海角社区

2024 Upcoming Events

听

From Tragedy to the Travesty of a Triumph: The Flavian Celebration of Judaea鈥檚 Fall

Prof. Steve Mason

Professor Emeritus of Ancient Mediterranean Religions and Cultures

University of Groningen

听

10础惭鈥�12笔惭

Tuesday, December 3

Birks Building,

Senior Common Room

Poster for event click this link:听听Mason_The Flavian Celebration of Judaea鈥檚 Fall_Dec 3rd lecture

听

Birks Annual Lecture Series

An annual series was established in 1950 through the generosity of the late William M. Birks. The lectures are given by distinguished visitors, usually in late September or early October. The first lecturer was the Right Reverend Leslie Hunter. More recent lecturers have included Huston Smith, Northrop Frye, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Gregory Baum, Jurgen Moltmann, Robert McFee Brown, Krister Stendahl, James Barr, Charles J. Adams, John H. Hick, Jon Levenson, David Little, Azim Nanji, Paul Griffiths, Bernadette J. Brooten, Harvey G. Cox, John S. Hawley, Gabriel Vahanian, Oliver O'Donovan, Jan Assmann, Donald Lopez, R茅mi Brague, David Fergusson, John J. Collins, David Shulman, Talal Asad, Robert L. Wilken, Jens Schroter, Rachel Fell McDermott, Tomoko Masuzawa and Thomas Joseph White, O.P.

2023

Public lectures by Thomas Joseph White, O.P.
Rector Magnificus, Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Rome

On the Trinity: The Human Drive for Ultimate Explanations and the Intellectual Search for the Presence of God
Monday, September 18 at 5:30.

Chalcedonian Christology and Philosophical Metaphysics
Tuesday, September 19 at 5:30.

Poster for lectures birks_lectures2023_thomas-j-white_sept_18-19_revised_poster.pdf

Private graduate seminar, details TBA
Tuesday, September 19 at 2:30

2022

Queen in the Attic: Theology and the University.
What Was the University for?

Tuesday, October 11 at 16:30

Queen in the Attic: Theology and the University
Where Was Theology, and How Did We Get This Wrong?

Poster for lecture

Wednesday, October 12 at 16:30

2019

Public lecture, The Worlds that Translation Opens, by Professor Rachel Fell McDermott, Professor and Chair of the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures, Barnard College, Columbia University
Creating and Translating a Giant: The Curious Journeys of Omar Khayyam, Tuesday, October 8 at 5:30 p.m.
Translating and Creating a Genre: The Legacy of Muslim Devotional Singing in Two Bengals, Wednesday, October 9 at 5:30 p.m.
Poster

Public lecture, The Formation of the Christian Bible: Current Trends and New Perspectives, by Professor Jens Schr枚ter, Chair of Exegesis and Theology of the New Testament and New Testament Apocrypha at the Humboldt-Universitat of Berlin
The Emergence of the New Testament Canon: "Canonical" and "Apocryphal" Writings in Early Christianity, Wednesday, September 26 at 5:30 p.m.
The Septuagint, Jewish Writings, and the 'Old Testament': Authoritative Writings in Second Temple Judaism and the Formation of the Christian Bible, Thursday, September 27 at 5:30 p.m.
Poster

2017

Public lecture,听Christian Origins of Religious Freedom, by Professor Robert Louis Wilken, Professor Emeritus of the History of Christianity, University of Virginia
Endowed with Freedom, Tuesday, October 3 at 5:30 p.m.
Liberty in the Things of God, Wednesday, October 4 at 5:30 p.m.
Poster

2016

Public lecture by Professor Talal Asad, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center
Reflections on Secularization and Christianity, Tuesday, November 1 at 5:30 p.m.
Thinking about Translation, Paideia and Secularization, Wednesday, November 2 at 3:30 p.m.
Poster

2015

Public lecture by Professor David Shulman, Renee Lang Professor of Humanistic Studies, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
Kudiyattam: The Last Living Sanskrit Theater in the World, Tuesday, October 13
The Making of a Grisly Goddess, Wednesday, October 14
Poster; ; .

