John Reader’s post at the Philosophy and Religious Practices blog about the first network workshop, The Humanities and Lived Religion: Philosophy, Religious Studies and the Impact Agenda (May 9th 2013, hosted by the University of Liverpool). 

Link to the text of Liam Jones‘ talk on Catherine Malabou, plasticity and lived religion, presented at the first workshop from the Philosophy and Religious Practices network, “The Humanities and Lived Religion: Philosophy, Religious Studies and the Impact Agenda” (May 9th 2013, hosted by the University of Liverpool).

Rebecca Catto summarises her talk on Religion and Public Policy, presented at the first workshop from the Philosophy and Religious Practices network, “The Humanities and Lived Religion: Philosophy, Religious Studies and the Impact Agenda” (May 9th 2013, hosted by the University of Liverpool).

Roger Trigg summarises his keynote talk, “The Privatisation of Religion: Is Philosophy of Religion to Blame?”, presented at the first workshop from the Philosophy and Religious Practices network, “The Humanities and Lived Religion: Philosophy, Religious Studies and the Impact Agenda” (May 9th 2013, hosted by the University of Liverpool).

“The Humanities and Lived Religion: Philosophy, Religious Studies and the Impact Agenda” was the first workshop of the Arts and Humanities Research Council funded network, Philosophy and Religious Practices. It brought together over 50 delegates from a variety of disciplines working in universities throughout the UK, as well as many non-academics with a vested interest in religion from the local area. Follow this link for a report of the day.

How can philosophy of religion address its historical disregard of reality? What might a philosophy of material, lived or everyday religion look like?

Call for Papers for a one-day workshop on Philosophy, Religious Studies and the Impact Agenda (abstract deadline March 11 2013), hosted by the Philosophy and Religious Practices Network at the University of Liverpool on May 9th 2013.

Today was the first steering committee meeting for the new AHRC-funded Philosophy and Religious Practices network. We covered the aims and objectives of the network as a whole, and discussed in particular ideas for the first theoretical workshop, which will be held in late April or early May.

After the meeting finished, Dan and I had a good brainstorm about the nature of what we’re calling the network’s ‘impact events’, which I’ll be spearheading. These events will involve reading philosophical texts with faith communities, but we’re still trying to work out what the ‘underpinning research’ (REF language) for this exploration of impact might be.

The more I think about it, the more I think I will have to undertake some original research on the reception of (theoretical) texts by (faith) communities, asking how philosophy (of religion) can contribute to this area, both theoretically and methodologically. Then use the events to test these contributions.

This is partly why not getting the Bristol job was such a blow, as one of their university-wide research themes is reception, and a number of people in the Department of Theology and Religion are interested in the reception of (biblical) texts by different interpretive communities.

I had a meeting today with Carolyn Muessig from Bristol’s Department of Theology and Religion, where I recently failed to get a job as lecturer in philosophy of religion. This was the first permanent full-time lectureship that I’ve been shortlisted for so I’ve got a lot of positive things to take away from this experience, even if I’m still devastated that I didn’t get it. 

Carolyn was really great to talk to. She said that they had all been really impressed with my CV and especially with my work in both philosophy of religion and religious studies and in relation to the impact of philosophy on religious practices. She liked that I had made sure I was really knowledgeable about the department, familiar with the staff’s areas of expertise and with their taught programmes, and clear about where I had shared research interests and where I could collaborate.

She thought that I should stress my expertise and experience in the study of emerging Christianity, which would be something that might make me attractive to theological colleges as well as universities. I usually include a taught undergraduate unit on the emerging church in my job applications, but I hadn’t on this occasion because I thought the department would be more interested in my work in philosophy of religion. But Carolyn said to make sure I stress both aspects of my work equally, since that’s what makes me unique.

Dan and I just submitted an abstract for this “Impact of Religion: Challenges for Society, Law and Democracy” conference, May 20-23 2013, Uppsala University, Sweden. We had a lovely abstract for an organised panel session where we’d give a paper each. The call for papers said 200 word paper abstracts, so we figured we could have 400 words for a panel session abstract. But then I had to butcher it down to this to get it to fit in the designated box (1300 characters) in the online abstract submission system. Grrr.

