The concept of “temptation” is a classic in the history of Christian theology – especially in the theology of the early Christians and of the Reformation – insofar as it has played a prominent role in the arena of such central dogmatic concepts as “faith,” “unbelief,” “doubt,” and “sin.” Yet the concept of “temptation” seems to be rather marginal in contemporary theology. What are the reasons for this marginalization? Does the reality of faith and unbelief today no longer need the category of temptation? Is the concept of temptation inappropriate for conceptualizing our experience? Or do we have good theological reasons to no longer use this concept? There can be no temptation without a subject that tempts us. But how appropriate is it to think of God as suspiciously testing human beings (tentatio probationis), or the idea of a devil that tempts us in malicious ways (tentatio deceptionis)?
This conference seeks to face these challenges and asks if there are reasons to return the theological concept of temptation to its former, central place in Christian experience and theological reflection. What is the difference between temptation and faith? And what is the relationship between temptation and faith or between temptation and certainty?
Speaker
Hans Weder, »Der Lebensraum des Zweifels. Neutestamentlichhermeneutische Überlegungen zur Asymmetrie des Rettenden«
Christoph Schwöbel, »Der denkende Glaube in der Anfechtung. Zur Topographie der Rede von Anfechtung in der christlichen Dogmatik«
Eric Hall, »Existential Temptation: Defining Christian Identity in Paul and Frankfurt«
John D. Caputo, »Devilish Hermeneutics: Temptation and the Weakness of God«
Heiko Schulz, »Dialektik der Anfechtung. Dogmatische und fundamentaltheologische Erwägungen im Anschluss an Kierkegaard«
Stephen Mulhall, »Doubt as Faith, Ethics as Temptation«
Philipp Stoellger, »Glaube als Anfechtung?«
Michael Moxter, »Gewisse Anfechtungen. Barth und Tillich über den Anfang der Theologie«
Please see website for more information and additional details.
Fist meeting, “Redemption Against His Will: Theological Aspects in Faust” organized by the Friends Mooshausen eV under the direction of Prof. Dr. Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz
The Canadian Society of Christian Philosophers will hold its annual meeting on June 3rd, 2013 as part of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Victoria.
Meeting of the Canadian Philosophical Association:
When — June 2 to June 5, 2013
Where — TBD
Hosted by — Canadian Philosophical Association
Who can attend — Registered attendees of the association.
Concerning the schedule of meetings and the specific itinerary, more details will be posted as they become available. Check the website starting in April 2013.
Access — Only those people who have registered for the meeting of the Canadian Philosophical Association may attend. Note that registration fees do not cover the association’s membership fees. For membership inquiries, please contact the association directly.
Program Chair: Guillaume Fréchette, Universität Salzburg
Local Arrangements Coordinator: James Young, University of Victoria
Please visit the website for more information.
3-4 June 2013, Université de Paris – Sorbonne & Institut Catholique de Paris, “Thomas d’Aquin et ses sources arabes / Aquinas and ‘the Arabs'”. Call for papers on Aquinas and the Arabic Tradition. Initial deadline 15 February 2013.
Organizers: J.-B. Brenet, Isabelle Moulin & Richard C. Taylor
The Aquinas and ‘the Arabs’ International Working Group announces a conference on “Aquinas and Metaphysics in the Arabic Tradition” that will be held 7-8 June at Würzburg. The conference is organized by Profs. Jörn Müller, Dag Hasse and Richard C. Taylor.
Among the program presenters are Pasquale Porro, Deborah Black, Dag Hasse, R. E. Houser, Olga Lizzini, Luis López-Farjeat, Richard C. Taylor, and David B. Twetten.
There will be a workshop for Ph.D. students held on Friday 7 June before the evening plenary lecture opening the conference.
Thomas Aquinas: Free Will & Virtue
What is the nature of human freedom according to St. Thomas Aquinas? Is his analysis defensible today? How does it allow us to understand the ethical character of human actions and the virtues and vices that constitute the moral life?
The first day of the conference is devoted especially to graduate students, either in philosophy or adjacent disciplines. The second and third days of the event will combine presentations by philosophers with times of discussion and debate. Mass and Eucharistic Adoration, as well as opportunities for informal recreation, will be offered each day.
