The Research Network Sociology of Religion (RN34) has issued its call for papers. The call includes joint sessions with Sociology of Culture at https://dl.dropbox.com/u/56963/CFP%20RN35.pdf, Society and Sports, Sociology of Emotions, Qualitative Methods, and Sociology of Migration.

Click here to download a PDF of the Call:  https://dl.dropbox.com/u/56963/CfP%20-%20RN34%20-%20Sociology%20of%20Religion.pdf

Click here to visit the main conference website: http://www.esa11thconference.eu/call-for-papers

Abstract submission opens on 12 December 2012 and closes 1 February 2013.

Click here for information on how to submit an abstract:  http://www.esa11thconference.eu/abstract-submission

Call for Papers

RN34 – Sociology of Religion

Coordinators:

Anne-Sophie Lamine, anne-sophie.lamine@misha.fr, University of Strasbourg, France

Heidemarie Winkel, hwinkel@uni-potsdam.de<mailto:hwinkel@uni-potsdam.de, University of Postdam, Germany

Religion has often been understood as a response to personal, social or cultural crisis. Classical scholars, such as Peter L. Berger and Max Weber, pointed out that it provides a theodicy of good and evil – an account that gives ultimate meaning in a meaningless world. Religions, Stark and Bainbridge (1985) contend, are other-worldly compensators for individuals in crisis – for those who are deprived from this-worldly rewards. Even advocates of the secularization thesis often acknowledge that crisis and rapid social change in society temporarily motivate the popularity of religion (Bruce 1997).

But religion, once considered to be in crisis under the secularizing powers of modernity, is alive and well in Europe. More than that: religion seems to thrive on what can now be called the crisis of modernity. Modern science, the nation state, capitalism, unrestricted consumption and the globalizing economy, have lost much of their credibility and plausibility in many European countries. In this cultural climate, the voices of traditional religious groups grow louder whereas, some say, we are witnessing a massive turn to holistic forms of spirituality (e.g., Campbell 2007). The atheist-secular worldview is more than ever contested by a fraction of Muslims, Christian creationists, Buddhists and other religious groups while a mirror-like process of anti-identification gives rise to alarmist discourses about the return of religions and particularly on the danger of the “islamization of Europe”. Religion has once again become salient in the re-formation of identity and the construction of imagined communities: uprooted from tradition, modern individuals in identity crisis search for new (religious) values and meanings whereas some European nation states align themselves with their Christian heritage, long-standing traditions and religious pasts. Religion, then, can not easily be understood as the ‘irrational’ Other of modernity – it is instead a common and valid response to the growing crisis of modernity. Jurgen Habermas (2005), once a furious critic of religion, argued from this perspective that intellectuals should include religious partners in the ‘rational’ conversation about modernity since both share a growing critique on the maladies of modernity.

Motivated by these observations, the Research Network Sociology of Religion calls for papers on crisis, critique and change in relation to religion.

Particularly papers are welcomed that discuss the following topics:

01RN34.          Studies dealing with religion in crisis,  i.e. the way religious traditions such as Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and the like – re-structure their organizations, beliefs, and practices and adopt, negotiate or resist processes of modernization, secularization and disenchantment.

02RN34.          Studies dealing with the ways religion provides answers to existential crisis and, particularly, the crisis of modernity  – i.e. how and why Islam, Christianity and other religious-spiritual groups formulate a critique of and alternative to modern science, capitalism, mass-consumption and individualism.

03RN34.          Studies dealing with the way crisis increases the salience of religious identities and cultural polarization,  i.e., in what particular ways religion gives meaning in everyday life and if, how and why religious identity-formations induce processes of inclusion and exclusion; social cohesion and religious conflict.

04RN34.          Studies focusing on the way religion changes the modern world in Europe and beyond,  i.e., how rapid social changes motivate the appeal and popularity of religion and if, how and why such religions transform private and public domains in Europe.

05RN34.          Sociology of religion (open)

07JS28JS34.     RN34 Joint session with RN07 Sociology of Culture and RN28 Society and Sports.

