Canadian Theological Society

Make sure you check out the revised schedule for Congress. Lots of great papers and presentations this year!

 

“A Matter of Bones, Feathers, and Wishful Thinking”:  Science and the Marginalization of Religion

 Dr. Janet Wesselius

This title comes from the Terry Lecture series delivered by the American novelist Marilynne Robinson in 2010 when she offered this description of how religion is caricatured by some eminent scholars in the alleged conflict between science and religion. The widespread and popular view of science is that it renders traditions and practices such as religion obsolete. In this lecture, I explore the public discourse used by science popularizers in their polemic against religion, specifically how the epistemic and cognitive authority of science—with rhetorical invocations of “objectivity” and “facts”—is used to foreclose any alternative narrative. My concern is how this discourse enables dehumanizing effects while precluding liberatory possibilities for human flourishing. It is here that I think philosophy of religion can make a significant contribution:  to provide an alternative narrative to science’s fiction about human beings as nothing more than “meaty machines” engaged in a competition to ensure the survival of their genes.  Of course, there are others who are marginalized by this popularization of science but who do not regularly interact with philosophy of religion.  By drawing on conversations in aboriginal and environmental thought—who are “naively” concerned with bones and feathers—and in literary and feminist thought—who are all too familiar with being dismissed as engaged in wishful thinking—I propose potential alliances in an effort to generate alternative narratives.

Rob Fennell

I have been Vice-President of CTS this past year, and for 2014-15, I will be President.  In past years, I served as Secretary, and was active as a student member.  CTS is a vibrant and interesting Canadian venue for a rich exchange of research and wisdom in the theological disciplines.  I hope that you will continue to support and take an interest in CTS – together we are better.

Since 2006, I have taught Historical and Systematic Theology at Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax.  Prior to that, I served with local congregations in various places for 10 years.  I am ordained in the United Church of Canada.  My research interests are principally concerned with interpretation, and especially theological interpretation of Scripture.  Adjunct to this I have lively interests in Christology, Trinity, ecclesiology, post-Christendom Christian witness, and thinkers such as D. Bonhoeffer, J. Moltmann, and C.S. Lewis.

Another project in which I am actively involved is Touchstone, a Canadian theological journal, for which I serve as chair of the editorial board.  Finally, I am directing a new venture called Camino Nova Scotia.  You can read about it here: http://www.astheology.ns.ca/upcomingevents/CaminoNS.html

I look forward to seeing you at our annual conference, and to keeping in touch by email and Facebook.

Canadian Theological Society
Student Travel Grant
Congress 2014
Brock University

In previous years, CTS received funding for an annual grant of $3075 from SSHRC to help subsidize costs associated with travel, accommodation and food for CTS members participating in the CTS annual conference.  Students have always been listed as a priority for receiving this funding support.  Two years ago, SSHRC announced that this funding program had been terminated.  This year the CTS Executive has approved a special new travel grant pool of $1500 from CTS funds.  This grant will be only for CTS Student Members who present papers at the 2014 CTS Annual Conference at Brock.  It will be a travel subsidy, subsidizing only travel costs.  Unlike previous years, accommodation and food costs will not be subsidized this year.

CTS travel grant forms will be available at the CTS Conference at Brock.  After the CTS Conference, CTS student presenters applying for this travel grant should submit their completed travel grant forms and their travel receipts to the CTS Treasurer.  Travel grant cheques will then be sent out over the summer.

For more information, contact Bob McKeon, CTS Treasurer.

