprising areas in which Augustine has been appropriated is in political theory, as his City of God is often read as a treatise on the nature of politics rather than a work of theology. This is even true within certain liberal Protestant theologies, in which doctrine is often eclipsed by polity. Specifically, several liberal Protestants concerned with maintaining the church’s prominent position within the public square have found within Augustine’s City of God not only a salutary description of the vexed nature of political striving within a fallen world, but also a justification for the abiding status of the City of God’s ministers within the earthly city. Yet, a strong case for the relevance of an ecclesial voice within politics demands apologetic moves which either neglect or water down the particular status ascribed to Christ as Lord of both cities by Augustine in the City of God. One of the most influential retrievals of Augustine for the purposes of political theory is that of Reinhold Niebuhr. Reinhold Niebuhr considered Augustine the father of Christian realism–a chastened and unidealized account of the nature of the fallen political world and Christians’ rueful yet necessary reconciliation to it. In Niebuhr’s hands, Augustine assists in underwriting Christian participation within liberal democracy, viewed not merely as a necessary concession within the earthly city, but a positive Christian duty. However, the profound influence of Niebuhr’s reading of Augustine has had the effect of obscuring several significant differences between his political theology and that of Augustine. Most significantly, in my view, a Niebuhrian reading of the City of God obscures the role that Christ as Lord of the two cities plays in these respective theologians’ accounts of Christian responsibility and possibility. Lord of Two Cities: Christological or Political Realism in Augustine’s City of God? – Jane Barter Moulaison, University of Winnipeg Desire, Discipline, and the Political Body – Nathan Colborne, Nipissing University This paper is an attempt to develop an Augustinian response to political problems diagnosed by Michel Foucault’s analysis of modern political power. Foucault argues that the primary acts of power in the modern age are not repressive acts but creative ones. Instead of prohibiting acts, political power disciplines, rehabilitates and normalizes. The result of this is a disciplined and docile subject within which relations of power are so deeply embedded that ‘liberation’ can only bring about their entrenchment and the absorption of all aspects of life into the political structures they represent. Foucault’s alternative consists in practices of aesthetic self-creation not linked to transcendent or natural construals of order. I argue, however, that within Augustine’s account of the purposive nature of love and desire within the subject lies an implicit critique of Foucault’s ethic of aesthetic self-creation. The articulation of a non-immanent eudaimonism allows Augustine to resist the process of a totalizing normalization without collapsing into incoherence. I will then attempt to outline the significant characteristics of a political posture formed by the practice of the Eucharist. These characteristics provide an alternative to both modern political practice and Foucauldian practice and address Foucault’s concerns more adequately than his own attempt at aesthetic self-creation can. Desire, Discipline, and the Political Body – Nathan Colborne, Nipissing University
		10:40-11:35	The Imago Dei and Charles Darwin: Understanding the Human as Co-creator in an Evolving and Globalized World – Simon Watson, Emmanuel College Traditionally the imago Dei has been defined using specific traits inherent to “man.” These traits distinguish and privilege men over both women and the natural world. Theologians like Augustine, Aquinas, Irenaeus, Athanasius, and Clement of Alexandria conceived of the imago Dei as man’s powers of reason and free will, engraved on man’s soul like a seal. However, with Darwin’s publication of The Origin of the Species in 1859 and The Descent of Man in 1871, this distinction of human beings over the natural world became far less clear. How does one understand the imago Dei in the face of the gradualism which is inherent to natural selection? When did the first “man” step forth in the incremental process, which is Darwinian evolution, to receive the imago Dei? How does one understand humanity’s significance despite a scientific revolution in which human beings are pushed from the centre, in which Copernicus proclaimed a universe heliocentric not geocentric? Moreover, how is the imago Dei qualified considering the example of Christ, who is understood by Christians as God’s perfect image? Is it necessary to restrict the imago Dei to the human race? In exploring these questions, and approaching humans as co-creators with God, the phenomenon of cultural evolution will be considered. Unlike other animals who are dependent on genetic mutations for adaptation, humans use language, learning, and their “collective intelligence” to adapt their environment to suit their needs. Emphasized in this discussion will be the contextuality of theology and the importance of being self-critical. The Imago Dei and Charles Darwin: Understanding the Human as Co-creator in an Evolving and Globalized World – Simon Watson, Emmanuel College
		11:45-12:35	Re-Imagining Christians and Public Space: Building Intercultural Communities – Marilyn Legge, Emmanuel College Recent demographics from Statistics Canada estimate that by the year 2017 people who are “visible minorities” will be one-fifth of the nation and more than half of the population of Toronto. A salient moral challenge of the matrix of communities and networks in a globalized, violent, and exquisitely created world, therefore, is the intercultural–mutually reciprocal relationships among and between cultures. In this context, moral life can be understood as a search to navigate and relate religious life, various publics and everyday life in mutually and publically beneficial ways. This task deeply depends on images whereby we try to interpret our own sufferings, problems and joys in relation to the experiences of concrete others and their social worlds. The hearty notion of Christian ethics as a performative “art-science” relies on imagination. It is the power to sort, shape and connect disparate elements of social worlds using images, symbols, stories, theories and rituals. Imagination evokes ‘passion for the possible.’ Theologically, passion of and for God and God’s beloved community is the basis of noninstrumental relations with and for others. Embracing the Spirit’s gift of life and passing it along moves people beyond fixed character, social roles, and institutional arrangements. One intercultural church project has envisioned its task of ecclesial negotiation as being inseparable from racial justice. This paper will explore how imagination functions as the creative capacity necessary for the inherently practical, interdisciplinary and evaluative character of Christian praxis and then inquire into the adequacy of theo-ethical criteria–for example, interstitial integrity, ‘world-travelling’, accountability and inclusion–as fitting this moral vision. Re-Imagining Christians and Public Space: Building Intercultural Communities – Marilyn Legge, Emmanuel College
12:30-1:30	Lunch
1:30-3:00	Panel: Contemporary Engagements on Karl Barth’s Theology Anticipatio et Recapitulatio: Christology and Time in Karl Barth – Adrian Langdon, McGill University The relation of eternity and time is a constant theme in Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics. But it is also one of more complex themes. Central to the eternity-time relation is christology and time. Barth, for example, makes some of the following claims: “The raison d’être of all time, both past and future, is that there should be this fulfillment at this particular time” (III/2, 459); Jesus Christ is the “Contemporary of all men” (III/2, 440); and past, present, and future are not “an absolute barrier” but “for Him in His time a gateway” (III/2, 464). Though it is quite clear that Christology is central for Barth’s view, it is less clear whether or not it can be coherently understood. Examining the pertinent sections of CD III and IV, this paper suggests that the coherency of Barth’s view may be understood using the categories of anticipation and recapitulation. The anticipation of the Christological fulfillment of time occurs in pretemporal election, created time, and the history of Israel. While recapitulation refers both to Christ’s retrieving and redirecting of time. Jesus-history retrieves the original intent of created time — that is, proper covenantal relations – and in so doing heals fallen time. But his filling of time is not static; Jesus-history continues in the flow of time and history on the way to the eschaton — redirecting all subsequent history. Anticipatio et Recapitulatio: Christology and Time in Karl Barth – Adrian Langdon, McGill University Karl Barth and the Emergence of New Religious Movements – Jeffrey A. McPherson, Taylor University College In section 17 of the Church Dogmatics, Karl Barth engages the question of the nature of religion and more particularly the question of Christianity’s status as religion. In the midst of a discussion of “Religion as Unbelief” Barth enters into an analysis of religion that moves beyond theology