Conference Theme

Religious and spiritual teachers help people interpret their experiences and find meaning in their lives. This work is urgently needed in our time. Radio, television, and news groups sow polarization. Social media cultivates outrage. In the public sphere, disinformation mixes freely with information. People learn narrow understandings of religion, society, and politics.

How, then, should spiritual leaders and scholars of religion proceed? How can they offer wise guidance? Help others discern ethical paths of action? Reach out across divides in mutual understanding? Draw on scriptural and traditional resources to speak with integrity?

Possible paper topics

Culture wars and faith communities. Media silos and religious stereotyping. Social media and spiritual equanimity. Spiritual friendship across difference. Pop culture and religious marketing. Religious-secular polarization. Preaching in a diverse community. Celebrity preachers. Public ministry. Vaccination and faith communities. Challenges of Truth and Reconciliation. Community dialogues around race and gender. Sacred and historical stories about division and unity. And many other possibilities!

Conference papers can draw on multiple disciplines, including theology, religious studies, biblical studies, Indigenous studies, sociology, political science, legal studies, philosophy, literature, history, the arts. Papers can explore dynamics within one tradition or society, or common to multiple traditions or societies. They can be grounded in any spiritual or non-theistic tradition. Our aim is to create a helpful conversation.

Proposal Preparation Guidelines

Initial abstracts outlining the context and argument of the paper should be 100-200 words. Completed papers should be approximately 3,000 words. Papers should be clearly written, accessible to those outside the author’s discipline and religious tradition. Oral presentations of papers will be 20 minutes. A volume of revised conference papers will be published in the Pickwick Publications series “Inter-Religious Discussion and Public Life.”

Submission and Notification Schedule

Paper Title, 100-200 word Abstract, 50-word bio, and phone/email/postal contact information due February 28 to LDKaplan@vst.edu. We will notify presenters of acceptance no later than March 15. Completed papers due May 15.