Society for the Phenomenology of Religious Experience (SOPHERE) – Hosted by the University of Galway and St. Angela’s College, Sligo.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Society for the Phenomenology of Religious Experience (SOPHERE) Conference 2023:
Religious Experience and the Phenomenology of Nature
16th – 19th August 2023
CFP deadline: March 15 2023
Hosted by the University of Galway and St. Angela’s College, Sligo
See: https://sophere.org/conferences/
Theme of the Conference
Faced as we are with climate change, mass extinctions of species, global pandemics, there is probably no more pressing theme today than that of nature. It is, however, not at all clear what we mean by ‘nature’, and whether discourse about nature is even meaningful today. Many speak of the ‘death of nature’ while at another extreme we find the exhortation toward a ‘re-enchantment’ of [by] nature. What the conference aims to explore is the place of religious experience within this our current situation.
The organisers are delighted to have great keynote speakers for this conference:
- Dr. Timothy Mooney is Associate Professor in the School of Philosophy, University College Dublin.
- Dr. Martin Nitsche is Professor and Researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.
- Prof. Timothy Howles is Assistant Director for Research Programming at the Laudato Si’ Research Institute at the University of Oxford.
- Prof. Dr. Dr. Olga Louchakova-Schwartz, President of SOPHERE, will give the Presidential address.
Abstracts/Papers
If you wish to present a paper, please send either an anonymized paper of no more than 3,000 words or an abstract of no more than 600 words free of any identifying information, and in Word format, to [email protected] by March 15th 2023 (midnight Irish time). Although the organisers are accepting abstracts, preference will be given to completed papers. In a separate document, send identifying information. You should receive an email acknowledging your submission.
The organisers welcome abstracts from multiple perspectives, including from postgraduate researchers. Areas of interest include the first-person phenomenological perspective and research of religious experience in the following contexts (though not limited to these):
- Natural Theology and Revelation
- Religious Nature Poetry
- Eco-feminism
- Nature Aesthetics
- Environmental Aesthetics
- Naturphilosophie
- Eastern, Northern, and Southern Perspectives
- Nature and Grace
- Philosophy of Nature in Different Religious Traditions
- Metaphysics of Nature
- Subjectivity and Nature
- Phenomenology of Spiritual Practices in Nature
- Eco-phenomenology and Religious Experience
Timeline:
- 10th September 2022: CfA/P opens
- 15th March 2023 (midnight Ireland): CfA/P closes
- Mid-June 2023: Abstract submission outcomes communicated
- Early July 2023: Speaker and delegate registration opens
Selection process:
- Papers/Abstracts will undergo blind peer-review by members of the SOPHERE board and of the Conference Committee.
- The organisers intend to inform everyone of the outcome of their submission by 15 June 2023.
If you have any questions about the conference, please email the conference organizers:
Professor Felix Ó Murchadha: [email protected]
Dr. Mary Shanahan: [email protected]