Space for this workshop is limited, and the registration deadline is April 30, 2013. See website for additional information.
The Centre is pleased to announce this one-day colloquium with an academic focus, in order to pursue the celebration and perpetuation of Bonhoeffer’s legacy in the context of contemporary
postgraduate study in the United Kingdom, where Bonhoeffer is currently being given much attention by the Academy.
The colloquium will involve short-papers from postgraduate students on a range of topics related to Bonhoeffer studies. Deadline for paper submission is April 15, 2013.
Please see website for additional information and details.
The Future for Philosophy of Religion? An exploration of recent ‘turns to the human’ in thinking about religion.
The past decade has been marked by significant shifts in the in the Philosophy of Religion. A discipline long characterised by close analysis of a limited number of topics, and focusing mainly on arguments for and against traditional theistic belief, has broken new ground, both in its subject matter and its methodology. Much work by contemporary philosophers of religion has taken on an increasingly ‘humanistic’ shape: to supplement abstract argument and analysis there has been an increasing interest in religion as a response to the problems of lived human experience. This interest has manifested itself in a focus on the relation between religious belief and moral and aesthetic experience; the role played by religion in the struggle for self-awareness and psychological maturity; the contributions to religious awareness made by the emotions, the body, and the disciplines of spiritual praxis; and the way in which a deeper engagement with poetic and literary resources may develop and deepen religious sensibility and also enhance our understanding of the religious outlook itself.
Among the possible themes to be addressed by the Conference are the following:
1. Criteria for evaluating a religious outlook. Is a religious outlook to be assessed in terms of the intellectual plausibility of the claims it purports to make about the origins or workings of the cosmos, or should it be understood instead as an attempt to articulate an appropriate emotional and moral response to the puzzle of the meaning of human life and the how it should be lived?
2. Methodology. What is the appropriate mode for religious philosophizing? Should the philosopher of religion aim at detached intellectual scrutiny of certain truth claims, in the manner of a scientist, or is religious truth a domain that is more fruitfully investigated from a standpoint of emotional and moral commitment?
3. Theoretical implications. Does the ‘humane turn’ in philosophy of religion lead to, or lend support to, so-called ‘noncognitivism’ about religious claims (the view that religious assertions are not really descriptions of states of affairs but express passionate commitments to a certain form of life); or does it need to preserve a cognitive core of essential truth-claims?
4. Theological and anthropological dimensions. Should theology operate primarily at the level of abstract metaphysical doctrine, or does it need to do more to accommodate the perspective of the human subject, and an examination of the nature of what the religious life means for those who are actually involved in the practice of religion, or belong to its institutions?
Speakers: John Cottingham (analytic philosophy); William Schweiker (theological ethics and hermeneutics); Mark Wynn (philosophy/theology and the emotions); Christopher Hamilton (philosophy and literature).
Please see website for additional details.
The APRA Conference, 2013: Religion and Science, Theism and Atheism
Keynote Speakers:
Professor Herman Philipse, University of Utrecht, Netherlands
Professor Michael Ruse, Florida State University, USA
Professor John Bishop, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Professor Peter Forrest, University of New England, Australia
Submission date 31 March 2013. Please see website for more information.
The APRA Conference has been convened annually since 2008, and is usually held mid-year at a different location within Australasia. The aim of the Conference is to bring together academics and graduate students working within the fields of philosophy of religion, theology, religious studies and allied disciplines to discuss and debate a wide range of topics in philosophy of religion and philosophical theology.
Keynote Speakers
Professor Herman Philipse (University of Utrecht, Netherlands)
Professor Michael Ruse (Florida State University, USA)
Professor John Bishop (University of Auckland, New Zealand)
Professor Peter Forrest (University of New England, Australia)
Other Speakers
Professor Purushottama Bilimoria (UC-Berkeley/Melbourne University)
Professor James Franklin (University of NSW)
Dr Bruce Langtry (University of Melbourne)
Professor David G. Santos (University of Beira Interior, Portugal)
Dr Jeremy Shearmur (Australian National University)
Dr Lloyd Strickland (Manchester Metropolitan University, Great Britain)