Table of Contents
- WORKSHOP> Translation Workshop on Tannisho Commentarial Materials (Otani University)
- CALL FOR PAPERS> ASRSA conference 2019 South Africa
- CONFERENCE> Religion and Innovation, National Museum of American History (Updated for Webcast)
WORKSHOP> Translation Workshop on Tannisho Commentarial Materials (Otani University)
by Michael Conway
Dear Colleagues,
The Shin Buddhist
Comprehensive Research Institute at Otani University, together with the Centers
for Japanese Studies and Buddhist Studies at the University of California,
Berkeley, and Ryūkoku University’s Research Center for World Buddhist Cultures
announce the sixth in a series of workshops led by Mark Blum, Mitsuya Dake, and
Michael Conway devoted to the critical examination of premodern and modern
hermeneutics of the Tannishō, a core text of the Shin school of
Buddhism, and arguably the most well-read religious text in postwar Japan.
This
current workshop will be held from June 21 to 23, 2019, at Otani University in
Kyoto. The fifth workshop was held in March 2019 in Berkeley and succeeding
workshops will continue until 2021, with meetings planned twice a year, in late
March in Berkeley and in June in Kyoto, where it will be hosted alternately by
Otani and Ryukoku universities. Attendance at previous workshops is not a
requirement for application to this one, but those who will be able to
consistently attend through the course of the project will be particularly
welcome.
Organized around close readings of the most influential materials
produced in early modern and modern Japan, the workshop aims at producing a
critical, annotated translation detailing the salient ways in which this text
has been both inspirational and controversial, as well as a series of essays
analyzing a wide spectrum of voices in Japanese scholarship and preaching that
have spoken on this work.
The
current workshop will focus on a careful reading of Edo-period commentaries by
Enchi (1662), Jukoku (1740), Jinrei (1801-1808), and Ryōshō (1841). There will
also be presentations related to modern period commentaries, as well as
important themes within the Tannishō
itself.
Format: The language of instruction will be primarily English with only minimal Japanese spoken as needed, and while the texts will be in primarily in classical Japanese and modern Japanese, with some outside materials in kanbun and English. Separate sessions will be held for each of the four commentaries noted above where translations will be created and revised.
Dates: June 21 to 23, 2019.
Cost: There is no participation fee, but in recognition of the distance some will have to travel to attend, a limited number of travel fellowships will be provided to qualified graduate students and early career researchers, based on preparedness, need, and commitment to the project.
Participation
Requirements:
Although any qualified applicant will be welcome to register, graduate students
and early career researchers will be particularly welcome and the only
recipients of travel fellowships. Affiliation with one of the three hosting
universities is not required. We welcome the participation of graduate students
outside of Japan with some reading ability in modern and classical Japanese and
familiarity with Buddhist thought and culture, as well as native-speaking
Japanese graduate students and non-native-speaking enrollees at Japanese
institutions with a scholarly interest in Buddhism. Although we hope students
will attend both meetings each year, participation in only one is acceptable.
Application Procedure: One must apply to
participate in each workshop that one attends. To apply to register for the
current workshop (June 21-23, 2019), send a C.V. and a short letter explaining
your qualifications, motivations, and objectives to Michael Conway, conway@res.otani.ac.jp by May
31, 2019.
Requests for a travel
fellowship should be included in your letter with specifics of where you will
be traveling from. Applications for travel fellowships must be submitted by April
26, 2019.
Please visit the
following website for more information:
Questions about the
content of the workshop should also be directed to the above address.
Sincerely,
Michael Conway
Shin Buddhist
Comprehensive Research Institute
Otani University
CALL FOR PAPERS> ASRSA conference 2019 South Africa
by Elisabetta Porcu
Dear Colleagues,This is a polite reminder about the 2019 ASRSA conference at UNISA (Pretoria). We are pleased to announce that the Keynote Speaker will be Prof. Birgit Meyer from Utrecht University.
The deadline has been extended to 10 April. Please see the CfA below and on our website http://asrsa.org
Papers on Buddhism are welcome.
