Wednesday, June 18

Opening Ceremony

Welcoming remarks by

Hans Moser, President, University of Innsbruck

Raymund Schwager, Dean, Faculty of Theology
Diana Culbertson, COV&R President
Ursula MOSER, Canadian Studies Centre, University of Innsbruck

OPENING LECTURE

Thursday, June 19 – Corpus Christi Day
Politics

1.2 Literature (Taylor, Graham, Koper)

1.3 Religious Studies (Perlmutter, Bec, Biava)

1.4 Theology (Aiken, P. Bellan-Boyer, Di Giuseppe)

Passions in Politics

Chair: Heinrich Neisser, Institute of Political Science, University of Innsbruck

Jean Pierre Dupuy, École Polytechnique (Paris/France); Stanford University (CA/USA): Panic and Politics
Graham Ward, Department of Religions and Theology, University of Manchester (UK): The Church as a Body Politics

2.1 Passions, Politics, and Justice (Popich, Wydra, DufferovÀ)

2.2 Passions in Literature (Bardelang, Cousineau, Ludwigs)

2.3 Session in German (Gutierrez Lozano, Paulin, PÖsel)

2.4 Theology (Hewett, Lascaris, Brocke)

2.5 Economy (Thiel, Gardner, Marr)

A) Freud & Girard

Chair: Matthias Scharer, Institute of Practical Theology, University of Innsbruck

B) Passions & Organisations

Chair: Alan Scott, Institute of Sociology, University of Innsbruck

Friday, June 20
Economy

Passions in Economy

Chair: Matthias Sutter, Institute of Public Economics, University of Innsbruck

3.1 Political Philosophy (Ranieri, Pattillo, Solarte RodrÍguez)

3.2 Literature (W. Johnsen, Morrissey, Srigley)

3.3 Household Passions (Astell, Ryba, Goodhart, B. Morrow)

3.4 Economy (Compain/Dubois de Prisque, Guggenberger, Redekop)

4.1 Political Philosophy (Ladner, Tomelleri, Ward)

4.2 Session in German (BÖhm, Thomas Olalde, Gasser)

4.3 Theology (Wandinger, Siebenrock, Ecker)

4.4 Mimetic Theory (Adams, Grande, Fornari)

4.5 Passions in the Media (Cholewinski/Taylor, R. Johnsen, Jindra)

Saturday, June 21

Passions in the Media

Chair: Gerhard Larcher, Institute of Fundamental Theology, University of Graz (Austria)

Diana Culbertson, Kent State University, (OH/USA); COV&R President: Mimesis and Media. Sacrificing Reality: Arthur Miller's Resurrection Blues
Rafael Capurro, University of Applied Sciences (Stuttgart/Germany) Passions of the Internet

Panel Discussion

Concurrent Sessions

Thursday, June 19

Concurrent Sessions 1  (9:15 - 10:45)

Chair: Paul Dumouchel, Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada)

•    Belachew Gebrewold, University of Innsbruck (Austria):
Passion, politics and state-building: The African case

•    Patrick Imbert, University of Ottawa (Ontario/Canada):
The Girardian Appropriation Mimesis, the Platonic Mimesis and Bhabha’s Mimicry: The Passion for Controlling Representation

•    Duncan Morrow, University of Ulster (Northern Ireland/UK):
Politics, Passions and Peace: Experiences from the Northern Ireland Peace Process.

1.2 Literature

Chair: William Johnsen, Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI/USA)

•    Matthew A. Taylor, Department of English, Kinjo Gakuin University (Nagoya/Japan):
What Persuasion Really Means in Jane Austen's Persuasion: A Mimetic Reading

•    Tyler Graham, Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences (Seattle, WA/USA):
The Birth of Genius in Faulkner’s Canon:  Writing The Sound and The Fury

•    Peter T. Koper, Central Michigan University (Mount Pleasant, MI/USA):
The Girl by the Water: Images of Aphrodite as Mediated Desire

1.3 Religious Studies And Linguistics

Chair: Julie Shinnick, University of Louisville (KY/USA)

•    Dawn Perlmutter, Institute for the Research of Organized and Ritual Violence, LLC (USA):
The Passion of Sacrifice: A Magical Analysis of Ritual Violence