Panel Session Title

THE IMPACT OF RESEARCH ON RELIGION IN A HUMANITIES CONTEXT

Panel Session Abstract

Humanities research on religion has typically been marginalised, and often for good reason. Its ‘disregard of reality’ (as Brian Clack puts it) is damning when it comes to its lack of engagement with actual religious practices. Yet the wager of this panel is that the Humanities do have much to offer research on religion.

Organised by the UK’s Philosophy and Religious Practices Network, this panel considers not just the impact of religion on society but the social impact of research on religion. That is, what is of interest here is the way in which Humanities research can and should feed back into the everyday lives of religious practitioners and, in particular, what distinctive contribution philosophy of religion and theology can make to concrete religious discourse and practice.

We provide the context for contemporary engagement in the Humanities with lived religion and recent attempts to overcome (especially) philosophy of religion’s famed indifference here, honing in on two specific areas in which philosophy of religion can play a distinctive role in research on religion, society, law and democracy. We then introduce a series of impact events designed to explore how the impact of Humanities research on religion be encouraged and measured.

Dan Whistler came down to Bristol for the afternoon today, so we could have a meeting about our newly funded AHRC research impact network, “Philosophy and Religious Practices”. I’m going to be taking the reigns on a series of impact events with faith communities, testing theories for understanding and methods for measuring the impact of philosophy on religion, so we talked a bit about that aspect of the project, as well as about ideas for our first theoretical workshop. We also did some work on an abstract for a session on “The Impact of Research on Religion in the Humanities” for an international conference on “Impact of Religion” at Uppsala University (May 20-22 2013).

Dan was really great at stressing how central me and my work is going to be in the development of this network, since there really aren’t very many (any?) other academics working at the intersection of continental philosophy of religion and religious studies. It was a really validating after such a horrible week of job disappointment after job disappointment after job disappointment (which itself came after a summer of job disappointments). And has boosted my confidence again ahead of my meeting with Carolyn Muessig from Bristol tomorrow.

Thanks, Dan.

So this meeting, and the work I’m doing with Phil Snider on next year’s Subverting the Norm conference, is helping me pull myself out of this hole!

I really enjoyed my interview day at Bristol today.

Yesterday I felt really sick and nervous because I really want this job opportunity to work out. I’d love to be based near my immediate family and many of my school friends, but the more I researched the department itself the more connections I found between the expertise and interests of the staff members and my own aspirations for both teaching and research. In particular, the Department has strengths in philosophical and theological reflection on religious concepts as well as in textual studies, which connects with my work on the notions of truth and subjectivity and my focus on Paul’s letters. They also have the Centre for Christianity and Culture, where my work on emerging Christianity would neatly fit. Also, Bristol has two university-wide research themes that my future research on the reception of Paul’s letters amongst contemporary continental philosophers and on implications for identity politics would contribute towards (Identities and Reception). My work with the “Philosophy and Religious Practice” Impact Network would also contribute to reception studies, since our impact events will explore theories for understanding and methods for measuring the reception of philosophical texts within faith communities.

But the day went great. I felt relaxed and confident, able to articulate myself properly and to show my sense of humour. During my presentation (on “Zizek and Actually Existing Christianity”), the staff and students were really receptive to my research and really interested that I’m holding philosophy of religion together with religious studies. Rita Langer was especially passionate about trying to get undergraduate students to connect the study of texts with the study of how faith communities use texts and about encouraging them to undertake fieldwork. I also really liked chatting with Carolyn Muessig about her research on medieval female mystics and stigmata, since I did work during my Masters degree on a mystic called Benedetta Carlini (she was the topic of my very first conference paper!). And I thought Rupert Gethin’s work on Buddhism, the philosophy of the mind, and mental health would make him a great speaker for our forthcoming “Philosophy and Religious Practices” Network event on “Buddhism and Human Flourishing”. I also really enjoyed talking with a number of other staff, including George Ferzoco, Jonathan Campell and Jon Balserak, as well as some of the department’s current and recent research students.

I usually dread the “interview by lunch” portion of the day, but the staff all seemed really friendly and warm. So now I’m feeling even more nervous, because I really want to work with all these lovely people! 

In preparation for my interview at Bristol, I’m drafting outlines for undergraduate and postgraduate modules in philosophy of religion and ethics and writing handouts about my impact work (as the “Philosophy and Religious Practices” network was funded after I was shortlisted).