Kind regards,
Elisabetta Porcu
ASRSA Secretary
Dr Elisabetta Porcu
University of Cape Town
Department of Religious Studies
*******
Religion and Economy
41st ASRSA Conference
Date: Wednesday 4 - Thursday 5 Sept 2019.
Venue: Unisa's Muckleneuk Campus, Pretoria.
Keynote Speaker: Prof. Birgit Meyer (Utrecht University).
The beginning of the twenty-first century has seen one of the largest and most prolonged mass migration of people as these first two decades have seen continued global conflict primarily around resources of land and wealth. Going forward it is predicted that questions of food security and water will be the key issues facing humanity in the twenty-first century.
Questioning the relationship between religion and resources, particularly in the form of economies was central to early religion studies scholars such as Marx and Weber. As we come to the end of the second decade of the twenty-first century some of the most important challenges facing the global world, and Africa in particular, is the economy of land, food, wealth and poverty. It therefore seems fitting to revisit, particularly from a decolonial perspective, and in the light rapid technological changes, what the relationships might be between religion and economy in Africa and beyond.
Economy is broadly understood as the structure, process or conditions under which resources are produced, distributed and consumed. Therefore economy is not limited to material resources but influences all spheres of life. Today much attention is given to the economy of politics, knowledge and gender, as resources in themselves and as being affected by the material resources.
Since the explosion of Deep Learning in Artificial Intelligence (AI) a new form of economy has emerged in the form of surveillance economy. Simply put the way most companies such as Facebook and WeChat make money is through the big data they collect on their clients’ behaviour and this is what they then sell. The age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the AI that underpins it, changes the way in which computers can do things two critical issues are emerging that humanity will have to grapple with going forward: 1) what does it mean to be human and what is my purpose? 2) how will people survive or thrive when millions of jobs are lost to computers? Both of these questions, which societies and individuals will be asking more and more, have the potential to impact the role of religions in the world of the 4th Industrial Revolution.
When we look at religion in the twenty-first century three issues seem to dominate discussions. First are questions of religion and political economy. We see this particularly in India with the rise of Hindu nationalism, in Africa with conflicts between Islamic and Christian political leaders and in the Middle East around questions of land and secular or religious political rule. Second are questions on the relationship between capitalism and religion. This is of particular concern when we examine Christian and Muslim forms of prosperity theologies. Third are questions of sustainable development and religion.
We would welcome papers examining, but not limited to the following themes:
· Theoretical reflections on religion and economy
· Capitalism and religion
· Political economy and religion
· Gender economy and religion
· Land and religion
· Food and religion
· Sustainable developments and religion
· Religion and the new surveillance economy
Preference will be given to papers that examine one of these or related themes to the African context.
The second volume of the 2019 edition of the Journal for the Study of Religion will be an edited collection of papers on this topic.
Please ensure that your abstracts include the following:
Proposals for papers should include:
A succinct title
A brief abstract (± 200 words)
Author/s name/s
Author/s institutional affiliation
Contact details
Proposal for a panel:
A succinct title
A brief abstract for the panel
A brief abstract for each paper (± 200 words)
Author/s name/s
Author/s institutional affiliation
Contact details.
Closing date for proposals: 10 April 2019
Please email proposals to: asrsagroup@gmail.com
Acceptance of proposals notification: 2 May 2019
Confirmation of attendance: May 2019
Registration fee: R 1 000 for the two days, or R 500 per day.
Students: R 400 for the two days, or R 200 per day.
Recommended accommodation
Rates negotiated with these recommended guest houses are inclusive of breakfast.
Please indicate that you will be a participant at the ASRSA Conference
when you make a reservation at these guest houses.
Brooklyn Guesthouses
info@brooklynguesthouses.co.za
Tel: +27 12 362 1728
Mobile: +27 84 252 4626
Ronel Nel
132 Murray street, Brooklyn, Pretoria
Budget single @ R650 / Budget double @ R790
Standard single @ R730 / Standard double @ R900
Deluxe single @ R790 / Deluxe double or twin @ R990
Muckleneuk Guest House
info@muckleneukguesthouse.co.za
Tel: 012 341 8059
Mobile: + 27 (0) 76 733 7473
Suzette du Plessis / Colin Brazendale
228 Cilliers Street,
Muckleneuk, Pretoria
Four rooms at a special rate of R650.00 for single occupancy, R850 for
a twin room for 2 people sharing.