2014

Public lecture by Professor John J. Collins, Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation, Yale Divinity School
Torah and Jewish Identity in Second Temple Judaism, Tuesday, October 21
Non-Mosaid forms of Judaism in the Second Temple Period, Wednesday, October 22
Poster; ;

2013

Public lecture by Professor David Fergusson, October 15 and 16
The Theology of Providence: Perspectives and Problems
View video recording of the two lectures: ;

2012

Public lecture by Professor R茅mi Brague, October 9
The Question Atheism Can't Answer; Remi Brague at 海角社区;

2011

Public lecture series given by Professor Donald Lopez, September 26 and 27
Buddhism among the Religions

2010

Public lectures by Professor Jan Assmann, October 12 and 13
Lecture audio podcast: ;

2009

Public Lecture by Dr. Olivier O'Donovan, October 14 and 15
Faith and Society

Birks Forum 2022

On the World's Religions and Public
Policy Indigeneity and Christianity in Global Context:
Troubled Histories and Unsettled Futures

The Birks Forum 2022 is pleased to announce a webinar series interrogating the history, current challenges, and opportunities at the intersection of Indigenous communities and Christianity. This series will explore specific issues in diverse global contexts: Asia, Africa, Latin America, North America, and Australasia.

While there is significant range of issues that affect diverse Indigenous communities in their engagement with Christianity 鈥� education, environment, gender, reconciliation, peace-building 鈥� each webinar will highlight issues that have emerged as pivotal for the community under discussion. Keynote speakers are Indigenous leaders, scholars, and actors from diverse disciplinary perspectives, both within and beyond the academy.

For more information, and to register for the events in the series, please see

听

Part two of lecture series: North East India
Decolonizing and Indigenizing Christianity:
An Indigenous People's Perspective

Thursday, 12 May at 20:00-21:30 ET

Poster for lecture

Registration link:

G. Campbell Wadsworth Lectures

The G. Campbell Wadsworth memorial Lecture series was established in 1997 by the Estate of Dr. G. Campbell Wadsworth. A series of lectures on the life and works of John Calvin is organized on a bi-annual basis. The first G. Campbell Wadsworth memorial Lecture was presented by Professor Alan J. Torrance; the second, by Professor Colin Gunton; the third by Professor John Webster; the fourth by Professor Joan Lockwood O'Donovan.

Reverend Wadsworth was Minister of the Montreal West United Church for many years, a keen student of the history and doctrine of the Reformation, and an active member of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.

2022

Dr. R. Ward Holder, Tuesday, October 4 at 16:30

John Calvin, the Christian Tradition, and Western Modernity

R. Ward Holder is a historical and political theologian, and professor of theology at Saint Anselm College, in Manchester, New Hampshire. Across his career, he has examined the era of the Reformations, the work of John Calvin, how various faith communities interpret scripture, and modern political theology.

2019

Wadsworth Memorial Calvin Lecture by Dr. Richard Rex, September 9
The Reformation in England and France: Tales of the Unexpected

2017

Wadsworth Memorial Calvin Lecture by Dr. Elsie McKee, March 21
Calvin the Biblical Theologian

2012

Wadsworth Memorial Calvin Lecture by Professor Bruce Gordon, February 15
Scripture and Church: Calvin, Servetus and Castellio

2009

Public Lecture by Dr. Joan Lockwood O'Donovan, October 13
Faith and Society: Human Dignity and Human Justice

Islamic Encounters Series

2019

Repoliticizing the Silk Road: China in Islamic Political Thought Geographical Imagination, by Dr. Kaveh Hemmat, Benedictine University.

Women of the Empire from Zoroastrianism to Islam, by Dr. Fatemeh Sadeghi, 海角社区.

The Problem of 'Human Natue' in Greek and Islamic Thought, by Dr. Michael Nafi, John Abbott College.

In the Aftermath of the Revolution: Islam, Translation, and the 'Outside', by Dr. Milad Odabaei, 海角社区.

Dreaming at the Threshold of the Law: An Islamic Liturgy of of Healing, by Dr. Stefania Pandolfo, University of California, Berkeley.

Magic of Warlords: Imperial Occult Science in the Early Modern Persian Cosmopolis, by Dr. Matthew Melvin-Koushki, University of South Carolina.

Muslim Initiatives in International Interreligious Dialogue, Dr. Patrice Brodeur, Universit茅 de Montr茅al.

