Religion and Politics in the Crisis of Engagement: Towards the Relevance of Intercultural Theologies and Interreligious Studies (ESITIS 2017)

Basic data for this project

Description

Academics and scholar-practitioners alike find themselves living in the midst of a "crisis of engagement" vis-à-vis large global crises, intractable geopolitical conflicts, and waves of global migration. Because these situations are creating greater social and cultural instability and intercultural stress across many regions of the world, the academic fields of "Politics and Religion," "Religions and International Relations," "Conflict and Peace Studies," and "Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies" have received renewed attention. Given the prominence of these emergent fields, one vital concern arises: Have the much needed resources, knowledge, and discourses of engagement available in these fields not yet been fully tapped or not sufficiently related and integrated to meet and overcome the contemporary crisis of engagement and the daunting global challenges facing us today? This conference will take up this query by revisiting the legacies of political theology and critical religion. It will bring them into conjunction with discourses of engagement currently being developed by academics and scholar-practitioners working to understand and confront the intertwinement of religion & politics in areas of global crises, migration, and intercultural stress, as well as the fields of trauma, conflict transformation, and peacebuilding. Drawing on the insights that have been gained, the conference in particular seeks to reflect on and foster new engaging intercultural theologies and interreligious studies.