Sport and religion/spirituality

(Chairs: Davide Sterchele; Stef Aupers & Hubert Knoblauch)

Whereas the analogy between sport and religion has been criticized by many scholars mainly because of the lack (or low relevance) of the transcendent dimension in traditional sport practices, the recent sociological elaborations of the concept of spirituality seems to provide new interesting tools for interpreting the emerging forms of bodily movement. At the same time, the study of the analogies between traditional sports and institutionalized religions still generates relevant sociological insights.

In order to contribute to these streams of analysis and to open new horizons for further studies, the ESA research networks ‘Sociology of Culture’, ‘Society and Sports’, and ‘Sociology of Religion’, invite potential contributors to submit abstracts to the joint session on ‘Sport and religion/spirituality’. The session will thus provide a forum for exchange and sharing among sociologists of culture, sport and religion, who deal with these themes from different but overlapping perspectives.

RN34 web-page : http://www.esareligion.org/

07JS34.            RN34 Joint session with RN07 Sociology of Culture

Cultures of Religion – Religious Cultures

(Chairs: Hubert Knoblauch & Regine Herbrik)

“Religious Culture is quite frequently used, particularly in the French context (“culture religieuse”) relating both, to the general as well as to the specific religious patterns of culture. It may serve well not only to address empirical questions concerning the increasing cultural significance of religion within Europe as well as globally; it may also connect recent theoretical approaches in the sociology of culture on the one hand with approaches in the sociology of religion. For the joint session we invite, therefore, contributions addressing both empirical as well as theoretical issues concerning “religious cultures”.

11JS34.            RN34 Joint session with RN11 Sociology of emotions

Affects and Emotions in the Field of Religion

(Chairs: Stef Aupers  & Cécile Vermot)

Generations of scholars of theology and religious studies have viewed affects, emotions, and religion as closely related issues. What can be said about the certain shapes, characteristics and forms of this relationship in present times? How far is the research on emotions especially crucial for the understanding of religious life in Europe and for the coexistence, or even living together, of different confessions? What role do “emotional regimes” (Riis/Woodhead) or “feeling rules” (Hochschild) play with regard to the formation of emotional cultures both in religious groups and communities and with regard to the quest for salvation or spirituality of individual persons?

20JS34.            RN34 Joint session with RN20 Qualitative Methods

Qualitative Research on Religion

(Chairs: Regine Herbrik & Bernt Schnettler)

We also encourage participants to present papers concerned with methodological questions related to the specific problems of empirical research in the Study of Religions. Can we transfer methods from other fields of research to the sociology of religion or do we need special, field-specific methods? What can we learn from methods used in neighbouring disciplines? Which sets of methods can be recommended for empirical analyses targeting micro-macro issues in understanding religion? What role does the gender issue play in this? We are especially interested in papers reporting empirical research finding in the sociology of religion using qualitative research methods in combination with methodological reflections.

34JS35.            RN34 Joint session with RN35 Sociology of Migration

Migrant religions as a challenge to European identities

(Chairs: Berta Alvarez-Miranda & Heidemarie Winkel)

Already in classical sociological theory, religion functioned as a looking glass of change in times of crisis. At present, migrant religions are challenging and contributing to a critique of European identities. How do various European contexts accommodate migrant religions? What are the experiences, attitu­des and demands of their followers? How does the treatment of matters related to Islam inform on European identities and their current transformations? What conceptual and empirical tools does socio­logical analysis offer for the understanding of the varieties of internal and external religious critique?

Religion on the Move: Movement, Migration, Missions and new Media across Religious Traditions

Columbia University Department of Religion

Graduate Conference

Friday, April 26, 2013

Keynote Speaker: Michael D. Jackson, Distinguished Visiting Professor of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School

The history of religion is a history of movement.  But what happens when religion is on the move?

In this conference, we are interested in examining how an interdisciplinary approach to migratory experiences might illuminate the dynamic interplay between the limited possibilities in which people find themselves and the capabilities they nonetheless possess for creating viable, even vibrant, forms of social life.  By treating religion as an embodied and spatial phenomenon that intersects with political and economic structures in complex and often unexpected ways, this conference aims not only to contribute to the nascent field of religion and migration but also to broaden its theoretical and methodological repertoire for future studies of religion on the move inclusive of movement, migration, missions and new media.

