Power/Religion: A Revanche of Reaction or a Metaphor of Revolution?
Venues: Helsinki (University of Helsinki) and St Petersburg (European University at St Petersburg and Russian Christian Academy for Humanities)
Date: September 10–15, 2013
After a short-lived belief in the secularization of societies, religion has returned to the political arena with a vengeance. It is one of the most controversial but also determining political issues in today’s world. But is religion a reactionary force or does it involve revolutionary potentiality? This three-day international conference addresses questions pertaining to the relationship between power, politics, and religion.
Schedule
Wednesday September 11
Conference venue: Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki (Address: Fabianinkatu 24)
10:00 Opening words
10:15 – 10:45 Roland Boer (University of Newcastle), “Translating Religion and Politics: An Alternative Model.”
10:45 – 11:15 Niko Huttunen (University of Helsinki), “How Fantasy Becomes True: Paul between Political Realism and Eschatological Fantasy.”
11:15 – 11:45 Sergei Prozorov (University of Helsinki), “Pussy Riot and the Politics of Profanation.”
11:45 – 13:15 Lunch
13:15 – 13:45 Chin Ken Pa (Chung Yuan Christian University), “W. T. Chu’s Jesus the Proletarian.”
13:45 – 14:15 Olli-Pekka Moisio (University of Jyväskylä), “Max Horkheimer on Religion as a Resistance and Hope.”
14:15 – 14:45 Sergey Kozin (University of Newcastle), “Bakhtin: Between Hammer and Anvil, Christianity and Marxism.”
Coffee break
15:15 – 15:45 Sanna Tirkkonen (University of Helsinki), “Power, Religion and Justice: Foucault on the Cult of Dionysus.”
15:45 – 16:15 Lars T. Lih (McGill University) “Shield of Aeneas: Ancient and Modern Narratives of World-historical Mission.”
16:15 – 16:45 Philip Chia (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) “Occupy Central: Scribal Resistance in Daniel, the Long Road to Universal Suffrage”
16:45 – 17:00 Discussion
Thursday September 12
Conference venue: European University at St Petersburg (Address: #3 Gagarinskaya Street)
14:00 Opening words
14:15 – 14:45 Joseph Bartlett (Indiana University), “Extremism for Love: Horkheimer beyond the Age of Islamic Terror.”
14:45 – 15:15 Jouni Tilli (University of Jyväskylä), “’We should obey the nation state and God rather than men’: Lutheran Metanoia and the Politics of Obedience.”
15:15 – 15:45 Mika Ojakangas (University of Jyväskylä), “From Political Theology to Theological Politics.”
Coffee break
16:15 – 16:45 Youzhuang Geng (Renmin University of China), “The Rhetoric of Icons: from Image to Voice.”
16:45 – 17:15 Markku Koivusalo (University of Helsinki), “The Theological Structure of the 20th Century Extreme Political Thought”
17:15 – 17:45 Artemy Magun (European University, St Petersburg), TBA
17:45 – 18:00 Discussion
Friday September 13
Conference venue: European University at St Petersburg (Address: #3 Gagarinskaya Street)
11:00 – 11:30 Christina Petterson (Humboldt University of Berlin), “’Der Mensch muß immer im Streit seÿn’: Zinzendorf and the ideology of Language.”
11:30 – 12:00 Elisa Heinämäki (University of Helsinki), “What is Radical about Radical Pietism?”
12:00 – 12:30 Ali Al-Hakim (The I.C. – University of Middlesex), “Shi’ah’s Standpoint between Revolutionaries and Quietists.”
12:30 – 12:45 Discussion
12:45 – 14:00 Lunch
14:00 – 17:30 special section for additional Russian participants (in Russian), venue: Russian Christian Academy for Humanities (#15 nab. Fontanki floor 5)
Sponsors:
Subjectivity, Historicity, and Communality Research Group (Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki)
Academy of Finland (Faculty of Theology, University of Helsinki and the Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of Jyväskylä)
European University at St Petersburg (http://www.eu.spb.ru/)
Russian Christian Academy for Humanities (http://rhga.ru/)
Religion and Political Thought Project
Australian Research Council