into a phenomenological account of the function and ultimate failure of religion. In the context of this discussion Barth considers a rationale for the emergence of New Religious Movements (NRMs) and the role that they play with respect to religion and culture, generally speaking. This paper will examine the justification that Barth provides for the emergence of NRMs and place his reasoning in dialogue with more familiar accounts of the emergence of NRMs from theorists such as Peter Berger, or Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge. This paper will engage the following questions: Does Barth’s phenomenological account of religion add anything to our understanding of the emergence and function of NRMs? How does Barth’s theological account of the nature and function of religion compare to his phenomenological account? This paper will argue that Barth’s account of the function of religion, both theologically and phenomenologically, offers challenging yet ultimately helpful ways of understanding NRMs from a Christian perspective. Karl Barth and the Emergence of New Religious Movements – Jeffrey A. McPherson, Taylor University College	1:30-2:25	Memory and Place: Rethinking Theological Contextuality in a Global Era – Thomas Reynolds, Emmanuel College The reality of globalization and the recognition of a robust and diverse World Christianity make the matter of “context” an increasingly important criterion in theological reflection. While liberation theologies have underscored the contextual nature of theology in socially embedded praxis orientations, further nuances may be added by attending to theology as a performance in particular relational and bodily matrixes that involve collective memories and a sense place with others. The proposed paper suggests that globalization has a dramatic affect on this process by disembedding and homogenizing communal memories and dislocating and deterritorializing ways of dwelling in places with others. In this light, drawing on the work of authors like Anthony Giddens, Paul Ricoeur, Alister MacIntyre, Kwok Pui-lan, Lamin Sanneh, and Orlando Espín, a theology of tradition is proposed that rethinks “context” and affirms diverse ways of dwelling together in the shared memory of God’s redemptive work in Jesus Christ. The key claim is that theology is a transformative performance that enacts the hybridic and differentiating nature of Christian formation, having a temporal depth whose sense of place is porous and unstable. This has the double advantage of affirming certain aspects of globalization (i.e., pluralism and intercultural engagement) and critiquing others (i.e., dislocation, marginalization, and homogenization). Memory and Place: Rethinking Theological Contextuality in a Global Era – Thomas Reynolds, Emmanuel College
		2:35-3:30	Spirituality and the Question of Intellectual Sustainability in the Contemporary University – Sara Terreault, Concordia University Spirituality has emerged within the last generation as a distinct interdisciplinary metafield of scholarly study within the academy. It has been received with enthusiasm and appreciation (and significant registration numbers) by college and university students across the disciplines, even while many academics both outside and –  interestingly — within the disciplines of theology and religious studies have responded with contention, bewilderment, even dismissal. Meanwhile, spirituality scholars continue to refine definition and delineation of the field, professional associations and journals multiply, and a widening variety of other fields increasingly seek out and draw upon their research. This paper reflects on elements of my doctoral research, in which “spirituality” shall not only be defended as a legitimate area of scholarly study but indeed proposed as the very locus in and from which academia might recover an expanded notion of intellect, releasing it from corrosively reductive cultural biases found in modern epistemological, social and political tendencies. Spirituality emerges as a field uniquely equipped to bear the freight of both secular and religious insight, and thus as genuinely prepared to recognise and serve our irreducibly pluralist, arguably post-secular society. It is this field that best offers a scholarly gathering place for authentically comprehensive yet critical interdisciplinary inquiry, provoking in the process a radical reassessment of the tasks and missions of the contemporary university itself. It is exactly the resources of a robust discipline of spirituality studies that can best foster the university as place for the production, transmission, and practice not only of knowledge but of wisdom. Spirituality and the Question of Intellectual Ssustainability in the Contemporary University – Sara Terreault, Concordia University
3:10-4:35	Panel: The Canadian Social Gospel and its Legacy – Michael Bourgeois, Emmanuel College (Chair) At the start of a global economic crisis the effects of which parallel the economic and social conditions that helped to provoke the rise of the Social Gospel a century ago, this panel will examine key features of the Canadian Social Gospel and the strengths and weaknesses of its legacy. Thorstein Veblen and the Social Gospel Critique of Capitalism – Rob Fennell, Atlantic School of Theology The first paper (presented by a member of the United Church of Canada teaching in an ecumenical theological college) will trace the connection between economist Thorstein Veblen and the Chicago and New York schools of Social Gospel thought to illuminate the ways in which some Social Gospel thinkers, perhaps including J. S. Woodsworth, approached their critique of the theory, practice, and effects of contemporary capitalism. The paper will conclude with reflections on the current global economic “crisis” and renewed criticisms of the “free market” and the greed principle of capitalism. Thorstein Veblen and the Social Gospel Critique of Capitalism – Rob Fennell, Atlantic School of Theology The Canadian Social Gospel: Historical Review and Present Prospects – Bob McKeon, St. Joseph’s College, University of Alberta The second paper (presented by a Roman Catholic teaching in a Catholic college) will review the different moments of the Canadian Social Gospel — the “classic” Social Gospel movement of the early twentieth century and the renewed ecumenical social justice collaboration of the late 1960s through the early 1990s — and review the Canadian Social Gospel in terms of the challenges of a new social and ecclesial context at the start of the twenty-first century, with attention to the nature of church social engagement and the theological method and foundations underlying that engagement. The Canadian Social Gospel: Historical Review and Present Prospects – Bob McKeon, St. Joseph’s College, University of Alberta Re-imagining Social Christianity – Wendy Fletcher, Vancouver School of Theology The third paper (presented by an Anglican teaching in an ecumenical theological college) will offer a critical examination of the Social Gospel movement through the lens of what happened next — namely, the decline of mainline Protestantism and the work of re-imagining a social Christianity in the decades after the Social Gospel experience. Re-imagining Social Christianity – Wendy Fletcher, Vancouver School of Theology
		3:40-4:35	Church, Pleroma and Parousia: The Spatial Eschatology of Thomas F. Torrance – Stanley MacLean, Concordia University Theologians have tended to define eschatology largely in terms of time. This paper demonstrates that Thomas F. Torrance (1913- 2007) is one theologian who thinks about eschatology both in terms of time and physical space. This makes it an eschatology that is of special relevance today, when there is concern about the loss of physical space and the identities that are bound up with it. The key to Torrance’s eschatology is his Christology and his understanding of time and space. The Church is the Body of Christ in the world, but the Church looks forward to the second advent of Christ in time. Yet as the Body of Christ it also grows extensively in created space. However, this growth must not be understood as organic or institutional. It is a growth towards pleroma (fullness) in space in correlation and response to the ascended Christ’s mission to fill all things. The Church’s growth is really the growth of the new humanity, which is essentially a communion of love. The Church grows as it carries out its mission to the world. This is a mission patterned after the Suffering Servant. The Church grows, then, by denying itself and by becoming a reconciling, peacemaking community in the world. Further, Torrance believes the new scientific understanding of time (i.e., time-space) confirms his theological insights. The interrelation between space and time dictates that we cannot separate the time of the Church from the space of the Church. Moreover, the time of the parousia (presence, coming) of Christ cannot be understood apart from the Church’s movement towards pleroma. Church, Pleroma and Parousia: The Spatial Eschatology of Thomas F. Torrance – Stanley MacLean, Concordia University
4:35-7:30	Free Time & Supper
7:30-	The Peter Craigie Lecture: “Resurrecting Late Judaism: Archaeology, Analysis, and Apologetic” – Amy-Jill Levine, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Southam Hall, Theatre B. Reception to follow (Joint session sponsored by the Canadian Society for Biblical Studies, and the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences)