2018

Islam, Science and the Gender of Reason, by Dr. Alireza Doostdar, University of Chicago.

Rethinking the Jewish-Muslim Past in the Twentieth Century Maghrib through music, by Dr. Christopher Silver, 海角社区.

For Love of the Prophet: The Art of Islamic State-Making in Sudan, by Dr. Noah Salomon, Carleton College.

New perspectives on Christian philosophers in medieval Islamic Baghdad, by Dr. Damien Janos, Universit茅 de Montr茅al and Dr. Robert Wisnovsky, 海角社区.

Mawlana Rumi's Spiritual Legacy within World Civilizations, by Dr. Bilal Kuspinar, Necmettin Ebakan University, Turkey.

Miraly Pluralism Lecture Series

Established in 2019 in support of a Lecture Series to explore issues of pluralism and diversity in secular societies. It will provide an opportunity for international scholar to engage in and develop studies and dialogue in Religious Studies and Arts, and may also draw on other disciplines, such as Law, Medicine, as appropriate in the thematic of a given year.

Religion, Politics, and Society Lecture Series

Public lecture by Professor Ate艧 Altinordu, Sabanci University, Istanbul. Politics and Unbelief in Turkey. Friday, May 17, 2019 from 10:00鈥�11:30.
Poster

Public lecture by Professor Ate艧 Altinordu, Sabanci University, Istanbul.
The Political Incorporation of Anti-System Religious Parties: The Case of Turkish Political Islam. Wednesday, November 16, 2016 from 11:30鈥�13:00.
Poster

ReOrienting the Global Study of Religion

Thursday, November 18

9:00 AM 鈥� 11:45 AM (EST/UTC-5)

Chair: Armando Salvatore, 海角社区

Syed Farid Alatas, National University of Singapore

"Ibn Khaldun and Autonomous Knowledge Production"

Abstract: In order for theory to be relevant to the Third World/Periphery/South it needs to be challenged. The nature of that challenge is the deparochialisation of theory. The discipline of sociology and other social sciences have been slow to do this. Recently, however, there have been efforts to address the problem by way of the critique of canons and foundational theories of the discipline. This paper is a contribution in the direction of such critique to render the disciplines less parochial. This paper is divided into three parts. First it introduces the theme of silencing that manifests itself in the recounting of the voyages of discovery that began mere decades after the death of Ibn Khaldun. The paper then turns to the reconstruction of Khaldunian theory in the context of modern historical and area studies. The idea here is to provide a structure that may be used to construct social theory from the works of those thinkers from the South that are considered to be potential sources of alternative, non-Eurocentric theory. The thinker under consideration here is Ibn Khaldun. The paper ends with a discussion on autonomous knowledge as a more productive and critical way of thinking about knowledge production as opposed to the decolonization of knowledge. Ibn Khaldun is seen to be relevant to the challenge of hegemonic orientations other than Eurocentrism.

听

10:30 AM 鈥� 11:45 Am (EST/UCT-5)

Chair: Armando Salvatore, 海角社区

Heba Raouf Ezzat, Ibn Haldun University, Istanbul, Turkey

鈥淭he Tribe and the Nomos of the Earth: The Relevance of Ibn Khaldun鈥�

Abstract: The work of Ibn Khaldun has been read in many ways, focusing often on his notion of 鈥榓蝉补产颈测测补丑 and the nature of the social bond in tribal societies that motivates power exercise, territorial expansion and the rise of dynasties. The spatial ordering of society plays a crucial role in this vision. This presentation attempts to explore the notion of order and its configurations in space in the Muqaddimah, and how Ibn Khaldun鈥檚 political imagination was based on an understanding of the nomos of the earth on three levels: the cosmic nomos, the material/spatial nomos and the sociological nomos. While a dominant approach to the reading of Ibn Khaldun was understanding tribal societies as hierarchical, or history as cyclical, I will try to examine heterarchy in the three levels of the nomos. To relate the above to contemporary debates in political theory, Carl Schmitt is invited to this discussion where his understanding of the nomos as the order of appropriation, distribution and production in every society is highlighted. I will also refer to Michel Maffesoli and his work on neo-tribalism.

