Conference Announcement and Call for Papers
4th International Conference: “Interreligious Relations and Ecumenical Issues”
(IREI)
Belief Diversity and the Lived Experience of Religion: Narratives and
Interpretations
Internationale Konferenzen: „Interreligiöse Beziehungen und ökumenische Fragen“ (IROF)
4. Internationale Konferenz „Interreligiöse Beziehungen und ökumenische Fragen“ (IREI):
Glaubensvielfalt und gelebte Erfahrung von Religion: Zeugnisse und Interpretationen
27.-29. Oktober 2016
The 4th International Conference ‘Interreligious Relations and Ecumenical
Issues’
will be held at the University of Bern, 27-29 October 2016.
The theme of this conference is ‘Belief Diversity and the Lived Experience of Religion:
Narratives and
Interpretations’ (Glaubensvielfalt und gelebte Erfahrung von Religion: Zeugnisse und
Interpretationen’). The conference aims to address issues pertinent to the intersecting themes
of
religious diversity and the day-to-day ‘lived experience’ of religion in the 21st
century. As the
theme relates to the vision and function of the Haus der Religionen where several religious
communities engage with each other in Bern, the conference will include sessions to be held at the
Haus as well as engaging with the wider community.
Papers (20-25 minutes for presentation) are invited that examine, among other things, the place and
role of
religion(s) within contemporary everyday secular society. Questions about the mutual ways in which
religious
praxis and diversity of belief engages, challenges, or confronts an increasing sense of
irreligiosity that,
arguably, dominates presumptions about the nature of secular society in the West, are among the
sorts of
issues that this conference seeks to explore. What are the markers of lived experiences of diverse
communities
of faith? In what way do the dominant narratives of major religions take root and/or are subject to
fresh
interpretation within the context of secular society and belief diversity? Should religiosity be
more or less
visible in the public sphere?
The conference languages will be English (primarily) and German.
Please submit an abstract (no more than half a page) by 1 May, 2016 to Professor
Douglas Pratt at: dpratt@waikato.ac.nz.
Advice of
acceptance will be made by 1 June 2016. All general inquires also to this address, please.
The conference is organised by the Departement für Christkatholische Theologie and convened by
Professors
Angela Berlis and Douglas Pratt.
Select papers may be published in the IKZ Bern Interreligious and Oecumenical (IKZ-bios) series. The
first
volumes of this series – Interreligious Engagement and Theological Reflection: Ecumenical
Explorations (edited by Douglas Pratt) and ‘From Encounter to Commitment:
Interreligious
Experience and Theological Engagement’ (edited by Angela Berlis and Douglas Pratt) are
available for
purchase. See www.ikz-bios.unibe.ch
→ Call for Papers