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
Herzberg Laboratories, Room 4351		Herzberg Laboratories, Room 5115
9:15-10:10	American Empire? How Hardt and Negri Challenge Conventional Political and Theological Assumptions of Space – Jeff Nowers, Emmanuel College Within the last number of years, especially in the wake of 9/11, language of “American empire” has become commonplace. The idea that the United States presently constitutes an empire with classic imperialist intentions has been embraced by a range of popular writers and academics. In 2000, however, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri published their collaborative work titled Empire, a dense book which offers a new, unprecedented understanding of contemporary political reality, one which contradicts the idea of “American empire.” Though Hardt and Negri have provoked numerous critical (even condemnatory) responses from political philosophers, their work has generally received only cursory attention from theologians and biblical scholars interested in the relation of Christian faith to empire. One possible explanation for this meager theological reception is the density and nuanced complexity of Hardt and Negri’s arguments, which require time to ponder and digest. My chief aim, then, in this paper is to lay out with concision the defining features of Hardt and Negri’s project. Chief among these features are the notion of empire as “decentered” and “deterritorializing,” and the emphasis on “immanence” as that which conceives of the powers of creation as not consigned to some sort of “heaven” but resident in the earth itself. In the concluding half of the paper, I discuss how these features offer a way forward for theologians to think in new and constructive ways about the present significance of the United States. I also discuss how Hardt and Negri can help prompt a “decentered” ecclesiology that avoids the trap of nationalism, and a doctrine of God that is more grounded in “relational transcendence” than a distinct otherness. American Empire? How Hardt and Negri Challenge Conventional Political and Theological Assumptions of Space – Jeff Nowers, Emmanuel College	9:15-10:10	Micro-missional Ecclesial Identity – Frank Emanuel, Saint Paul University My paper will discuss the influence of small liturgical space on the self-identity of evangelicals in the missional/emerging church movements of North America. There is a growing popularity amongst North American evangelicals to celebrate liturgies in small group settings. This shift is a rejection of the mega-church model by the disparate movements identifying with the missional and emerging church. The dissatisfaction with the mega-church model has called into question, for these individuals, what it means to be a faith community. My paper considers that these movements represent an exploration of ecclesial identity for such faith communities. I will explore some of the emerging theological innovations and assertions that result from attempting to construct a sense of self-identity, as a faith community. I will focus my attention primarily on the smaller liturgical settings that are emerging within the North American evangelical context. This paper represents a continuation of my research into the theology of the North American Evangelical emerging church. Following the thinking of James Cochrane on incipient theology, this paper will look at the theology that develops through the liturgical life of a micro-missional faith community, hopefully giving us tools, as theologians, to enter into a discourse with what is the actual theological life of these communities. Micro-missional Ecclesial Identity – Frank Emanuel, Saint Paul University
10:20-11:15	Student Essay Contest Winner From Integrative Multiculturalism to Interculturalism: The United Church of Canada’s Vision for Becoming an Intercultural Church – Hyuk Cho, Emmanuel College (Th.D. student) in Herzberg, room 4351 Recently the Canadian Heritage Department of the federal government expressed its concern about religious radicalization in Canada. The Heritage department defines one problem facing Canada today as a clash of cultures and suggests the government take action to combat religious extremism by fostering multicultural integration. However, there is a danger in this approach because “integrative multiculturalism,” rather than being a solution for religious radicalization, may instead promote further cultural and religious conflict. This paper explores the problems of integrative multiculturalism and suggests difference be appreciated as a resource for the development of creative and dynamic community. The purpose of this paper is to develop a theory of becoming an intercultural church in the context of the United Church of Canada. Student Essay Contest Winner: From Integrative Multiculturalism to Interculturalism: The United Church of Canada’s Vision for Becoming an Intercultural Church – Hyuk Cho, Emmanuel College (Th.D. student) in Herzberg Laboratories, room 4351
11:25-12:30	The Inaugural Jay Newman Lecture in the Philosophy of Religion: Philosophy of Religion: A State of the Subject Report – John Schellenberg, Professor of Philosophy at Mount Saint Vincent University and Adjunct Professor at Dalhousie University in Herzberg Laboratories, room 4351 Why philosophy of religion today is so often theologically conservative — the resulting demarcation problem — how both religious and philosophical assumptions are hindering insight in contemporary philosophy of religion — how the resolution of these problems is likely to favour non-conservative rather than conservative theology. The Inaugural Jay Newman Lecture in the Philosophy of Religion: Philosophy of Religion: A State of the Subject Report – John Schellenberg, Professor of Philosophy at Mount Saint Vincent University and Adjunct Professor at Dalhousie University in Herzberg Laboratories, room 4351 A new lectureship made possible by the estate of the late Jay Newman, a long time member and former president of the Canadian Theological Society. He was a prominent Canadian scholar with a keen interest in the philosophy of religion. He authored eleven books, seven relating to religion or the religious life. He was a member of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Guelph from 1971 until his death on June 17, 2007. Professor Newman left a bequest to CTS for the purpose of endowing an annual lecture in the Philosophy of Religion. It is his generosity that enables us to launch this annual lecture this year.
12:30-1:30	Lunch
1:30-3:00	Book Panel Feminist Theology with a Canadian Accent: Canadian Perspectives on Contextual Feminist Theology (Ottawa: Novalis, 2008) – Ellen Leonard, St. Michael’s College (Chair) A discussion of this book is related to the theme of the 2009 Congress, Capital Connections: Nation, Terroir, Territoire. The book is an exploration of Canadian identity. Contextual feminist theology has been subsumed under the rubric of “North American contextual theology.” The nineteen essays in this volume offer feminist theological reflection that is grounded in Canadian contexts and social realities. The work is an important contribution to Canadian theological studies. It has not yet received the attention of the theological community. This panel will provide the opportunity to explore Canadian contextual theologies from a variety of Canadian perspectives. The following persons have agreed to participate: • Mary Ann Beavis (St. Thomas More College) as editor will provide an overview of the book • Denise Nadeau (Interfaith Summer Institute for Justice, Peace and Social Movements; Vancouver School of Theology) will consider the political and social justice issue of reparations to Canadian First Peoples • Heather Eaton (St. Paul University) will explore nature and identity within Canadian feminist theologies • Lee Cormie (St. Michael’s College) will respond to the book and to the presenters Book Panel Feminist Theology with a Canadian Accent: Canadian Perspectives on Contextual Feminist Theology (Ottawa: Novalis, 2008) – Ellen Leonard, St. Michael’s College (Chair) – Mary Ann Beavis, St. Thomas More College – Denise Nadeau, Interfaith Summer Institute for Justice, Peace and Social Movements; Vancouver School of Theology – Heather Eaton, St. Paul University – Lee Cormie, St. Michael’s College	1:30-2:25	Whatever Happened to the New Earth? The Ambiguous Destiny of Creation in Christian Eschatology – J. Richard Middleton, Roberts Wesleyan College In the history of Christian eschatology the final state of the righteous has typically been portrayed as transferal from an earthly, historical existence to a transcendent, immaterial real, often termed “heaven.” Although the Hebrew Scriptures, Second Temple Judaism and the New Testament all affirm the goodness of the material creation and even its redemption, the influence of Platonism — with its suspicion of materiality and positing of a superior supersensory realm –began to manifest itself in Christian eschatological ideas, perhaps as early as the second century. The impetus to construe the final state of the righteous as otherworldly has, however, always stood in some tension with the biblical emphasis on the redemption of the world (a new heaven and a new earth). The result has been that often complex and even contradictory ideas have been held together in the same eschatological scheme. This paper will examine selected theologians from the patristic through the modern period for tensions in their eschatological views. In the case of each theologian, two critical questions will be explored: 1) In what ways does the theologian honour the Hebrew/ Jewish/ early Christian affirmation of the goodness of creation, including the body and the material world, in their eschatology? 2) In what ways does their eschatology show the influence of the Platonic impetus to transcend the material world? The paper will examine ways in which a particular conception of Christian ethics/vocation/mission might be related to a distinctive eschatological vision. Whatever Happened to the New Earth? The Ambiguous Destiny of Creation in Christian Eschatology – J. Richard Middleton, Roberts Wesleyan College