Monday, September 13

12:00PM - 2:45PM (Montreal)

Chair: Dyala Hamzah, Universit茅 de Montr茅al

12:00-1:15PM (Montreal)

Ali Benmakhlouf, Professeur de philosophie 脿 l鈥檜niversit茅 de Paris Est Cr茅teil

Ibn Khaldun: logique et grammaire de la civilisation

R茅sum茅: La conf茅rence vise 脿 indiquer les dettes m茅thodologiques et 茅pist茅miques d鈥橧bn Khaldun 脿 l鈥櫭ゞard des philosophes-logiciens qui l鈥檕nt pr茅c茅d茅 (Averro猫s). Les modalit茅s logiques du n茅cessaire et du possible sont investies dans l鈥檕rdre historique pour rendre compte de la soci茅t茅 humaine (n茅cessaire) et du fait historique (possible). Il en va de m锚me pour le statut de la rh茅torique, qui passe du statut de partie de la logique, qu鈥檈lle avait chez Al Farabi et chez Averro猫s, 脿 une composante s茅mantique de la notion de civilisation (circulation de signes dans l鈥檈fficace du pouvoir politique). Ces analyses 茅pist茅miques sont une base pour remettre en cause la r茅ception coloniale d鈥橧bn Khaldun qui a attribu茅 脿 l鈥檋istorien une conception cyclique de l鈥檋istoire, absente de son 艙uvre.

听

1:30-2:45PM (Montreal)

Chair: Dyala Hamzah, Universit茅 de Montr茅al

Waseem El-Rayes, Associate Professor of Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy, James Madison College, Michigan State University

Nothing Human is Forever: Ibn Khaldun and the Morals (鈥榠bar) of Cyclical History

Abstract: This paper argues that the notion of 鈥榥othing human is forever,鈥� as a product of both religious conviction and philosophical reflection, is a key moral (or 鈥�ibra) in Ibn Khaldun鈥檚 Kitab al-鈥業bar, one that informs his understanding of the material and psychological bases for the rise and fall of political regimes. The paper outlines: 1) what makes nothing human is forever a moral, 2) how it shapes the ancient and medieval view of cyclical history, and 3) how it informs Ibn Khaldun鈥檚 philosophy of history.

March 24, 2021, 1:30 PM EDT (UTC-4).

H眉seyin Y谋lmaz,听George Mason University, Patron Saints of the Rum and their Chosen Dynasty: The Story of Ottomans in Sufi Hagiographies

The Keenan Chair of Interfaith Studies and the James 海角社区 Professor of Islamic Philosophy are collaborating in a reflection on religion, Islam, and cosmopolitanism associated with 海角社区鈥檚 academic tradition of Islamic Studies, and epitomized by scholars such as Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Fazlur Rahman, and Toshihiko Izutsu.

In preparation for the Keenan Conference on World Religions and Globalization, we are hosting an online lecture series titled ReOrienting the Global Study of Religion: History, Theory, and Society. While the study of the Islamosphere has stimulated a critical reconceptualization of the notion of religion, we would like to extend this reflection to how religious concepts have been embedded in broader views of history and society, including the Western colonial construction of the 鈥淢iddle East鈥� as the cradle not just of Islam but of all Abrahamic religions.

The seventh speaker in the series will be Prof. H眉seyin Y谋lmaz, George Mason University. The title of the lecture, which will be followed by a Q&A, is Patron Saints of the Rum and their Chosen Dynasty: The Story of Ottomans in Sufi Hagiographies. Professor Asl谋han G眉rb眉zel, 海角社区, will serve as a discussant of the lecture.

Abstract: The post-Mongol Western Anatolia was a breeding ground for ambitious Turkic chieftains and charismatic saints competing for a new spiritual and political order. These rulers and dervishes, often clashing with each other, constantly negotiated the nature and boundaries of spiritual and temporal authorities. This talk will elaborate on how hagiographies reflected Sufistic visions of authority and portrayed the Ottomans from the 14th through the 16th centuries.

