Call For Papers: Christian Left Conference Cohosted by CPRSE

ICS's Centre for Philosophy, Religion, and Social Ethics is joining Emmanuel College’s Centre for Religion and Its Contexts, Trinity St. Paul's United Church, and the Toronto Mennonite Theological Centre to host the second Christian Left Conference (free and online) on July 23-24, 2021. Conference details and Call For Papers (due March 19) follow below:

Rethinking the Christian Left from the Belly of Empire:
Charting New Paths Beyond Colonization

What does it mean to speak of a Christian Left? Who is included under the label the Christian Left? In the last decades, the Christian left has been undergoing enormous reconfiguration: new actors, issues, and concerns have uncovered the colonial underbelly of the Christian Left. From the Suffrage movements through to the Social Gospel, and continuing through liberation theologies and political theologies to today, these reconfigurations have included an emergence of different approaches to reading the Bible, the articulation of alternative approaches to theology and ethics, and the crossing of disciplinary boundaries. These various actors have complexified idealized notions of the Christian Left in Canada and across the globe, and invite us to critique and dismantle its colonizing features.

Call for Papers

The Christian Left Conference invites proposals that intentionally reflect on the emergence of historical “new” actors and voices in the Christian Left. Proposals can be related to (re)tracing the historical, theological and biblical-hermeneutical developments of the Christian Left and its present disciplinary reorientation. Topics related to the interconnection between social movements and actors, the disciplinary cross-fertilization on the areas of interreligious collaboration, the dismantling of traditional canons of theology and biblical hermeneutics, and the reconceptualization of the human experience are especially welcome.

This conference is interdisciplinary and welcomes papers from many fields, primarily theological studies, biblical interpretation, preaching and worship, congregational and community ministry, history, ethics and political theology, as well as religious studies, sociology, anthropology, literary studies, philosophy and the humanities broadly understood. Papers engaging with Canadian contexts are particularly encouraged; we also welcome papers from across the world.

Proposals are due March 19, 2021 and can be submitted online here:
https://bit.ly/cfpchristianleft2021

If you have any questions, please email: ec.events@utoronto.ca.