3:10-3:55	CTS Presidential Address: “And So it Goes with God? Story and History in Christian Theology” – Michael Bourgeois, Emmanuel College in Herzberg Laboratories, room 4351
4:05-5:05	CTS Annual General Meeting in Herzberg Laboratories, room 4351
5:10-6:20	President’s Reception
6:30-	CTS Annual Dinner Siam Kitchen, 1050 Bank Street, ph. 613-730-3954 For directions, see GoogleMaps
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
Herzberg Laboratories, Room 4351		Herzberg Laboratories, Room 5115
9:00-9:30	Work in Progress Taking the Trickster Seriously: Theological Engagement with Aboriginal Trickster Stories – Chris Wells, University of Winnipeg The ‘terroir’ of all regions of Canada are flavoured powerfully by the very long presence of Aboriginal peoples. John Ralston Saul discerns these flavours so tangibly that he suggests Canadians would understand themselves better if they identified themselves as métis people. The wine of Canadian theologies would be much closer to vintage if they enjoyed robust, local flavouring as part of their blend. Canadian theologies have been strongly flavoured by grapes grown in a different geography (Europe, for example). Canadian theological winemaking could find some special flavours if the current terroir was boosted. This paper argues that improving the terroir of Canadian theologies could involve engagement with aboriginal spiritualities and the figure central to them — the Trickster. To not take Tricksters seriously is akin to someone saying they wanted to learn about Christianity, but not Jesus Christ. The mythic power of Trickster humour and playful zest for life could help enrich the flavour of Canadian contextual theology and provide helpful tools for living well together in this part of God’s vineyard. Being rooted in our actual place could provide more vital resources in growing towards Ecological harmony and balance (as in oikos, the whole household). Work in Progress Taking the Trickster Seriously: Theological Engagement with Aboriginal Trickster Stories – Chris Wells, University of Winnipeg	9:00-9:55	Faith and Reason and the Catholic Catechism – Ryan Topping, University of Oxford In popular and academic discussion faith and reason are often seen as antagonistic or at least indifferent to the claims of each other. Richard Dawkins’ 2006 best seller, The God Delusion, for example, as well as a host of recent books by prominent atheists, has drawn attention to the way that faith is seen by many as destructive to the common good. In our age of religious pluralism, the question of how conflicting claims to revelation can be mediated has become a crucial concern to religious believers and non-believers alike. Through the lens of the recently promulgated Catechism this paper seeks to articulate how one major Christian confession, the Roman Catholic Church, attempts to demonstrate the compatibility of faith and reason. With reference to two alternative secular accounts of the conflict between faith and reason, this paper considers, in particular, by what method theological claims may, if not be demonstrated, at least be presented to those outside of a particular confession in a way that allows for rational scrutiny and evaluation. Faith and Reason and the Catholic Catechism – Ryan Topping, University of Oxford
9:40-10:45	Seeking the Common Good Through the Good we have in Common – Marie Campbell, Concordia University The theme of this year’s Congress calls us to a moment of critical reflection on who we are — ‘we’ in the context of this paper being the products of Western culture and the Christendom that has shaped it. In this time and in this place, such reflection requires a new process of self-understanding, one that goes beyond the Western hegemony embedded in the ‘forms of capital’ as developed by theorists such as Pierre Bourdieu or Robert Putnam. Rather, the wider lens of the conference theme opens us to the global reality in a way that seeks the inclusion of the other on a new chain of capital connections. Central to the achievement of this goal is an acknowledgement of the human capacity for transcendence, for to enter into the true spirit of the conversation demands no less than the transformation of self, and ultimately of community. Such engagement, I will argue, should be undertaken on two fronts — sociological and theological. In the first instance, the analytical framework of interculturalism would serve well. With its insistence on interaction, interculturalism is better suited to true engagement than the near-passivity of multi-culturalism. From a theological perspective, this method can be correlated to the larger framework developed by David Hollenbach, which, in moving towards the goal of seeking out “the good we have in common,” calls for our respectful and sustained conversation with the other, a process he describes as “intellectual solidarity.” A “lazy tolerance” that masks indifference in a strategy of non-interference is rejected, and tolerance itself is transformed, becoming the tool that opens minds to intellectual solidarity, and to the achievement of a common vision of the good. Seeking the Common Good Through the Good we have in Common – Marie Campbell, Concordia University
		10:05-11:00	One’s Right Relationship with God: The Theological Dimensions of Sallie McFague’s Call for Ecological Praxis – Jessica Fraser, Saint Paul’s University Ecotheologian Sallie McFague calls for a Christian praxis of consumption reduction in response to the ecological crisis. While it has been recognized that the need to change human behaviour in order to mitigate global warming, loss of biodiversity, species extinction, and other aspects of ecological degradation is an ethical need, attending to its priority in theological terms is new. McFague is, to my knowledge, the first theologian to develop the theological implications and demand for such a praxis. For McFague, the need for an ecological praxis of consumption reduction is a matter of one’s right relationship with God. McFague has developed a systematic ecotheology, and is one of the foremost ecotheologians writing today.2 Interestingly, McFague’s understanding of ecological praxis shifts gradually throughout her work, reflecting a deepening comprehension of praxis, and more nuanced insights into its specifically theological dimensions. By tracking the changes in her understanding of praxis, I explore the foundations of McFague’s call for a Christian ecological praxis of consumption reduction as they are located in the contextual, cosmological, christological, soteriological, and epistemological aspects of her ecotheology. One’s Right Relationship with God: The Theological Dimensions of Sallie McFague’s Call for Ecological Praxis – Jessica Fraser, Saint Paul’s University
10:55-11:50	Gardasil, Girls, and God: When Church, Sexuality and Pharmaceuticals Converge – Doris M. Kieser, University of Alberta In 2006 the Government of Canada budgeted $300 million for the administration of Gardasil, a controversial vaccine for Human Papillomavirus (HPV), to girls aged 9-15 across Canada. Each provincial health ministry has been charged with orchestrating the vaccinations, which have taken place primarily within school systems, including Catholic schools. The vaccine has incited controversy on a number of levels. In this paper I will address the Gardasil debate as it pertains to the diverse Roman Catholic responses (theological and otherwise) to the government-initiated administration of the vaccine in Catholic Schools. I will also address the variety of responses to the Church’s involvement in what some commentators deem a strictly public health issue. I will further consider some competing interests that frame the controversy in which Gardasil sits. In particular, I will critically explore the role played by the pharmaceutical industry in baptizing biotechnology as the current focus of worship in the ethical examination of female adolescent sexuality. Finally, regarding ethical sexual activity, I will juxtapose the method and substance of the claims to authority of the Roman Catholic Church (i.e., Christian truths) with those of the pharmaceutical industry (i.e., objective science). The sexual bodies of adolescent females constitute the point of convergence of the claims of these two powerful social institutions. My primary concern in this paper is to explore how these claims affect the sexual flourishing of the adolescent females at the heart of the conversation. Gardasil, Girls, and God: When Church, Sexuality and Pharmaceuticals Converge – Doris M. Kieser, University of Alberta
12:00-	Closing – Alyda Faber, Atlantic School of Theology in Herzberg Laboratories, room 4351

