Call for Panels

Asian New Religions, Science, and the Use of New Technologies

We invite proposals for panels and individual papers that focus on the
following or related themes:

a) The place of science in the teachings of new religions in Asia

b) The use of new media in Asian new religions

We welcome case studies dealing, for example, with the ways in which the
notion/concept of science is used by the leaders of new religious
movements in Asia to increase the authority and legitimacy of their
teachings, or with the various and changing strategies deployed to
question the validity of Western science and to propagate alternative
meaning systems. Further, we welcome proposals of papers or panels on
the use of new technologies by new religious movements in Asia.

Abstract proposals (max. 200 words) should be sent directly to István
Keul (istvan.keul@ntnu.no) before August 1.

I would like to organise a couple of panels at the IAHR Special Conference Religions, Science and Technology in Cultural Contexts: Dynamics of Change (see Call for Papers), exploring the following problem area:

Similarities and differences between Christian and Islamic versions of Creationism, and the relative significance of cosmologies and contextual factors:

Questions addressed could include, for example:

1. The role of creation myths and cosmologies in Christian and Islamic versions of Creationism, and the extent to which they refer to their respective scriptures or to other sources;
2. Relationships between creation myths/cosmologies and ontology and epistemology;
3. Implications of Christian and Islamic creationism in natural and social sciences, e.g. to what extent can ‘creationists' accommodate the notion of open-ended natural and social evolution, and the evidence-based study of such change?
4. What role do notions of destiny (communal, national, global) and teleology play in creationism in Christianity and Islam?
5. What are the significant social, contextual factors involved in the emergence of creationism in both religions, and how can they be weighted against the significance of cosmology/creation myths/teleology?

Kindly direct abstract proposals of 200 words and any questions concerning these panels to Ulrika Mårtensson (ulrika.martensson@hf.ntnu.no) by 1 August.

Religions, science and technology in education and development projects run by religious agents

Representatives of different religions or religious agencies are running education and development projects in many corners of the world. Especially in economically poor places, religious agents make efforts at educating and developing sectors of society in what they variously consider beneficial ways. In doing so, they often serve as introducers, instructors and access providers of science and technology as well as of religion.

Their labours are designed to generate certain changes in the receiving community. The responses that they are met with and the consequences that they cause may nevertheless vary. Particular uses of, ideas about and relationships between religions, science and technology arise in such settings. This may in turn contribute in creating new dynamics of change, in local communities where projects are executed, and in the larger religious communities of the project managers.

 At the IAHR Special Conference Religions, Science and Technology in Cultural Contexts: Dynamics of Change, to be held in Trondheim, Norway, 1-3 March 2012(see Call for Papers), panels will be assigned for case studies that shed light on complex relationships between specific religious agents of this kind, the projects that they run, and the social and cultural environments in which they operate.

 Abstract proposals (of 200 words) and any questions concerning these panels may be directed to Bjørn Ola Tafjord (bjorn.tafjord@uit.no).