A spatial analytics of movement as pilgrimage might draw our attention to the intertwining routes believers trace as they undertake the hajj to Mecca.  Historical attention to the making of regional/national migrations might shed new light on, for example, the unique urban sacred order built by millions of black southerners moving north in the decades of the United States Great Migration, or on the intergenerational histories of peoples displaced because of their religion.  An anthropology of the diffusion of missionaries to far-flung lands might include studies of their roles as evangelists moving along trading routes (Buddhists in Southeast Asia), active participants in colonial expansion (Jesuits in the Americas), or ambivalent resisters to imperial power (Protestant sympathizers with Indian independence).  And a cultural study of new media forms can help map patterns of religious mobility through the emergence of portable devotional materials carried by journeying practitioners.  Whatever our approach, studying religion on the move attunes us to how mobility is not only an aspect of religious experience across traditions, times and spaces, but is also constitutive of religious beliefs, practices and communities.

We encourage submissions from those in all fields with interests in the study of religion.  Our discussion will address, but is by no means limited to, the following questions:

·  How have religious institutions been related to migration through colonial bonds, missionary proselytization, and/or the transnational bridges created by new technologies and media?

·  How have the movements of religious traditions been facilitated by economic links such as medieval mercantile and maritime routes or modern globalized flows of capital?

·  How has religious movement affected material culture, both in the creation of new media forms by people on the move and in the transformation or hybridization of existing cultural forms in their places of destination?

·  How have community practices of transmission been affected by regional and, in the modern period, national migrations, as well as the translation of sacred texts into new languages?

·  How has movement reconstituted the boundaries of religious and ethnic identities? How have these boundaries been inscribed on landscapes through the establishment of new neighborhood enclaves and architectural forms?

·  Has religion been inflected differently in migrations that are forced (expulsion; evacuation; defection) rather than voluntary?

·  Could attention to the embodied nature of migratory experiences shed new light on the study of otherworldly journeys and altered states of consciousness?

Please send a 500-word abstract, along with your name, institution, specialization, and year of study to columbiareligion@gmail.com by December 28, 2012.

All proposals will receive a response by early-February 2013.

Annual Conference:  Material Religion

Venue: Durham University, UK

Date: 9-11 April, 2013

Dr Marion Bowman  (Department of Religious Studies, Open University)

Professor David Morgan  (Department of Religion, Duke University)

Professor Veronica Strang  (Institute of Advanced Study, Durham University)

This conference will focus on the physical, material dimension of religious life and practice, one of the major themes of religious research over the last decade. Material forms express and sustain the human search for holiness, transcendence and identity, and attention to the physical can lead scholars to unique and valuable insights.  Commitment to religious communities is learned and displayed through relationships to clothing, food, ritual and decoration, in the home, workplace, street or place of worship. This event will encourage interdisciplinary discussion of the significance of material culture in contemporary religion, including the images and architecture of sacred places and the objects and practices of everyday life.

Topics may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Material religion in everyday life
• The materiality of gender, class, age and ethnicity
• Sacred objects: statues, icons, relics, holy books, architecture
• Sacred objects in museums and galleries
• Religion, landscape and the environment
• Religion and the arts
• Marketing and consuming religion
• Religion and the body: ritual, experience and emotion
• Health, sickness, disability, death and bereavement
• The materiality of religious media and technologies
• Research methods for the study of material religion

We invite proposals for conference papers (300 words), panels (3-4 papers on a shared theme, 750 words) and posters (200 words). Alternative formats will also be considered. Abstracts must be submitted by November 19th 2012 to Tim Hutchings and Joanne McKenzie at materialreligionconference@gmail.com. Bursaries are available for postgraduate and early career researchers.

SOCREL is the British Sociological Association’s study group on Religion. For more details about the study group and conference please visit www.socrel.org.uk.