Professor Jay Newman

Jay Newman was a former president and long time member of CTS. He was a prominent Canadian scholar with a keen interest in the philosophy of religion. He authored eleven books, seven relating to religion or the religious life. He was a member of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Guelph from 1971 until his death on June 17, 2007. Professor Newman left a bequest to CTS for the purpose of endowing an annual lecture in the Philosophy of Religion. It is his generosity that enables us to launch this annual lecture this year.

We welcome Professor John Schellenberg to give the 2009 inaugural lecture. John Schellenberg holds an Oxford D.Phil. His first book is the well known Divine Hiddenness and Human Reason. He has just finished a trilogy on the philosophy of religion: Prolegomena to a Philosophy of Religion (2005), The Wisdom to Doubt: a Justification of Religious Skepticism (2007), The Will to Imagine: A Justification of Skeptical Religion (2009).

Dr. Schellenberg’s lecture, entitled “Philosophy of Religion: A State of the Subject Report“, will address why philosophy of religion today is so often theologically conservative — the resulting demarcation problem — how both religious and philosophical assumptions are hindering insight in contemporary philosophy of religion — how the resolution of these problems is likely to favour non-conservative rather than conservative theology. The lecture will be given as part of the Annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences on Tuesday, May 26th at 11:25 am in the Herzberg Building, room 4351, at Carleton University. For further details, see the complete CTS 2009 program.

Annual Meeting
Carleton University, Ottawa

May 25th to 27th, 2009

The theme of the 2009 Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences is

Capital Connections: Nation, Terroir, Territoire

This theme invites an exploration of identity as physical space, of the space of a people, a nation, and their historic ‘terroir.’ It asks the question: Has globalization produced a sea-change in our understanding of the relationship between place and who we are? Theological reflections on this theme may include topics such as: ecclesiology, missiology, and right relations with First Nations, especially in light of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission; the public role of churches in a multi-faith and intercultural society; the affect digital technology on the identity of religious communities and the spaces (physical and virtual) in which they practice. While we invite you to submit proposals on any theological subject, we encourage you to consider topics which relate to this theme.

We invite you to submit proposals in one of the following four types and in either French or English.

Regular Papers: formal presentation of 40 minutes, plus 15 minutes for discussion.

Special Papers: formal presentation of 40 minutes, plus a 15 minute response and 30 minutes for discussion.

Work in Progress: informal presentation of no more than 20 minutes, plus 20 minutes for discussion.

Workshops, Panels, and Seminars: formal presentations and responses and general discussion, lasting 1½ hours. The person organizing such a session is responsible for setting the topic and enlisting participants.

To facilitate anonymous review of proposals, please include your name, institutional affiliation, and contact information on a separate page from your paper proposal; if you submit your proposal by e–mail, the CTS/STC secretary will remove any information identifying you from the proposal submitted to the executive.

Proposals must have the following information:

• Presenter’s name, institutional affiliation, and contact information on a separate page;
• Title and proposed subject;
• Request for one of the above categories (Regular Paper, Special Paper, Work in Progress, and Workshops, Panels, and Seminars);
• Abstract of 200-250 words;
• Explicit connection of the subject matter to theology.
• Audio-visual equipment needed.

