Conference: “Violence in the Name of Religion…”
Wednesday 13 July – Sunday 17 July 2016
St Patrick's Campus (Melbourne), Australian Catholic University
115 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy
Description: One of the most pressing issues of our time is the outbreak of extremist violence and terrorism, done in the name of religion. The conference will critically analyse the link made between religion and violence, and explore contemporary topics of great significance, such as Islamist terrorism and radicalization in its various political, economic, religious, military and technological dimensions. The conference seeks to make a critical contribution to the pressing issue of religious violence. The conference aims to bring together the insights of the French theorist, René Girard (one of the premier theorists of violence in the 20th century), with the latest scholarship on religion and violence, particularly in relation to extremist violence.
The conference is open to academics, professionals, religious practitioners, military, police, and anyone interested in engaging this topic in respectful dialogue.
We have an exciting range of internationally acclaimed speakers who will present at the conference:
- Professor Asma Afsaruddin (Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Indiana University, USA);
- Professor Anne Aly (Professorial Research Fellow, Edith Cowan University, and author of Terrorism and Global Security);
- Rev. Dr. Sarah Bachelard (Australian Catholic University, Canberra, and the author of Experiencing God in a Time of Crisis and Resurrection and Moral Imagination)
- Professor Greg Barton (Chair in Global Islamic Politics, Deakin University, Melbourne);
- Rev. Professor Frank Brennan SJ (Professor of Law, Australian Catholic University and Charles Sturt University);
- Associate Professor Kathleen Butler (Associate Professor in Anthropology and Sociology, University of Newcastle);
- Professor William T. Cavanaugh (Professor of Catholic Studies and Director of the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology, De Paul University and author of The Myth of Religious Violence);
- Professor Jean-Pierre Dupuy (Professor of Social and Political Philosophy at the École Polytechnique, Paris, and Professor of French and Professor of Political Science at Stanford University);
- Dr Chris Fleming (Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Western Sydney University, NSW);
- Most Rev Dr Philip Freier (Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne/Primate of The Anglican Church of Australia);
- Professor Wolfgang Palaver (Dean, Faculty of Theology, the University of Innsbruck); and
- Ms Naomi Wolfe (Aboriginal Academic and Lecturer in the National School of Arts, Australian Catholic University).
Extended biographies are available on the keynote speakers page.
Paper submissions are being accepted until 10 June. Paper submissions from any disciplinary area are welcome, as they relate to the conference theme or the work of Girard.
For more information or to register, please visit the conference website: http://www.acu.edu.au/covr2016. The conference flyer is attached.
The conference is a collaboration between the Australian Catholic University, the Colloquium on Violence and Religion (COV&R) and the Australian Girard Seminar.