•    Yvon Myoken Bec, Zeisler Foundation, Taisenji Zen Temple (Budapest/Hungary):
The "Pensee Girard" as a bridge between Buddhism and Christianism

.•   Christina Biava, Southwest Missouri State University
(Springfield, MO/USA): 
Girardian Theory and Linguistic Theory: Cross-Fertilization

1.4 Theology

Chair: Nikolaus Wandinger, Institute of Systematic Theology, University of Innsbruck

•    Marty Aiken, Racine (WI/USA):
The Kingdom of Heaven Suffers Violence

•    Paul Bellan-boyer, Union Theological Seminary (NC/USA):
Exchanging Passions: The Apostle Paul's Economy of Religious Life

•    Riccardo Di Giuseppe, Université de Toulouse Le Mirail (France):
Trifunctional Structure in the Desert Temptations: G. Dumézil, L. Dumont and the Christ

1.5 Economy

Chair: Jim Grote, Louisville (KY/USA)

•    Karl Hefty, Emmanuel College (Cambridge/UK):
The Myth of the Gift

•    Michel Beaudin, Jean-Marc Gauthier, Université de Montréal (Québec/Canada):
The uncontrolled return of the passions in the economical and political sacrificial «soteriology» of our times. Christians roots?

Concurrent Sessions 2  (14:00 - 15:30)

2.1 Passions, Politics, and Justice

Chair: John Ranieri, Seton Hall University (USA)

•    Michael Popich, Westminster College (Salt Lake City, UT/USA):
Is there Distributive Justice without Violence?

•    Harald Wydra, Universität Regensburg (Regensburg/Germany):
Revolutions, Passions, and Modern Politics

•    Sr. Dominika Alzbeta DufferovÀ, Trnavskej university (Bratislava/Slovakia):
Contribution of Political Theology of Carl Smitt for Political Ethics According to A. F. Utz and W. Ockenfels

2.2 Passions in Literature

Chair: Diana Culbertson, Kent State University (USA)

•    Sonja Bardelang, Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe Universität (Frankfurt/Germany):
Greed and Envy in Rudolfo Anaya's Zia Summer

•    Thomas Cousineau, Washington College (Chesterton, MD/USA):
Rivalry Unbound in Thomas Bernhard’s The Loser [Der Untergeher]

•    Marina Ludwigs, University of California (Irvine, CA/USA):
Narrative and Explanation: Explaining Anna Karenina in the light of Its Epigraph

2.3 Session in German

Chair: Willibald Sandler, Institute of Systematic Theology, University of Innsbruck

•    Carlos Gutierrez Lozano, Universidad Pontificia de México (Mexico City/Mexico):
Erkenntnistheoretische Überlegungen zur Mimesis

•    Maximilian Paulin, University of Innsbruck (Austria):
Meinheit oder doch Gewalt - Ist das Grundbegehren postmoderner Philosophie aporetisch?

•    Petra PÖSEL, Institute of Systematic Theology, University of Innsbruck (Austria):
Ökonomie und mimetische Theorie

2.4 Theology

Chair: Roman Siebenrock, Institute of Biblical and Fundamental Theology, University of Innsbruck

•    Billy Hewett SJ, Oxford/UK:
The Discernment of Desire, Girard’s Hermeneutic and the Ignatian Dynamic in Practice. An Experiment in Popular Media Communication

•    Andre Lascaris, Dominican Study Centre for Theology and Society DSTS (Nijmegen/The Netherlands):
Shame, Guilt and Forgiveness in an Emotional Society: A Theological Appraisal

•    Sr. Rita Brocke, Sisters of Mercy (Erie, PA/USA):
Mercy’s Fire: Concern for the Victim. A Context for Systemic Change

2.5 Economy

Chair: Wilhelm Guggenberger, Institute of Systematic Theology, University of Innsbruck

•    Peter Thiel, Clarium Capital Management (San Francisco, CA/USA):
An Insider's Account of the Internet Mania

•    Stephen L. Gardner, Department of Philosophy and Religion, The University of Tulsa (Tulsa, OK/USA):
Democracy and Desire: The Theology of Money in The Great Gatsby

•    Andrew Marr OSB, St. Gregory's Abbey (Three Rivers, MI/USA):
Stewardship of Material Goods