The other rooms will be R750 (single person) and R950 (2 people sharing).
Muckleneuk Manor
muckleneukmanor@gmail.com
Tel: +27 60 907 0050
Mobile: +27 82 795 041
Vivienne Gunning
270 Mears Street,
Muckleneuk, Pretoria
R680.00 per person, single occupation and R980.00 for double occupation.
Treetops and Treats
info@treetopsandtreats.co.za
Tel: 012 343 8619
Mobile: 072 269 8982
Selvie Subbiah
611 Leyds Street,
Muckleneuk, Pretoria
R680.00 per person per night for 3 nights.
You may also wish to search for other possibilities in the Muckleneuk
area in Pretoria at
https://www.safarinow.com/destinations/muckleneuk/hub.aspx and at
www.booking.com.
Post-conference tour on Friday 6 September
Please email your interests to Prof Michel Clasquin-Johnson at
clasqm@unisa.ac.za. Depending on interests expressed, Michel will
arrange a post-conference tour for Friday 6 September.
CONFERENCE> Religion and Innovation, National Museum of American History (Updated for Webcast)
by Franz Metcalf
Religion and Innovation:
Symposium and Webcast
Friday April 12th
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
S. C. Johnson Conference
Center, 1st Floor, West Wing
Washington, DC USA
FREE and open to the public!
TO ATTEND IN PERSON: Register
via EventBrite: https://religion-innovation.eventbrite.com/
TO VIEW THE WEBCAST: No
need to register, simply tune to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nmah on
April 12, and use the online Q&A feature to pose a question for the
panelists.
FOLLOW ON TWITTER: #ReligionAndInnovation
Join noted scholars for a
one-day symposium exploring the history and intersections of religion and
innovation.
Technological breakthroughs
have always been deeply intertwined with religious thought and practice.
Spiritual leaders have transformed American beliefs by harnessing new
technologies, from electric power and the telegraph to television and
computers, in order to spread traditional teachings and inspire new religious
movements. In turn, many inventors have pointed to religious inspirations for
their technological leaps. This pattern continues as innovations in fields
ranging from artificial intelligence to gene editing reinvigorate longstanding
disputes and raise new ethical concerns.
10:00 a.m. Museum
opens (arrive early, as there are often long entry lines during
the busy spring season…)
10:30 a.m. Welcome
Anthea M. Hartig, Elizabeth
MacMillan Director, National Museum of American History (NMAH)
10:35 a.m. Opening
remarks
Peter Manseau, Religion in
America Initiative, NMAH
11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Networks: Intersections of information, communication, and religion
Jenna Supp Montgomerie,
University of Iowa
Lerone Martin, Washington
University in St. Louis
Christopher Helland,
Dalhousie University
Moderator:
Peter Manseau, Religion in America Initiative, NMAH
Lunch provided (EventBrite
registration required)
1:15–2:15 p.m.
Machines: Connections between technology and religious practice
Steven Jones, University of
South Florida
Leor Halevi, Vanderbilt
University
Noreen Herzfeld, College of
Saint Benedict / Saint John's University
Moderator:
Eric S. Hintz, Lemelson Center, NMAH
2:30–3:30 p.m. Bodies:
Medical innovation and religious interpretations of the human body
Sarah Imhoff, Indiana
University
Hillary Kaell, Concordia
University
Samira Mehta, Albright
College
John Modern, Franklin and
Marshall College
Moderator:
Alexandra Lord, Division of Medicine and Science, NMAH
3:30 p.m. Concluding
discussion
Arthur Daemmrich, Director,
Lemelson Center, NMAH
Hosted by the National Museum
of American History’s Religion in America Initiative and
the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation,
with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. and the John Templeton Foundation.
The National Museum of
American History welcomes visitors of all abilities. Requests for accessibility
services can be made by phone: 202-633-3150, or email: nmahprograms@si.edu.