H眉seyin Y谋lmaz is currently an associate professor in Department of History and Art History, and research director at the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University. He received his PhD in 2005 from Harvard University in History and Middle Eastern Studies. From 2005 to 2009 he taught at the Humanities Program and Department of History, Stanford University. From 2009 to 2012 he taught in Department of History, University of South Florida. As research fellow, he spent Spring 2010 at Internationales Forschungszentrum Kulturwissenschaften, Vienna. His research interests include political thought, geographic imageries, social movements, and cultural history of the Ottoman Empire and the broader Islamicate world of the early modern era. He is the author of Caliphate Redefined: The Mystical Turn in Ottoman Political Thought (Princeton University Press, 2018). His recent publications include 鈥淭he Eastern Question and the Ottoman Empire: The Genesis of the Near and Middle East in the Nineteenth Century鈥� and 鈥淔rom Serbestiyet to 贬眉谤谤颈测别迟: Ottoman Statesmen and the Question of Freedom During the Late Enlightenment.鈥�

: Patron Saints of the Rum and their Chosen Dynasty: The Story of Ottomans in Sufi Hagiographies
Poster of lecture: Patron Saints of the Rum and their Chosen Dynasty: The Story of Ottomans in Sufi Hagiographies

March 10, 2021, 1:30 PM EST (UTC -5).

Professor Setrag Manoukian, 海角社区, Towards a Poetic Sociology of Iran

The Keenan Chair of Interfaith Studies and the James 海角社区 Professor of Islamic Philosophy are collaborating in a reflection on religion, Islam, and cosmopolitanism associated with 海角社区鈥檚 academic tradition of Islamic Studies, and epitomized by scholars such as Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Fazlur Rahman, and Toshihiko Izutsu.

In preparation for the Keenan Conference on World Religions and Globalization, to be held in Montreal in May 2022, we are hosting an online lecture series titled ReOrienting the Global Study of Religion: History, Theory, and Society. While the study of the Islamosphere has stimulated a critical reconceptualization of the notion of religion, we would like to extend this reflection to how religious concepts have been embedded in broader views of history and society, including the Western colonial construction of the 鈥淢iddle East鈥� as the cradle not just of Islam but of all Abrahamic religions.

The sixth speaker in the series will be Prof. Setrag Manoukian, 海角社区. The title of the lecture, which will be followed by a Q&A, is Towards a Poetic Sociology of Iran.

Abstract: Poetry occupies a specific place in Iran鈥檚 history, culture and everyday life. This is perhaps no different from other countries in the Middle East or the world at large; however, media and scholarly narratives often see an essential connection between Iranians and their poems, and use these texts to explain Iranian politics, morality, and the self. A variant of this approach considers poetry as a pivotal expression of political dissent and existential angst.

As a counterpoint to these narratives, this talk analyses the power of poetry in Iran by examining the constitutive relationship between poetry and social configurations in light of contemporary poetic practice in the city of Shiraz. Instead of a sociology of Iranian poetry, I propose a poetic sociology of Iran.

Prof. Setrag Manoukian is an anthropologist interested in knowledge and its relationship with power, understood both as existential and social force. He approaches cities, poems, videos and other technologies as forms of knowledge with specific existential trajectories and attends to their historicity. His special area is Iran. He is looking for ways to pursue Giambattista Vico鈥檚 combination of anthropology and philology.

: Towards a Poetic Sociology of Iran
Poster of lecture: Towards a Poetic Sociology of Iran

February 17, 2021, 2:00 PM EST (UTC-5).

Dr Benjamin Schewel, Duke University, Imagining the Islamic Ecumene: Marshall Hodgson as Philosopher of History

The Keenan Chair of Interfaith Studies and the James 海角社区 Professor of Islamic Philosophy are collaborating in a reflection on religion, Islam, and cosmopolitanism associated with 海角社区鈥檚 academic tradition of Islamic Studies, and epitomized by scholars such as Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Fazlur Rahman, and Toshihiko Izutsu.

In preparation for the Keenan Conference on World Religions and Globalization, to be held in Montreal in May 2022, we are hosting an online lecture series titled ReOrienting the Global Study of Religion: History, Theory, and Society. While the study of the Islamosphere has stimulated a critical reconceptualization of the notion of religion, we would like to extend this reflection to how religious concepts have been embedded in broader views of history and society, including the Western colonial construction of the 鈥淢iddle East鈥� as the cradle not just of Islam but of all Abrahamic religions.