For all types of papers, please submit proposal (preferably by e-mail) by Friday, January 16, 2009 to:

Jane Barter Moulaison
Faculty of Theology, University of Winnipeg
515 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, MB R3B 2E9
Phone: 204-789-1453
Fax: 204-772-2584
email: < email hidden; JavaScript is required >

The CTS/STC Executive will meet in February 2009 to establish the program. If your proposal is accepted we will notify you shortly after that time and request that you bring a single–spaced, typed copy of your paper for inclusion in the Society’s archives. Please remember that the CTS/STC has an inclusive language policy.

The Call for Papers is available for printing and distribution in PDF format here.

Congrès annuel
Université de Carleton, Ottawa

du 25 au 27 mai 2009

Le thème du Congrès des sciences humaines 2009 est

Capital Connections: Nation, Terroir, Territoire

Ce thème nous invite à explorer l’identité en tant qu’espace physique, en tant que l’espace d’un peuple, d’une nation et de son ‘terroir’ historique. Il pose cette question : Est-ce que la globalisation a produit un changement dramatique dans la compréhension que nous avons du rapport entre l’espace et qui nous sommes ? La réflexion théologique sur ce thème peut inclure des sujets tels que : l’ecclésiologie, la missiologie et les relations justes avec les Premières Nations, surtout à la lumière de la Commission de vérité et de réconciliation sur les pensionnats indiens; le rôle public des églises dans une société multifoi et multiculturelle ; l’effet de la technologie numérique sur l’identité des communautés religieuses et sur les espaces (physiques et virtuels) où elles pratiquent. Bien que nous vous invitons à soumettre des propositions sur n’importe quel sujet théologique, nous vous encourageons à considérer des sujets reliés à ce thème.

Nous vous invitons à soumettre des propositions soit en français soit en anglais dans une des quatre catégories suivantes.

Conférence régulière : présentation formelle de 40 minutes en plus de 15 minutes de discussion.

Conférence spéciale : présentation formelle de 40 minutes en plus d’une réplique de 15 minutes et 30 minutes de discussion.

Travail en chantier : présentation informelle de 20 minutes au maximum en plus de 20 minutes de discussion.

Ateliers, tables rondes, séminaires : présentation formelle, réplique et discussion, d’une durée d’une heure et demie. La personne qui organise une telle séance est responsable du sujet et du recrutement des participants.

Afin de faciliter l’arbitrage anonyme des propositions, veuillez inclure votre nom, votre affiliation et votre information personnelle sur une feuille séparée de votre proposition. Si vous le faites par courriel, le / la secrétaire de la STC / CTS enlèvera toute information susceptible de vous identifier à votre proposition.

Les propositions devront inclure :

• votre nom, votre affiliation, votre information personnelle sur une feuille séparée;
• le titre et le sujet proposé;
• le choix d’une des catégories ci-haut (conférence normale ou spéciale, travail en chantier, atelier, table ronde ou séminaire);
• un résumé de 200-250 mots;
• le lien explicite entre le sujet et la théologie.

Quelle qu’en soit la nature, veuillez soumettre votre proposition (par courriel de préférence) au plus tard le 16 janvier 2009 à :

Jane Barter Moulaison
Faculté de théologie, Université de Winnipeg
515, avenue Portage
Winnipeg, MB R3B 2E9
tél.: 204.789.1453
télécopieur : 204.772.2584
courriel : < email hidden; JavaScript is required >

L’exécutif de la STC / CTS se réunira en février 2009 afin d’établir le programme. Si votre proposition est acceptée, nous vous le ferons savoir peu après cette date et nous vous demanderons d’apporter au congrès une copie de votre conférence (dactylographiée à simple interligne) pour les archives de la STC. Veuillez vous rappeler que la STC / CTS a une politique linguistique inclusive.

University of British Columbia, Vancouver
June 2nd to 4th, 2008

These abstracts are taken from the proposals submitted in response to the Call for Papers. The actual titles and topics may vary slightly from that advertised.

Monday, June 2nd, 2008

8:45-8:55 (VST 300) — Welcome & Announcements

9:00-10:30 (VST 300) — Panel: Thinking “Beyond Borders”: Teaching Religious Studies and Theology

Since the advent of Religious Studies, the border that exists between it and theology has often been a hostile one. This panel considers this vexed relationship from the perspective of those engaged “on the front” as educators in both disciplines. The scholars, teachers and chaplains assembled on this panel will speak of the particular challenges and potentialities of working in both worlds, and will consider possibilities for rapprochements of various kinds in the post-foundational and global-oriented intellectual climate of contemporary Canadian universities.

Panelists: Peter Slater (Trinity College), Erin Phillips (University of Lethbridge), Stan Porter (McMaster Divinity College), Robert Kennedy (St. Francis Xavier University).
Chair: Jane Barter Moulaison (University of Winnipeg)

9:00-9:55 (VST 309) — The Influence of William James on the Historical Theology of Ernst Troeltsch

Michael Sohn (University of Chicago Divinity School)

Ernst Troeltsch, the great German liberal theologian of the early 20th century, is usually read by scholars against the background of German intellectual history. While this dominant view certainly holds true as Troeltsch himself explicitly professes to be indebted to this tradition, he also expressed, in two lesser known essays the profound influence that the American pragmatist, William James, had on his thought. Troeltsch refers to James first in an address delivered at the Congress of Arts and Science in St. Louis in 1904, only three years after James came out with his published Gifford Lectures assembled under the title The Varieties of Religious Experience, and again in 1912 in an article written in memory of James’ life and work.

This paper will explore the less well-known influence of James and American pragmatism on Troeltsch, which I shall argue is central to understanding his thought. After all, the central problem with which Troeltsch wrestled throughout his career, namely how one can reconcile religious values and convictions given the facts of historical relativity, presupposes some account of the emergence or genesis of values. And to this prior question, Troeltsch’s formulation of religious experience as a creative and free act of value innovation is thoroughly Jamesian. While this paper aims to illuminate a much ignored aspect of Troeltsch’s thought, I believe it also speaks to pressing problems in our contemporary situation with respect to a concern for values amidst increasing global interactions and consciousness of diversity and plurality.

10:05-11:00 (VST 309) — Truth-Telling and Justice in the Contact Zone: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Residential Schools

Denise Nadeau (Interfaith Summer Institute for Justice, Peace and Social Movements)

The upcoming Truth and Residential Commission (TRC) on Residential Schools in Canada allows the opportunity to shine a light on the ” contact zone “– the space where settlers and Aboriginal people meet and interact, both in the past and present, as colonizers and colonized. The residential schools were one of the main vehicles through which European gender relationships were imposed on Native communities and they played a significant role in introducing gender violence as a means of implementing colonialism and white supremacy. With ideologies of gender, race and religion intersecting and informing the racist images of Indigenous and tribal women in European Christianity, the present challenge will be how to forestall the domination in the TRC process of patriarchal Christian religious symbols of forgiveness and healing and to hold up Indigenous Knowledge forms of moral community that include Native women’s sovereignty.

