Announcing “Religion and Civil Society: In the Vortex of Globalization and Tradition”

The International Research Network on Religion and Democracy (IRNRD) is hosting its sixth annual conference next week (Dec. 11-13) in Beirut, Lebanon, in partnership with Faculty of Law and Political Science at Notre Dame University Louaize (NDU) & The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (CRVP).  The conception of the conference is as follows:

The nexus between the modern idea of civil society and the societal influence of  religions is a complicated one. On the one hand, certain conceptions of religion are in conflict with this idea. On the other hand, various religiously motivated movements and groups – such as Faith-Based NGOs – intensively contribute to the dynamics of civil society in different countries in the West and on the global scenario. The so-called postsecular situation in the West, the open-ended and complex developments in the post-revolutionary Arab World, and recent developments in the countries of South and South-East-Asia in the same way and in multiple forms indicate the complexities of the contemporary situation. The conditions and variances of religious contributions to the formation of civil society are vectored by the particular localities within these contexts. At the same time, this dynamics is, to a great extent, influenced by the multiform processes of globalization, namely, the multidirectional traffic of people, ideas, goods and services, and broader cultural influences. The aim of the conference is to provide an inter-disciplinary forum for the discussion of the consequences and prospects of these developments.

We would encourage you to look at the excellent lineup of speakers and topics that they have on their program, which covers many of the topics and themes that we have discussed here at Political Theology Today over the past year—in particular, the thorough discussion of topics related to the Arab Spring and the Islamic perspectives represented at the conference complement our recent symposium on Islamic Political Theology.

The IRNRD has been doing extraordinary interdisciplinary work over the past few years and this conference promises to be no exception.