Download CTS Revised Program 2014

Monday, May 26 (Welcome and Panel Sessions in Cairns, Room 310) 

9-9:10AM – Welcome Session, Allen Jorgenson, CTS President

9:10-9:50AM

• Cairns, Room 310 – “Preaching as Medium and Maker of Meaning,” D. Laurence DeWolfe (Atlantic School of Theology)
• Cairns, Room 313 – “Taking Up the Past: Queer Temporality and Transformative Social Praxis,” Robert Timmons (Emmanuel College, TST)

 

9:50-10:10AM – Break

10:10-11:40AM

• Cairns, Room 310 – “Friendship as a Philosophical Foundation of Theological Biography,” Preston Parsons (University of Cambridge)
• Cairns, Room 313 – “From the Dust of the Ground: Towards and Ecological Anthropology,” Adrian Langdon (Nipissing University and Laurentian University)

11:40-12:20PM

• Cairns, Room 310 – “The Politics of Decline and Retrieval: Bernard Lonergan’s Foundations for Democratic Citizenship,” Nick Olkovich (University of St. Michael’s College, TST)
• Cairns, Room 313 – “The Blame Game: Emotion, Reason, and the Will in Rival Thomistic Accounts of Moral Error,” Michael Buttrey (Regis College, TST)

 

12:20-1:30PM – Lunch

1:30-2:30PM – Jay Newman Lecture: Dr. Janet Wesselius (Augustana Campus, University of Alberta)

2:30-2:50PM – Break

2:50-3:30PM

• Cairns, Room 310 – “Feeling Beyond the Rational: Empathy and Ethics in Coetzee and the Christian Tradition,” Matt Eaton (University of Saint Michael’s College, TST)
• Cairns, Room 313 – “Jesus’ Resurrection as a Saturated Phenomenon,” Donald Schweitzer (St. Andrew’s College)

 

3:30-5:00PM – CTS AGM

5:00-7:00PM – Supper Break

7:00-8:30PM – Panel: Ecotheological Epistemologies, Borders and Praxis

 

Tuesday, May 27 (Student Luncheon and Panel Sessions in Glenridge Building, Room A-201)

 9:00-9:40AM

• Glenridge Building, Room A-201 – “Literature as Theology: Recovering the Christian Religious Ideal with the Help of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables,” Jean-Pierre Fortin (University of Saint Michael’s College, TST)
• International Centre, Room 112 – “Martyrdom and Dialogue: Ecumenism in Martyrdom of the Catholic Jesuit Alfred Delp and the Evangelical Helmuth James Graf von Moltke,” Peter Nguyen (Regis College, TST)

 

9:40-10:20AM

• Glenridge Building, Room A-201 – “A Theological Analysis of Peter Weir’s The Truman Show,” Jeffrey A. Allen (Lonergan Research Institute, Toronto)
• International Centre, Room 112 –  “How Many is Too Many? A Theological Propaedeutic for Polyamory,” Jesse Smith (Saint Paul University)

10:20-10:40AM – Break

10:40-11:50AM – Panel – Truth and Reconciliation:  Theological Challenges and Opportunities

12:00-12:50PM – Student Luncheon: Discussions in the Field

12:50-1:30PM

• Glenridge Building, Room A-201 – “Books, Metadata and the Theological Library: Rethinking Borders, Boundaries and Emergence,” Gordon Rixon (Regis College, TST)
• International Centre, Room 112 – “A Sensuous Pursuit of Justice/Love: An Examination of the Erotically Pleasurable and Morally Formative Practice of Yoga,” Samantha Cavanaugh, (Emmanuel College, TST)

 

1:30-2:30PM – CTS Presidential Address: Allen Jorgenson (Waterloo Lutheran Seminary) “Imago Dei and Imago Mundi: Imagining a Modest Humanity”

2:30-2:50PM – Break

2:50-3:30PM

• Glenridge Building, Room A-201 – “Kant’s Unmerciful God and the Law of Unhappiness,” Cameron M. Thomson (University of Edinburgh)
• International Centre, Room 112 – “Labouring in a Foreign Land: An Ecofeminist Approach Toward the New Cosmology,” Abigail L. Lofte (University of St. Michael’s College, TST)

 

 6:00-8:00PM – CTS Dinner

 

Matthew Eaton

Greetings! I am currently in the midst of my first year as the student representative for the Canadian Theological Society. I am entering the dissertation phase of my program at the University of St. Michael’s College, where my research focuses on other-than-human subjectivity, eco-Christology, and the philosophies of Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques Derrida, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty … though my cat, Fargo, is perhaps more influential on my work than anything else. In addition to work with CTS and my own research, I am active in the organization of conferences and seminars at the Toronto School of Theology, and serve as the co-Associate Director of the Dominican Institute of Toronto. Apart from theological work, I am likely to be found amidst Toronto’s many music venues or tending my rooftop garden and defending it against near constant feline assault!