This paper offers a feminist post-colonial reading of the TRC’s contact zone with a focus on the transformative possibilities of truth-telling that address the ongoing asymmetrical relations of power and, in particular, sexism and white supremacy, that permeate continuing Indigenous-settler relations. Drawing from Indigenous cosmologies and the work of Laura Donaldson, Wonhee Anne Joh, Andrea Smith, Jennifer Harvey and Musa Dube, this paper considers how white settlers can use this opportunity to redefine their own religious and cultural identity and explore a moral agency and justice practice that neither abolishes or assimilates the difference of the Indigenous “other.”

10:40-12:15 (VST 300) — Book Panel: Frank Macchia, Baptized in the Spirit: A Global Pentecostal Theology (Zondervan, 2006)

The globalization of Pentecostalism has led classical Pentecostals to rethink and reconstruct their doctrine of baptism in the Holy Spirit. Such theological reflection has challenged a key classical Pentecostal distinctive which understood Spirit Baptism to be an experience distinct from (and usually subsequent to) conversion which is identified by the initial sign of speaking in tongues. Frank Macchia has long been considered a prominent figure in Pentecostal Theology. In 2006 he published a monumental work, Baptized in the Spirit: A Global Pentecostal Theology (Zondervan). Recognizing that global Pentecostalism cannot be identified by the classical understanding of Pentecostal doctrine, Macchia has proposed that Pentecostals expand the metaphor of Spirit Baptism to include the whole of the Christian life, and even the whole of the economy of salvation. Macchia himself recognizes the ecumenical potential for his proposal. This panel will provide a forum for ecumenical reflection on Macchia’s proposal. The panel will begin with a summary of Macchia’s book and the Pentecostal context in which it has arisen. This will be followed by three short response papers, and 20-30 minutes of discussion among the panel and those in attendance. Papers will be presented by Pentecostal, United Church, Anglican and Roman Catholic theologians.

Panelists: Don Schweitzer (St. Andrew’s College), Jane Barter Moulaison (University of Winnipeg), Constance Price (Catholic Office of Religious Education and Liturgy, ON), Andrew Gabriel (McMaster Divinity College)

11:10-12:00 (VST 309) — The Indivisible Whole of God’s Reality: Divine and Human Agency in Bonhoeffer’s Ethics

Christopher Holmes (Providence Theological Seminary)

The Christological realism of Bonhoeffer’s Ethics has not always been adequately appreciated, especially as concerns the extent to which it evokes and creates the space for the exercise of genuine human agency. In Bonhoeffer’s account, Jesus Christ is never to be abstracted from his command, a command that humanizes, for it is by Christ’s command to love others without distinction that one learns to be human before God and thus to live in accordance with him who is the true human being. A careful reading of the Ethics that is sensitive to the dogmatic foundations of Bonhoeffer’s work is therefore necessary, if one is to appreciate Bonhoeffer’s mapping of the kind of agency that the centre of Christian faith—the living Lord Jesus Christ—exercises as he takes form in historical and social reality. The task of this paper will be to expound and illuminate Bonhoeffer’s account of the character of agency exercised by the Centre in relation to the principal task of theological ethics, namely, the engendering of the most humane form of existence possible. Moreover, by demonstrating the manner in which Bonhoeffer preserves his basic insights about the Christological determination of reality, Bonhoeffer’s account of the mandates of work, family, government, and church cannot be understood in such a way as to denote the diminution of the primacy of Jesus Christ’s agency, but rather as the way in which Bonhoeffer ensures that ethics remain concrete in relation to him who is determinative of every sphere of creaturely existence.

1:30-3:00 (VST 300) — The Many Dimensions of Jesus’ Resurrection

Don Schweitzer (St. Andrew’s College), Respondent: Néstor Medina (Emmanuel College)

The resurrection of Jesus has been much discussed in twentieth century Western Christian theology. Drawing on several of these discussions, this paper will argue that Jesus’ resurrection has many dimensions, such that its meaning cannot be summed up under any one heading. It will begin with a look at what can be ascertained about Jesus’ resurrection as a historical event. It will then examine how Jesus’ resurrection gives and receives meaning from its relation to his person and others. It will then briefly examine its meaning for theological understandings of Jesus’ person, the cross, humanity, creation, the church, the Holy Spirit, and God. Jesus’ resurrection is only properly understood when it is recognized to have meaning across a broad range of theological topics. The significance of each of these meanings will vary from one historical context to another.

1:30-3:00 (VST 309) — Paul and the Violence of the Modern State: A Critique of the Liberal Democratic Notion of the ‘People’ through Recent Re-readings of Paul

Kornel Zathureczky (Université de Montréal)

The founding documents of modern Western democracies were predicated on belonging to a people. The very operations of the modern democratic State, however, depend on elected governments and on the divisions brought about by elections, which lead to the formation of minorities within the life of the State. The State is thus based on a contest between presumably equal contestants, ‘the people,’ who then end up being divided into those in power and those outside of power. The paradoxical understanding of this modern democratic understanding of the people is clearly exhibited by the post-election fate of ‘the people’ who while ‘exercising’ their freedoms ultimately have no impact on the operations of the State. This feature of Western democracies has become especially prominent in what is called the age of global Empire. In the following paper, drawing on recent reading of the writings of the apostle Paul (Taubes, Badiou, Žižek, Agamben) the Pauline idea of the ‘people’ will be explored as a theo-political critique of the incipient violence that undergirds modern conceptions of the State. In these re-readings of Paul, the Jew, one may perceive a concept of the people that overcomes the essential violence of modern theories and practices of the State.

3:10-4:05 (VST 300) — Expanding Human Agency / Shifting Ethical Landscapes

Lee Cormie (St. Michael’s College)

“The ‘changed nature of human action’ has turned modern ethics inside out”
(Ceruti and Pievani).

Accompanying the diverse, uneven and often contradictory processes of cultural and religious, political and economic globalization are cascading waves of change transforming the contours, scope and dynamics of social and personal life, emerging global civilization, and its relationships with the Earth. Indeed, these developments are “epochal” in civilizational terms, as well as geological, biological, climatological, and evolutionary terms–analogous to those associated with the impact of a large asteroid 65 million years ago, triggering mass extinctions, and opening a new era in the history of life on earth. At the heart of these developments lie new modes and scales of human agency–to know, to communicate, and to act from nanoscale to society-wide and planetary scales, and beyond, perhaps even cosmic scales–and new centers of human agency–transnational corporations, global markets, global institutions, international treaties, social movements and networks. And these expanding capacities are disrupting established religious, cultural, ethical and political frameworks and institutions, and re-opening the classic religious and philosophical questions concerning human nature and “nature,” the course of history, the future of life on earth. This paper will explore the implications of these developments, still mostly overlooked, for our theologies and ethics.