The fifth speaker in the series will be Dr Benjamin Schewel, Duke University. The title of the lecture, which will be followed by a Q&A, is Imagining the Islamic Ecumene: Marshall Hodgson as Philosopher of History.

Abstract: Ibn Khaldun's studies of the rise and fall of Islamicate empires have proven to be of widespread and enduring relevance within broader fields of social scientific research.

In the same vein, this lecture argues, the insights that Marshall Hodgson derives from his far-reaching study of the origins and evolution of the Islamicate ecumene should figure centrally in the ongoing efforts of philosophers, social theorists, and humanistic scholars of various sorts to reconceptualize world history through a non-Western-centric and more spiritually sympathetic lens.

In order to advance this claim, the presentation situates Hodgson's major world-historical arguments within the discourse on the nature and implications of the Axial Age (800-200 BCE), an approach that he consciously utilizes to orient his analyses in The Venture of Islam.

Benjamin Schewel is a Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University and Director of the Center on Modernity in Transition (COMIT). He additionally serves as an Affiliate Member of the School of Religious Studies at 海角社区 and as an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. He is the author of Seven Ways of Looking at Religion, published by Yale University Press in 2017, and is currently finishing a second book, also to be published by Yale University Press, entitled, Encountering the Axial Age.

: Imagining the Islamic Ecumene: Marshall Hodgson as Philosopher of History
Poster of lecture: Imagining the Islamic Ecumene: Marshall Hodgson as Philosopher of History

January 27, 2021, 1:30 PM EST (UTC -5).

Prof. Timur Hammond, Syracuse University, Religion In, Of, and From the City

The Keenan Chair of Interfaith Studies and the James 海角社区 Professor of Islamic Philosophy are collaborating in a reflection on religion, Islam, and cosmopolitanism associated with 海角社区鈥檚 academic tradition of Islamic Studies, and epitomized by scholars such as Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Fazlur Rahman, and Toshihiko Izutsu.

In preparation for the Keenan Conference on World Religions and Globalization, to be held in Montreal in Spring 2022, we are hosting an online lecture series titled ReOrienting the Global Study of Religion: History, Theory, and Society. While the study of the Islamosphere has stimulated a critical reconceptualization of the notion of religion, we would like to extend this reflection to how religious concepts have been embedded in broader views of history and society, including the Western colonial construction of the 鈥淢iddle East鈥� as the cradle not just of Islam but of all Abrahamic religions.

The fourth speaker in the series will be Prof. Timur Hammond, Syracuse University. The title of the lecture, which will be followed by a Q&A, is Religion In, Of, and From the City. The lecture is based on a chapter that Professor Hammond is contributing to The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East in course of publication (both online and in print) with Oxford University Press, edited by Armando Salvatore, Sari Hanafi, and Kieko Obuse:

Abstract:

The 鈥榗ity鈥� and 鈥榬eligion鈥� have a long and rich history in scholarship in, of, and about the Middle East, ranging from early articulations of the 鈥業slamic city鈥� to more recent engagements with questions of politics, urban life, everyday experience, and governance. Yet despite a shared interest in the place of religion in the city, scholars often operate from quite distinct methodological, conceptual, and epistemological positions. In this talk, I identify four meta-questions that underpin much of this scholarship: (1) How do we conceptualize 鈥榬eligion鈥� and the 鈥榗ity鈥� as linked objects of study? (2) How and why do we think about religious difference within and between cities? (3) Is there a single urban process? (4) And what are the advantages and disadvantages of framing our work as a regional analysis of the Middle East?

Paying greater attention to these questions provides an opportunity to revisit 鈥� and perhaps reframe 鈥� the unacknowledged assumptions that tend to structure our research questions, methods, disciplinary approaches, and findings. Indeed, I use the talk to suggest that beginning from these questions opens up new opportunities for an expanded interdisciplinary exchange. In the process, we might develop new opportunities for more responsive, reflexive, and responsible approaches to studying religion in, of, and from the city.

Timur Hammond is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and the Environment at Syracuse University. Trained as a cultural and urban geographer, his research examines the practices and processes through which people encounter cities as meaningful places. His current book project focuses on the Istanbul district of Ey眉p and uses that district鈥檚 20th century transformations to show the changing geographies of Islam over the past century. He has also published on the relationship between geography and Middle East area studies and on the politics of memory following Turkey鈥檚 July 2016 coup attempt.

