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Wait! That's ��ɫ��Ƶ Religion? - The School of Religion Film Series

Held at The Screening Room, 120 Princess Street, Kingston, Ontario

The School of Religion will host a film series for ��ɫ��Ƶ students during the 2015-16 academic year. Popular movies, not obviously about religion, will be shown, followed by a discussion led by a School of Religion faculty member that will explore the religious themes in the movie.

The movie, and lively discussion, will be free to ��ɫ��Ƶ students. Tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, from the School of Religion Main Office (rm 213 Theological Hall) or at the theatre just before the screening.

The movies will be shown on Wednesday evenings (6:30-ish). A final schedule will be available later, but the following dates have been booked so far:

• 30 September - Mad Max: Fury Road - 6:40pm - Discussion led by Richard Ascough
• 28 October - Transcendence - 6:40pm - Discussion led by Tracy Trothen
• 18 November - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - 6:30pm - Discussion led by Val Michaelson

Dates may also be booked in January, February and March 2016.

Check back for more information!

123rd ��ɫ��Ƶ Annual Theology Conference

Religion and Violence: Finding Good News in a Violent World

October 19 - 21, 2015; Crossroads United Church, Kingston, Ontario

Speakers include Dr. Lorne Dawson, University of Waterloo, and Dr. William Morrow, ��ɫ��Ƶ.

Registration Fee - $250

Registration Deadline - October 2, 2015

Use the registration form found in the brochure (at the link below) or contact The Rev. Lynda Price, lprice13@cogeco.ca to have one mailed to you.

 (PDF, 1091KB)

"The Quest for Moral Significance and the Radicalization of Canadian Jihadists"

Lorne L. Dawson, University of Waterloo

17 March, 2016
7:00pm
Dupuis Auditorium

Contrary to the views of many prominent analysts, Dr. Dawson thinks a religious-like quest for moral significance plays a primary role in the motivation of most of the individuals choosing to become either foreign fighters or homegrown terrorists.  In this talk he will argue this point calling on insights from his qualitative research (with Dr. Amaranath Amarasingam) with foreign fighters, their families, friends and associates, and wannabe foreign fighters and other online supporters of jihadist groups.  The talk will highlight the role of religiosity (i.e., not Islam per se) in the social ecology of the process of radicalization leading to violent extremism, while pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of positions debated by many other scholars of terrorism.

Dr. Lorne L. Dawson is a Full Professor in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies and the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Waterloo.  His past work on why new religious movements can become violent led to his current research focus on the process of radicalization in homegrown terrorist groups.  He has written three books, edited four books, and published over sixty academic articles and book chapters, and most recently in the co-editor of Religious Radicalization and Securitization in Canada and Beyond (University of Toronto Press, 2014).  In 2012 he helped to found and is the Co-Director of the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society () and regularly acts as a consultant for the media, as well as academic and government groups, such as Public Safety Canada, U.S. Homeland Security, British Security Intelligence and the RCMP.

Unravelling Religion 3: Space, Place and Affect

13-14 May, 2016

 (PDF, 92KB) - Deadline: 11 March, 2016.

Karen L. King, "Is a Martyr's Death Special? Early Christians Struggle with the Meaning of Violence"

16 September, 2016
7:00pm
Donald Gordon Conference Centre, Lecture Room C
(421 Union Street, Kingston)

The early Christian theologian, Tertullian, famously wrote that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”  In his view, the public tortures and brutal executions of believers were the will of God.  But at least some Christians objected.  They forged other answers to the question of what this violence means, and in so doing offered resources for contemporary reflection on many vital matters, including (in)justice, (hyper)masculinity, and (un)knowing.  The lecture will approach these topics through the lens of a recently discovered work from Egypt, The (First) Apocalypse of James, in which Jesus prepares his brother James to be stoned to death.

Karen L. King is the Hollis Professor of Divinity, Harvard University’s oldest endowed professorship (1721).  Trained in comparative religions and historical studies, she is the author of books and articles on the diversity of ancient Christianity, women and gender studies, and religion and violence, including What is Gnosticism?; The Secret Revelation of John; The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle; “Christianity and Torture” in The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence; and “The Place of the Gospel of Philip in the Context of Early Christian Claims about Jesus’ Marital Status” in the journal New Testament Studies 59.

Unravelling Religion 4: Bodies and Objects

May 12-13 2017

Donald Gordon Conference Centre

Keynote Address: Dr. Donovan Schaefer (University of Oxford)