I’ve planned taught units that would enable me to both collaborate with colleagues and supplement existing provision, and I’m really excited about the opportunity to work on them further.

For the undergraduate programmes at Bristol (Religion & Theology, Theology & Philosophy, and Theology & Sociology), I’m going to pitch the following units:

Introduction to Philosophy of Religion (Year 1, 20 credits)

• Enables students to consider some of the key issues in the philosophy of religion, including the relationship between faith and reason; the concept and attributes of God; arguments for the existence of God; the nature of religious knowledge, language and experience; human freedom and the problem of evil; human identity, death and the afterlife; and the possibility of divine action in the world.
• Stretches students’ understanding of philosophy of religion (which students may have studied at A Level) through a deeper exploration of the Greek and medieval philosophical backgrounds to this discipline and encouraging the use of key primary texts. 
• Challenges students’ preconceptions of the philosophy of religion by introducing alternative approaches, including theories of religion; feminist philosophy of religion; continental philosophy of religion; and philosophical issues in world religions.

Texts include Copan, Philosophy of Religion; Classic and Contemporary Issues (Willey-Blackwell, 2007); Meister, Introducing Philosophy of Religion (Routledge, 2009); Meister and Copan, eds, The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Religion (Routledge, 2012); and Taliaferro and Griffiths, eds, Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology (Willey-Blackwell, 2003).

I just submitted my 10,000 word writing sample ahead of my interview for a lectureship in philosophy of religion at the University of Bristol. It’s basically an overview of the argument of my forthcoming book with Ashgate on Radical Theology and Emerging Christianity, to illustrate how I’m working at the intersection of continental philosophy of religion and religious studies.

My book takes the concepts of truth and the event as an exemplary site for the exploration of Caputo’s deconstructive theology and Žižek’s materialist theology and of the relationship between these two radical theologies and lived religion. Part One, “An Emerging A/Theistic Imaginary”, engages in a close reading of Žižek’s materialist theology and Caputo’s deconstructive theology in order to argue the following point: a Caputian a/theism is the proper framework for a Žižekian fighting collective. This central claim means both that Žižek’s political community of believers is properly a/theistic, ir/religious or faith/less, and that Caputo’s philosophical a/theology is also a cultural imaginary and socio-political practice. Part Two, “An Emerging Ir/Religious Politics”, illustrates how a Caputian-Žižekian cultural imaginary is already impacting the concrete practices of radical elements within what I call emerging Christianity, which I depict using the concept of an emerging church milieu. 

Peter Rollins is the primary catalyst for this emerging Caputian-Žižekian imaginary. By focusing on Rollins, I’m therefore examining the generative relationship between two radical theologies (theory, on the one hand), and emerging Christian discourse (practice, on the other), as well as the discursive processes and social and material mechanisms through which contemporary theological and philosophical thought is being embodied and enacted in a specific imaginary (praxis).

Hopefully I’ve been short-listed for interview because Bristol are interested in someone working across both philosophy of religion and religious studies. Fingers crossed for this one.

I’ve just heard from Dan Whistler (University of Liverpool) that our AHRC funding bid for a research impact network, ‘Philosophy and Religious Practices’, has been successful. This is great news. It means that I’ll have 5 hrs work a week for the duration of the project (Dec 2012 - Apr 2014) and will no longer be (totally) jobless. I will be able to put Administrator and Impact Co-ordinator as my current employment on my CV. At last! Current employment!!!

The research impact network is based on collaborative research links between the Departments of Philosophy at the University of Liverpool and of Theology, Philosophy and Religious Studies at Liverpool Hope University, the Centre for Faiths and Public Policy at the University of Chester, and faith communities in the North West of England.

Kester asked me a few weeks back to speak at Greenbelt this year (August 24 - 27), and I’ve decided to introduce and reflect on the Atheism for Lent course that I ran at Journey. I’ve just emailed in my presentation title and blurb:

Giving up God for Lent: A New Kind of Christian is A New Kind of Atheist

What did you give up for Lent? In Atheism for Lent, a six week course exploring great atheist critiques of religion, we tried to discover a richer faith in which our own atheisms, our own experiences of the absence of God, are recognised and remembered. Find out what we did, how it went, and why I think a new kind of Christian is also a new kind of atheist.