: Religion In, Of, and From the City
Poster of lecture: Religion In, Of, and From the City

January 7, 2021, 1:30 PM EST (UTC -5).

Dr Dyala Hamzah, Universit茅 de Montr茅al, (De)commissioning Ibn Khaldun? Sufis, Statesmen and Publicists during the Long Nineteenth century.

Abstract: The Ibn Khaldun of the long 19^th century is usually either conjured as a theoretical framework in order to make sense of the venture of Islamic reform or broken down to a cluster of atomized concepts which then one attempts to trace in the thought of said Islamic reformers. Both these readings partake in the uneasy assumption of a 鈥淓uropean discovery鈥� of Ibn Khaldun, and both obfuscate the fact that while the 14^th century historian did not advocate reform, reformists had no vested interest in the discipline of history.

Taking a step back from the usual genealogies of Islamic reform, this lecture explores the impact of such disjunctive readings on our reconstructions of individual trajectories that made up this long 19^th century. It posits that the significance of their Khaldunian engagements by such Islamic entrepreneurs as the mystic Muhammad ibn 鈥楢li al-Sanusi (1787-1859), the statesman Khayreddine Pasha (1822-1890) and the publicist Muhammad Rashid Rida (1865-1935) can only accrue if we problematize the extent to which Ibn Khaldun had become naturalized by the time of the Tanzimat and the Nahda, within the so-called Ottoman center and its peripheries, in sufi networks, bureaucratic practice and the public sphere.

Dyala Hamzah is Associate Professor of Arab History, Universit茅 de Montr茅al. She is the author of the forthcoming Muhammad Rashid Rida ou le tournant salafiste (CNRS 脡ditions, 2021) and editor of The Making of the Arab Intellectual (Routledge, 2013).

: (De)commissioning Ibn Khaldun? Sufis, Statesmen and Publicists during the Long Nineteenth century.
Poster of lecture: (De)commissioning Ibn Khaldun? Sufis, Statesmen and Publicists during the Long Nineteenth century.

November 26, 2020, 1:30 PM EST (UTC -5).

Dr Florian Zemmin, Leipzig University, The Secular in Middle East and Islamicate History

The Keenan Chair of Interfaith Studies and the James 海角社区 Professor of Islamic Philosophy are collaborating in a reflection on religion, Islam, and cosmopolitanism associated with 海角社区鈥檚 academic tradition of Islamic Studies, and epitomized by scholars such as Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Fazlur Rahman, and Toshihiko Izutsu. In preparation for the Keenan Conference on World Religions and Globalization, to be held in Montreal in Spring 2022, we are hosting an online lecture series titled ReOrienting the Global Study of Religion: History, Theory, and Society.

While the study of the Islamosphere has stimulated a critical reconceptualization of the notion of religion, we would like to extend this reflection to how religious concepts have been embedded in broader views of history and society, including the Western colonial construction of the 鈥淢iddle East鈥� as the cradle not just of Islam but of all Abrahamic religions. Some of the lectures will contribute to such reflections also through the foil of the interdisciplinary legacy of Ibn Khaldun, a champion of non-Western thought and precursor of social theory.

The second speaker in the series will be Florian Zemmin, Leipzig University. The title of the lecture, which will be followed by a Q&A, is The Secular in Middle East and Islamicate History. The lecture is based on a chapter that Dr Zemmin is contributing to The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East in course of publication (both online and in print) with Oxford University Press, edited by Armando Salvatore, Sari Hanafi, and Kieko Obuse. Sari Hanafi will serve as a discussant of the lecture.

Abstract: Islam is all too frequently regarded as the other of secular (Western) modernity. Sometimes this perception extends to Middle Eastern societies, for which Islam allegedly plays a constitutive role. However, secularity, the difference between religion and the secular, has been shaping modern societies in the Middle East too. Moreover, recent scholarship has highlighted patterns of secularity both within modern Islamic thought and in Islamicate history.

The lecture first establishes the factual secularity of modern Middle Eastern societies, focusing on the relation between religion and politics. Moving from structures to ideas, it then shows how modern Islamic thought conceptualized secularity. Examples from Islamicate history will make clear that secularity in the Middle East was not the exclusive product of colonial modernity, but drew also on earlier distinctions between religion and the secular.