2.6 Education and Popular Culture

Chair: Christoph Drexler, Institute of Practical Theology, University of Innsbruck

•    Raffaella Trigona, University of Bergamo (Italy):
Renunciation and excess. Mimetic desire and myth of food

•    Daniel Lance, Rectorat de Nice (Nice/France):
Between a “Politically Correct” Way of Life and the Danger of a “Sacrificial Crisis”, the “New Deal” of the City, of Education at the 21^st Century

•    Lisa Bellan-boyer, New York (USA): 
She Has Got Bette Davis Eyes: Jezebel Through a Hollywood Lens

Friday, June 20

Concurrent Sessions 3  (14:00 - 15:30)

3.1 Political Philosophy

Chair: Josef Quitterer, Institute of Philosophy, University of Innsbruck

•    John Ranieri, Seton Hall University (South Orange, NJ/USA):
The Bible and Modernity: Girardian Reflections on Leo Strauss

•    Matthew Pattillo, Munkhaus (Carrollton, TX/USA):
Church and State in Ellul and Girard

•    Roberto Solarte RODRÍGUEZ, Javeriana University (Bogotá/Colombia):
Passion in Hegel’s Civil Society and Christian Theology

3.2 Literature

Chair: Andrew McKenna, Loyola University (Chicago, IL/USA)

•    William A. Johnsen, Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI/USA):
“Le nazioni hanno i loro egoismi come gli individui": The Counterpoint of Journalism and Creative Writing in the Early James Joyce.

•    Christopher S. Morrissey, Simon Fraser University (British Columbia/Canada):
The “Prophet of Modern Advertising”, the “Strange Fellow”, and the “Poets’ War”: Shakespeare, Aristotle, and Ben Jonson in Mimetic Rivalry

•    Susan Srigley, Thorneloe College, Laurentian University (Ontario/Canada):
Jealousy and Pride in The Winter's Tale: The Resurrection of a Fallen Man

3.3 Household Passions

Chair: Boris Repschinski, Institute of Biblical and Fundamental Theology, University of Innsbruck

•    Ann Astell, Purdue University, (IN/USA):
Maternal Compassion and Ethics in the Thought of Emil Fakenheim, Emmanuel Levinas, Julia Kristeva, and René Girard

•    Thomas Ryba, Purdue University, (IN/USA):
Can God Suffer? Patripassionism, the Economy of God's Emotions, and the Crucifixion

•    Sandor Goodhart, Purdue University, (IN/USA):
The Terror of Issac: Mimetic Desire in Genesis 25

•    Bill Morrow, Queens Theological College (Kingston, Ontario/Canada):
The Expulsion of Complaint from Early Jewish Worship

3.4 Economy

Chair: Erich Kitzmüller, St. Radegund (Austria)

•    Claire Compain, Emmanuel Dubois de Prisque, Université Paris X Nanterre (Paris/France):
L’envie comme bouc émissaire : les modèles économiques d’absence d’envie (Envy as a Scapegoat in Envy-free Economic Models)

•    Wilhelm Guggenberger, Institute of Systematic Theology, University of Innsbruck (Austria):
Homo Oeconomicus and the Mimetic Man: Vanity and Pride in the Ethics of Adam Smith

•    Vern Neufeld Redekop, Saint Paul University (Ottawa/Canada):
Economic Life: Violence or Blessing

3.5 Film & Media

Chair: Bernhard Braun, Institute of Philosophy, University of Innsbruck

•    Annie Lise ClÉment, Université d'Ottawa (Québec/Canada):
L'Ulysse de Kim Nguyen: le monstre d'amour girardien (Kim Nguyen’s Ulysses: a Monstrous Girardian Love)

•    Dietmar Regensburger, Institute of Systematic Theolgy, University of Innsbruck (Austria):
»Are you still in the mood for killing?« Mimetic Rivalry, Scapegoating and Sacrifice in Hitchcock's Marnie, Cacoyannis' Zorba the Greek and Pasolini's Medea

•    Franz Helm, Director of the Kulturhof Amstetten (Austria): 
The voice of Jacob: Vilém Flusser’s theory of communication

3.6 Session in German

Studierende in der Auseinandersetzung mit René Girard: Mimetische Theorie im Umgang mit (biblischen) Texten

•    Karin Peter, University of Innsbruck (Austria):
René Girards Umgang mit der Erzählung vom Salomonischen Urteil (1 Kön 3,16-28)

•    Philipp PÜmpel, University of Innsbruck (Austria):
Urstand: Im Lichte der Mimetischen Theorie ein historisches Faktum?