My time with CTS has been short thus far but I am enjoying the organization of a co-sponsored session between the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion and CTS on ecotheology and non-human subjects. I am looking forward to greater involvement with our annual conference as the years go by beyond my own participation though the presentation of research. If you are a student and have questions of concerns about CTS, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me!

Dear Canadian Theological Society members and student members,

The Executive of the CTS invites you to attend our annual Student Networking Lunch on Tuesday May 27th.   This event falls in the middle of our sessions during Congress at Brock University. The lunch will take place from 12:00 – 1:30 p.m., near our meeting rooms (location TBD).

STUDENTS EAT FOR FREE!  This arises from our long-standing commitment to students and your participation in the CTS.

OTHER CTS MEMBERS are invited to pay for their own lunch and/or to consider sponsoring a student.  The suggested contribution is $15 (retired or underemployed) or $20 (salaried) per person, or more if you wish.

The Student Lunch is an important annual opportunity for building our society, networking, and encouraging the next generation of Canadian theological scholars.

***Established scholars are warmly invited to join the table and to share mentoring conversations with newer student-scholars.

Advance registration is required; please pay on site.

Please send your name and email address by May 10th to:
Prof. Rob Fennell
CTS Vice-President

Please be sure to indicate if you are a student, and if you have any food restrictions.

REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS MAY 10TH.

Mary Ann Beavis, Ph.D.

Hi CTS members! I am in my second year as Secretary of CTS. I’m Professor in the Department of Religion and Culture at St. Thomas More College, a Catholic liberal arts college federated with the University of Saskatchewan, which is in Saskatoon, not Regina! My areas of expertise are biblical studies, religion and popular culture, and women and religion. I also dabble in feminist theology/thealogy, which is how I became involved in the CTS. Although I work at a Catholic college, I’m officially an Anglican, and although I currently live in Saskatoon, I’m a proud Winnipegger. My extra-curricular interests include travel, looking for biblical themes in film, and being a cat-mother to top cat Willow and kitten Jett.

Although I’m not a trained theologian, I’ve found CTS to be a friendly, welcoming and stimulating group of scholars. They have been kind enough to accept two of my paper proposals for presentation at annual meetings, including one last year on Christian Goddess Thealogy. I was honoured to be invited to serve as Secretary of the Executive—believe it or not, they are quite a fun group. See you on Facebook!

Frank L. Emanuel PhD cand.

Greetings! I’m the Communications Officer for the Canadian Theological Society. This is my second time on the executive, I was previously the Student Representative for our society. I am currently finishing up my PhD dissertation on evangelical social action at Saint Paul University in Ottawa. I’ve also taught there sessionally since 2010. I am an evangelical minister, straddling the evangelical and Pentecostal worlds. Since 1990 I’ve worked formally with Foursquare, Convention Baptist, Independent, and Vineyard churches. My theological questions come primarily out of my pastoral work. I am concerned especially about the way narratives, such as eschatological narratives, shape attitudes towards society. I chair a theological development task force for my denomination (Vineyard) which looks at the issue of ongoing theological training for our leaders. When I’m not neck deep in books I enjoy spending time with family and friends. I’m also a huge tabletop gaming geek.

Being part of the CTS has been an incredible opportunity. I enjoy having my boundaries challenged and love working in ecumenical environments. I have also been able to be a bridge between the CTS and the Canadian Evangelical Theological Association by running joint panels for these two societies. As the communications officer I encourage everyone in our society to use our social media connections here and on Facebook to stay in touch and let us know what you are doing.