Florian Zemmin is Senior Researcher at the Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences 鈥淢ultiple Secularities - Beyond the West, Beyond Modernities,鈥� Leipzig University. He is the author of Modernity in Islamic Tradition. The Concept of 鈥楽ociety鈥� in the Journal al-Manar (Cairo, 1898鈥�1940) (De Gruyter, 2018) and co-editor of Working with A Secular Age: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Charles Taylor's Master Narrative (De Gruyter, 2016) and Islam in der Moderne, Moderne im Islam. Eine Festschrift f眉r Reinhard Schulze zum 65. Geburtstag (Brill, 2018).

: The Secular in Middle East and Islamicate History
Poster of lecture: The Secular in Middle East and Islamicate History

October 28, 2020

01:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada

Speaker: Fitzroy Morrissey, All Souls College, University of Oxford, Ibn Khald奴n on Sufism: Mysticism through the Lens of History, Philosophy, and Law

Abstract:

The nature of Ibn Khaldun鈥檚 relationship to Sufism, the mystical dimension of Islam, is a complex and much-debated issue. The great North African historian and philosopher of history has variously been described as a critic of the Sufis, an admirer of Sufism, or even a Sufi himself. Through a close look at Ibn Khaldun鈥檚 discussion of Sufism in the Muqaddimah and other relevant sources, this talk aims to shed further light on the issue.

Placing Ibn Khaldun鈥檚 treatment of Sufism in the context of his wider intellectual project, we shall consider how his views on Sufism tie into his famous philosophy of history and other essential aspects of his thought. In this way, the talk aims to elucidate not only Ibn Khaldun鈥檚 relationship to mysticism, but also his thought more generally.

Fitzroy Morrissey is a Fellow of All Souls College, University of Oxford. A specialist in Sufism and Islamic intellectual history, he is the author of Sufism and the Perfect Human (Routledge, 2020) and Sufism and the Scriptures (I.B. Tauris, forthcoming).

Poster of lecture: Ibn Khald奴n on Sufism: Mysticism through the Lens of History, Philosophy, and Law

Seymour David Steinman Memorial Lecture

2019

Established in 2019, in memory of Seymour David Steinman, BA 1959, BCL 1964 to establish and annual lecture series. The annual lectures will focus on听contemporary social and moral/ethical problems that fall within the intersection of the following disciplines and fields: religious studies, ethics, law, politics, and public policy.

The first lectures series took place in the Fall 2019, From Hate to Tolerance: The Prevention of Extremism, Violence, Anti-Semitism & Religious Discrimination; Video, Poster

South Asian Religions Distinguished Lectureship

The South Asian Religions Distinguished Lectureship was established in 2009 to complement the strong undergraduate and graduate programs on South Asia in the School of Religious Studies at 海角社区, and to encourage public understanding of South Asian religions. It has been made possible through the generosity of Professor Robert Stevenson, Professor of Comparative Religion at 海角社区 from 1966 to 1991.

2018

Emilia Bachrach, Assistant Professor of Religion, Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies, Oberlin Colgate and Conservatory, Thursday, April 26, 2018 at 4:00 p.m. Birks Heritage Chapel, 3520 University Street, 2nd Floor.
Religious Reading and Women's Leadership in Contemporary Western India

2015

Padma Kaimal, Professor of Art and Art History, Colgate University, Friday, March 20, 2015 at 5:30 p.m. Birks Heritage Chapel, 3520 University Street, 2nd Floor.
Scattered Goddesses: Travels with the Yoginis

2014

Rachel Dwyer, Professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema, SOAS, University of London, Friday, March 28
Remover of Obstacles: The Persistence of the Mythological Genre in Hindi Cinema

2012

Joanne Punzo Waghorne, Professor of Religion, Syracuse University, Friday, March 9
Gods in the High-Rise: Hindu Gurus About it All

2011

Sumathi Ramaswamy, Professor of History, Duke University, Friday, March 11
A Historian Among the Goddesses of Modern India; Brochure

2010

Philip Lutgendorf Professor of Hindi and Modern Indian Studies, University of Iowa, Friday, March 5
Mira: Cinematic Citations of a Radical Woman Saint