In focusing on the theme “The Future of Reconciliation,” we aim to address what are the unique challenges and opportunities facing reconciliation practices in the decades ahead, especially as the United States and the world continue to experience greater demographic diversity. Although the central focus of the conference is on sociology, we encourage participation from a wide range of practices and disciplines. The fifth of a five-year series of conferences exploring sociological insights on reconciliation, this conference encourages participants to define “reconciliation” broadly—to include issues of religion, disability, gender, race and ethnicity, sexuality, and class. Participants will address how Christian sociologists envision the New Testament teachings on reconciliation and help apply them in the 21st century.

Call for Papers: Papers on reconciliation and related issues are sought. Student papers undergraduate and graduate) are welcome. Conference presentations will include respondents to papers and opportunity for discussion.

Abstracts of papers are due by November 30, 2012; final versions
of completed papers are due January 30, 2013. Inquiries should
be sent to:
Curtiss DeYoung, Ed.D.
Department of Anthropology, Sociology,
and Reconciliation Studies
Bethel University, 3900 Bethel Drive, St. Paul, MN 55112

Visit http://bethel.edu/news-events/events/moberg for details on
registration, registration fees, and accommodations.

The Paul B. Henry Institute will hold its seventh biennial Symposium on Religion and Politics from April 25 – 27, 2013 at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The purpose of this regular event is to provide opportunities to present current research, to foster personal and professional networks, to facilitate joint research endeavors, and to learn about research opportunities in the field. Symposium attendance is open to anyone interested in the intersection of religion and public life. The program will be held at the Prince Conference Center on the Calvin College campus.

An Invitation to Present Research and Writing
Participation in the Symposium is open to both scholars and graduate students across the disciplines. Those interested in presenting a paper on any aspect of the relationship between religion and public life (political theory, international relations, public policy, political history, comparative politics, electoral politics, public law, or the sociology of religion) should submit a one-page proposal by February 15, 2013. The proposal should include a tentative paper title, a brief description of the focus of the proposed paper (one to three paragraphs), your institutional affiliation, and your contact information, including an email address. Proposals received after February 15 will be considered on a space-available basis. Notification of accepted proposals will be no later than mid-March, 2013.

In honor of Dr. Corwin Smidt, who retired as the long-time Director of the Henry Institute in 2012, we issue a special invitation to present work in areas where Corwin has enriched our understanding of religion and politics, including religion and civil society, electoral politics, and clergy and politics.

We are also pleased to announce that two special opportunities will correspond with the Henry Symposium this year: the annual Kuyper Lecture, sponsored by the Center for Public Justice; and “Visualizing Public Life,” a show of student-generated visualizations of faith in the public sphere.

Correspondence
For additional information or to submit a proposal, please review the links below or contact: Kevin R. den Dulk The Henry Institute 1810 E. Beltline, SE Calvin College Grand Rapids, MI 49546-5951 616/526-6234 FAX: 616/526-8756
e-mail: kdendulk@calvin.edu Website: www.calvin.edu/henry/conf

INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP

Religion, Law and Policy Making: European Norms and National Practices
in Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation

Date: 13-14 June 2013

Site: Tartu, Estonia

Organizer: Center for EU-Russia Studies (CEURUS), University of Tartu, Estonia
Topics: The goal of the Workshop is to advance the multidisciplinary study of the processes—cultural, economic, political, and legal—of European integration related to the patterns of interaction among ‘religion, policies and law’ in post-communist countries of Eastern Europe.

The complex interplay among European and national law, and law, policy and religion at the levels of nation and European Union is approached from jurisprudential, religious, sociological, cultural, historical, and political (comparative politics, political theory, IR) perspectives.

Language: English

Deadline: 11 February 2013. Abstracts of 300-600 words as well as a short bio (100 words) should be sent to: <alar.kilp@ut.ee>.

Contact: Dr. Alar Kilp (University of Tartu); Prof. Jerry G. Pankhurst (Wittenberg University, USA); Prof. William B. Simons (University of Tartu).

E-mail: <alar.kilp@ut.ee>; <jpankhurst@wittenberg.edu>; <william.simons@ut.ee>.

Internet: <http://ceurus.ut.ee/conferences/call-for-papers-religion-and-politics-workshop/>