3:10-4:05 (VST 309) — Sharing Space Beyond Secular and Sacred Borders

Tom Reynolds (Emmanuel College)

In global and inter-religious 21st century Canada, lines demarcating sacred and secular are becoming increasingly unstable and problematic. In this, however, lies great potential. Drawing upon the work of Charles Taylor, Talal Asad, and Jeffrey Stout, this paper argues that the sacred/secular dilemma is a false dilemma, an unhelpful way of framing current debates about religion and public policy. Contrary to what older theories suggest, the secular is indeed a social space hospitable to sacred traditions. For the productive and peaceful co-existence of multiple traditions both depends upon and qualifies such a space, defined not so much by anti- or a-religious ideologies (e.g., “secularism” or “neutrality”) as by public and democratic processes of non-violent interaction. Secularity need not require transferring the authority of sacred claims to non-sacred mediums; but it does mean opening such claims to ongoing public conversations in which contestation and potential redefinition can occur. Lines blur, borders cross, and a “third discourse” emerges, a liminal discourse “in-between” parties that is dialogical and inter-religious in character, wherein continuities are forged amidst differences and the best of what sacred traditions have to offer become salient as means to sharing space beyond the boundaries of their own habitations. Specifically, resources from various traditions on the practice of hospitality can provide theological insights for envisioning the “secular” as a space of sharing charged with religious value. The paper, thus, concludes by highlighting possibilities that might emerge toward this end from a Christian theology of interfaith hospitality.

4:15-5:10 (VST 300) — Dans les frontières, au delà des frontières : une théologie en solidarité entre autochtones et allochtones au Québec

NB: room changed

Denise Couture et  Jean-François Roussel (Université de Montréal)

Comment articuler la solidarité mondiale et la solidarité locale? Penser au-delà des frontières, dans une perspective globale, et penser dans les frontières, dans une perspective locale, voilà la base d’un parcours de solidarité entre autochtones et allochtones. Parcours aux enjeux planétaires, mais pratique localisée, située dans un territoire.

Nous présenterons l’émergence et les premières étapes d’un projet qui s’est mis en place à l’automne 2007 ainsi que son lien avec le Forum mondial théologie et libération tenu à Nairobi au Kenya, en janvier 2007. Nous situerons son contexte sociopolitique et religieux, dans le milieu social québécois. Nous rendrons compte des présupposés théoriques et théologiques. Nous expliquerons aussi en quoi cette expérience déplace les frontières d’identités religieuses et nationales; ainsi que celles du domaine recevable au regard des épistémologies admises et pratiquées en théologie chrétienne contemporaine. Nous porterons particulièrement attention aux dimensions territoriales et postcoloniales de cette pratique, en explorant ses implications pour une théologie chrétienne… ‘au-delà’ de l’universalisme.

[How might one articulate a global solidarity with a local solidarity at once? To think beyond borders in a global perspective, and to think within borders, in a local persepective is to find a basis for such an intersection of solidarity between aboriginals and non—an intersection with planetary concerns, but a localised practice, situated in a particular place.

We will present on the emergence and the first steps of a project that was begun in the autumn of 2007, and also its link with the World Forum on Theology and Liberation held in Nairobi, Kenya in January, 2007. We will situate its sociopolitical and religious context within the social milieu of Quebec and examine its theological and theoretical presuppositions. We will also describe the manner in which such experience displaces the borders of religious and national identities, as well as those of a domain recognized by epistemologies that are accepted and practiced in contemporary Christian theology. We will attend especially to territorial and postcolonial dimensions of this practice, by exploring its implications for a Christian theology beyond universalism.]

4:15-5:10 (VST 309) — Crip/tography: Of Karma and Cosmopolis

NB: room changed

Sharon Betcher (Vancouver School of Theology)

“Picture the world in motion,” theologian Ray Bakke invites us: “the southern hemisphere is coming north, east is coming west, and on all 6 continents migrations are to the city.” Indeed, “globalization as urbanization seems,” postcolonial theorist Gayatri Spivak blithely adds, “one of the least speculative strands in the thinking of globalization.” Such massive urban in-migration implies, however, that formerly colonial territories, held apart by the buffers of ocean, are today humanly enfolded–like origami–into any of the planet’s “global” or “world cities.” “In contemporary cities people connected by imperial histories,” postcolonial theorist Jane M. Jacobs observes, “are thrust together in assemblages barely predicted, and often guarded against, during the inaugural phases of colonialism. Often enough this is a meeting not simply augmented by imperialism but still regulated by its constructs of difference and privilege.” If urbanization provides humanity with its ultimate test case–namely, “to create living patterns harmonized with nature’s rhythms,” to create cities of refuge and solidarity amid difference (including those of religions and their degrees of resort to absolutes), to work out our hopes for “planetarity” (Spivak) and “conviviality” (Gilroy), colonialism lingers on in the choreography of bodies within our urban geography, where “that racism which is not so much ethnic as biological” sorts bodies along the razor edge of the performance of “civility.” Starting with two divergent experiences of living the global city as crip (that is, as a person with disabilities), this paper considers what religious practice might address the need, as postcolonial theorist Gayatri Spivak puts it, to suture ritual responsibility into the human rights agenda (“Righting Wrongs,” 559), given the world-wide apartheid opening out between human bodies aggravated by globalization–namely, between “the dispensers of bounty” as distinct from “the victims of oppression” (536). At present, the streets of the global city are managed via “the aestheticization of fear” (Sharon Zukin) so as–like capitalism itself–to tolerate no impediments to mobility. Freedom in the West, as Richard Sennett puts it, has been correlated to unfettered mobility–”the ability to move anywhere, to move without obstruction, to circulate freely…” (Flesh & Stone, 310).

7:30- (Woodward/IRC, reception to follow in lobby)

Apartheid Comparative Religion: The Ideological Construction of Religious Difference in Antiquity

Daniel Boyarin (University of California at Berkeley)

Dr. Daniel Boyarin holds the Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Chair, Departments of Near Eastern Studies and Rhetoric at the University of California at Berkeley. Daniel Boyarin is one of the foremost cultural and feminist critics and historians of Judaism and Christianity in late antiquity. His whole life’s work has been devoted to questioning and unsettling boundaries, in particular in his latest work, Border Lines (2004), in which he argues that the separation between Judaism and Christianity was extremely late – fourth or fifth century – and largely the result of imperial fiat. Moreover, it was never complete and always negotiated. He is also noteworthy for his works on gender, Carnal Israel (1993) and Unheroic Conduct (1997), in which he argues that the Judaism throughout most of its history projected a masculine ideal opposed to that