Symposia

We are excited to bring Spencer Dew, Nicholas Shrubsole, and Méadhbh McIvor into conversation about the juridification of religion and the religification of law, about the network of relationships that are exposed to us when law and religion interact, about a shared skepticism toward religious identities, and more.

While the visual medium is thus dominated by whiteness, there exists simultaneously a whiteness that permeates textual and other worlds in biblical scholarship.

While COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus, the violence exacerbated in its wake is anything but new.

However our times will be remembered—as the triumph of fascism or its nadir, as the end of capitalism or its beginning, as the death of the planet or its rebirth—this young century has been an era of contagion.

It is incumbent upon scholars to critically engage in the comfort women issue, particularly through the lens of political theology, in order to prevent future violence, sexual and otherwise, against various minorities throughout the world.

“Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.” Jesus said to them, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at him. (Mark 12:16-17, NRSV)

These questions of environmental justice become even more urgent in the face of our current crisis, as we see the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 on the same communities who suffer the most from other environmental harms.

A search for origins is also always a search for meaning. In a time of political crisis such as ours, when origin narratives are especially tempting, fresh reminders of their limitations and violent potential are welcome.

This second “flash” symposium seeks to continue our discussion on COVID-19, but from a broader, public angle.

This timely “flash” symposium explores how the crisis generated by COVID-19 might be analyzed through the lenses of political theology.

In times as uncertain as ours, these reflections serve as welcome reminders of the importance of political resistance, critique, and the near-militant self-awareness that characterizes Thoreau’s work.

It is ironic but evident that self-preservation and its varied expressions like self-interest and self-defense are routinely used to justify neglect, violence, and brutality towards others.