Next summer (June 20-July 8, 2011) I’ll be directing a 3-week seminar for scholars and advanced doctoral students, as well as select practitioners, under the auspices of the Seminars in Christian Scholarship at Christian College. Full information for applicants is available at their website.
DESCRIPTION
“Religion” has received increased attention from both social scientists and journalists over the past decade. But the phenomenon of religion has also been reconceived: rather than focusing simply on beliefs and doctrines, sociologists, anthropologists, and philosophers of religion are increasingly attentive to the role of practice and ritual as fundamental to religious identity. So rather than merely distilling the “worldview” of religious communities, scholars exegete the understanding implicit in worship practices. Thus one could speak of something like a “liturgical turn” in “cultural theory” –an appreciation for the formative role of cultural practices in constituting communities of meaning. This can be seen in the philosophical work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Charles Taylor; the social theory of Pierre Bourdieu and Christian Smith; research in social psychology as seen in the work of Timothy D. Wilson and John A. Bargh; and the theological developments in the work of Stanley Hauerwas, Graham Ward, and Craig Dykstra. This has important implications both for the study of religion, including Christianity, as well as for critical reflection on faithful religious practice.
WHO MAY APPLY
This seminar could appeal to a wide range of scholars and practitioners, and we’re hoping to bring together a team of both. For scholars, the “liturgical turn” has implications for how we account for and explain religious phenomena in the social sciences (sociology of religion, political science, and psychology of religion), philosophy of religion, and theology. For practitioners, attention to the” practiced” nature of faith-and hence the religious nature of some cultural practices (“secular liturgies”)-requires renewed intentionality about the shape of worship and spiritual formation.
As such, the seminar aims to bring together a mix of scholars and reflective practitioners to grapple with some of the primary texts behind the “turn to practice” in order to consider the implications of the liturgical turn for their area of research and practice. The seminar should particularly be of interest to scholars in sociology of religion, political science and political theory, philosophers of religion, and theologians working in liturgy theology and ethics. Practitioners could include pastors and worship leaders, campus ministers, even perhaps artists, writers, and journalists. Advanced PhD students are welcome to apply.