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Political Theologies After Christendom

This conference interrogates the diverse echoes of Christendom in contemporary political exceptionalism, nationalism and populism. Whether in the shape of the Russian World ideology, Christian civilisationalism, or religious conservatism in and beyond Europe, these echoes of Christendom may translate in new forms of intolerance, oppression, and even violence. At the same time, apparently progressive Christian movements and networks – such as those for international development or freedom of religion and belief – retain artifacts of Christendom in their political discourses and practices. These various modes of Christianism present a significant challenge to scholars from across Christian traditions: to deconstruct both confessional and secular appeals to Christian identity for political purposes, and to articulate political theological alternatives which can contain social and political tensions in a story about peaceful coexistence. Moreover, they need to do so in intra- and inter-religious conversation, and across political theological traditions. Acknowledging that the dangers emanating from and similar to the Russian World ideology are not confined to the realm of Orthodoxy, this conference calls for an ecumenical effort to develop ‘Political Theologies after Christendom’ in the context of religious pluralism worldwide. Beyond the ambition of political and cultural relevance or the temptation to resort to a counter-cultural posture might lie a third way: a Christianity that stops thinking of ‘the other’ as ‘neighbour’ or ‘guest’ and which becomes ‘a neighbour’ itself – a Christianity that does not compare its experience with what Christianity may have been before ‘secularisation’ or ‘individualisation’ happened, but one that takes responsibility for common life as it takes shape in the here and now, and with an eye to the future. What has political theology got to offer? What kinds of reformations of ‘Christendom’ are emerging in Catholicism, Protestantism, Orthodoxy and in transnational Christian social movements? Is it possible for our political imaginations to move beyond the majority/minority binary? What are the most promising political and theological imaginaries of post-Christendom? Where do we go from here? Papers and panel suggestions are invited from scholars in political theory, sociology, theology and religious studies, politics, history, anthropology, philosophy and law, and may refer to any of the categories below. Applications from early- and mid-career scholars are especially encouraged. Christendom and Christendoms: contemporary iterations and comparative regional cases (e.g. Russian World, Christian civilisationalism, far-right identitarianism), both established and countercultural From Moscow to the Midwest: tracing echoes of Christendom in transnational Christian social movements and networks Political theologies after Christendom: engaging interdisciplinary conversations, methods, and concepts; mapping the potential for future pathways in political theology ‘Two Kingdoms’ after Christendom: the relationship between church and government The value of theologies ‘after’ major historical events (after the Gulag, after Auschwitz, after slavery, and perhaps now after Srebrenica and Bucha) The politics and ethics of Christendom’s imperial expansion, violence and ‘holy’ war, including the memory of these and the question of collective guilt Gender after Christendom: analysing and assessing populist appeals to hyper-traditional accounts of the family, including assumptions about gender, in the public square. Please send a proposed paper title, short abstract (c.200 words) and a short biography to marietta.vandertol@bsg.ox.ac.uk by 15 October 2022. Decisions will be released by 15 November 2022. Short conference briefs of ca. 2,000 words are due by 1 March 2023. The convenors intend to pursue collaborative publications after the conference. All submissions and papers should contain original work that has not been committed elsewhere.

WHERE WHERE

Holywell Street, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX1 3BN

WHEN WHEN

27.03.2023, 00:00 29.03.2023, 00:00 Tickets
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Source: PhilEvents

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