•    Peter Oberhofer, University of Innsbruck (Austria): 
Mimetische Theorie als Hermeneutik

•    Jesus Cordero, University of Innsbruck (Austria):

Concurrent Sessions 4  (16:00 - 17:30)

4.1 Political Philosophy

Chair: Jean Pierre Dupuy, École Polytechnique (Paris/France)

•    Gertraud Ladner, Institute of Systematic Theology, University of Innsbruck (Austria):
Three Concepts of Envy: Rawls, Girard and Libreria delle Donne di Milano

•    Stefano Tomelleri, Università degli Studi di Bergamo (Italy):
Are We Living In a Society of Resentment? René Girard’s Analytic Perspective

•    Bruce Ward, Thorneloe College, Laurentian University (Ontario/Canada):
Transforming Passion into Compassion: Rousseau and the Problem of Envy in Modern Democracy

4.2 Session in German

Chair: Ludwig Ecker, Linz (Austria)

•    Thomas BÖHM, Institute of Practical Theology, University of Innsbruck (Austria):
Mythos Medien? Die moderne mediale Kommunikationskultur und ihre Strukturen – Eine Anfrage aus theologischer Sicht

•    Oscar Thomas-Olalde, Haus der Begegnung, Innsbruck (Austria):
Mimetischer Pathos und Liberalismus: eine Relektüre vom "Ende der Geschichte" im Lichte der mimetischen Theorie

•    Georg Gasser, University of Innsbruck (Austria): 
Was uns Emotionen sagen können. Eine Interpretation nach der Rhetorik des Aristoteles

4.3 Theology

Chair: Ralf Miggelbrink, University of Essen (Germany)

•    Nikolaus Wandinger, Institute of Systematic Theology, University of Innsbruck (Austria):
“Concupiscence” and “Mimetic Desire”: A Dialogue between K. Rahner and R. Girard

•    Roman Siebenrock, Institute of Biblical and Fundamental Theology, University of Innsbruck (Austria):
The Religion of Adam. Some Remarks to the Question: What is Religion?

•    Ludwig Ecker, Linz (Austria):
Preventing Passions by Law: Grace and Sacrificial Order in Catholic Church?

4.4 Mimetic Theory

Chair: James Alison, London (UK)

•    Rebecca Adams, Messiah College (Grantham, PA/USA):
Rivals or Strange Bedfellows? René Girard and Mary Daly on Mimetic Desire and “Pure Lust”

•    Per Bjørnar Grande, Bergen College (Norway):
Love in the Western World: Girard's Imitation of De Rougemont's Concept of Love

•    Giuseppe Fornari, Treviso (Italy):
Desire, Violence and Religion in Leonardo da Vinci: A Mimetic and Spiritual Interpretation.

4.5 Media

Chair: Tobin Siebers, University of Michigan (MI/USA)

•    Michael G. Cholewinski, Nagoya University of Foreign Studies (Nagoya/Japan), Matthew Taylor, Kinjo Gakuin University (Nagoya/Japan):
Drowning in Desire: Media and Mediation in Japan (Attention: 8MB-Document! If you have troubles, try to click here.)

•    Rosemary E. Johnsen, Grand Valley State University (MI/USA):
"Preaching to the Converted": Passions of the Media in Northern Ireland

•    Michael Jindra, Spring Arbor University (MI/USA):
The Passions of Alternate Media Universes

4.6 Passions, Politics, and Violence

Chair: Stephen L. Gardner, The University of Tulsa (Tulsa, OK/USA)

•    Jean-Louis Poitevin, Director of the “Institut Français d’Innsbruck” (Austria):
Emotions and Politics: An Incestuous Passion at the Margin of the State

•    Michael Ley, Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Politik, Religion und Anthropologie, University of Innsbruck (Austria):
Sacred Violence in the Modern World

•    Maria Stella Barberi, Università di Messina (Italy):
Hobbes’ Social Contract: A Modern Foundational Myth