COV&R-Bulletin No. 18 (April 2000)

Program of the 2000 COV&R conference at Boston College

COV&R 2000 at Boston College

Wed. May 31 to Sat. June 3, 2000

The Colloquium on Violence and Religion is an international and interdisciplinary group of scholars that takes its inspiration from the work of René Girard. Its object is "to explore, criticize, and develop the mimetic model of the relationship between violence and religion in the genesis and maintenance of culture. The Colloquium will be concerned with questions of both research and application. Scholars from various fields and diverse theoretical orientations will be encouraged to participate both in the conferences and the publications sponsored by the Colloquium, but the focus of activity will be the relevance of the mimetic model for the study of religion." Previous meetings have been at Stanford (1996), Graz (1997), Paris/Saint Denis (1998), and Emory (1999). This year's meeting is being sponsored and supported by the following units at Boston College, The Office of the Academic Vice President, The Jesuit Institute, and The Department of Theology.

Main Theme:
Violence and Institution in Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam

Subsidiary Theme:
A René Girard - Bernard J.F. Lonergan "Conversation"

The opening session will run from about 5-9 pm (including a break for a simple supper) on Wed., May 31, and will be devoted to the subsidiary theme: A René Girard - Bernard J. F. Lonergan "Conversation". The pre-supper sessions will feature papers James Alison and Charles C. Hefling. The after-supper session will be devoted to a discussion of these two papers, and to the significance of this "conversation" for the work of COV&R.

The remainder of the conference, Thur. June 1 - Sat. June 3, will be devoted to the main theme: Violence and Institution in Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. Our starting point is the assumption that people who call themselves Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists have been in the past and are in the present, actively and/or passively, involved with violence, and that this involvement has something to do with the theological, religious, cultural, and socio-political institutions of their respective traditions. In other words, however they may be conceived or expressed, "violence" and "institution" are to be found in all of these traditions. But we must not presume that the ways in which Western Civilization understands these realities and tries to make sense of them with the help of mimetic theory will be congenial to people from the other traditions. That is why the main presenters from each of the five traditions will be asked to begin talking about violence and institution first in ways that make sense within that tradition, and second in ways that can also reach out in dialogue to others in the other traditions. Then it will be time to compare notes, see what discussion has begun, and see what sort of light can be shed on the discussion from mimetic theory, or on mimetic theory from the discussion. One scholar from each of these five traditions will be assigned the task of main presenter; others will be assigned to assist in the discussion, especially in relating the discussion to mimetic theory. All participants will be asked to reflect on the theme ahead of time and come prepared to take part in the discussion.

In addition, the Board of COV&R reaffirms the place in our annual conference of special interest subgroups or themes that are not necessarily connected with the main theme. These can be arranged under the "special interests in the following fields" which are listed on the COV&R enrollment form (see Bulletin no. 16 [April 1999] p. 3): - Literary Criticism, Aesthetics; - Political Science, Economics, Social Ethics; - Biblical Theology; - Systematic Theology and Philosophy; - Psychology and Psychiatry; - Education, Practice; - Anthropology, Religious Studies; - Gender Concerns. Within the conference format, these can take the form of papers, practicums, or workshops.

The seven main presenters of the subsidiary and main themes are currently (early February) at work on the first drafts of their presentations. These will be shared among the seven and revised for distribution to the conference participants ahead of time either via this web site or, where needed, by traditional mailing. Thus, when the colloquium actually meets, less time will be needed for the paper presentations, and more can be devoted to continuing the discussion.

Robert J. Daly, S.J., Boston College Department of Theology, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, U.S.A., 
Tel.: (617) 552-3887
Email: dalyr@bc.edu
Colloquium Email: covr2000@bc.edu
Colloquium web site: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/theo/COVR2000.html

Program

May 31, 2000 5 - 9 pm

Subsidiary Theme: A René Girard - Bernard J.F. Lonergan "Conversation"

James Alison, London, "Girard for the Non-Girardians"
Charles C. Hefling, Jr., Boston College, "Lonergan for the Non-Lonerganians"

The opening session will feature summary presentations by Alison and Hefling. After a break for a simple supper, we will reassemble for a discussion of the two papers and of the significance of this "conversation" for the work of COV&R.

June 1 - 3, 2000

Main Theme: "Violence and Institution in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism"

Judaism: Reuven Kimelman, Brandeis University. Respondent: Sandor Goodhart, Purdue University
Christianity: Robert J. Daly, Boston College. Respondent: Mark I. Wallace, Swarthmore College
Islam: Qamar-ul Huda, Boston College
Hinduism: Francis X. Clooney, Boston College
Buddhism: Christopher Ives, University of Puget Sound.

Conference Schedule: May 30 - June 4, 2000

Unless otherwise indicated, all sessions will take place in Devlin Hall 008

Preliminary List of Additional Lectures, Practica, Workshops

Anthony W. Bartlett, "From Anthropology to Soteriology, and Back Again: The Dynamic of Christian Salvation from the Perspective of Mimetic Theory"

Joseph Dunne, "Girard and MacIntyre: Mimesis, Practice, and the Dialectic of Desire"

Lillian Dykes, "Non-Violent 'Religion': the Community of Scapegoats: The Theories of René Girard as Found in the Program of Alcoholics Anonymous"

Kirsten Stammer Fury, "Postmodern Performance and the Victimized Body"

Per Bjornar Grande, "Heresy and Academic Rivalry in Abelard's Historia calamitatum"

Charles Hampton, "Siegrfried Sassoon - a Girardian Hero"

Richard A. Koenigsberg, "Violence and Institution in Nationalism: Dying for One's Country"

Maria Korusiewicz, "Aesthetics of Violence in the Twentieth-Century Western World"

Malachie Munyaneza, "Violence and Institution in African Traditional Religion in the Light of Girardian Mimetic Theory. Case Study: Rwanda in Central Africa

Paul Nuechterlein, "'To Guide Our Feet into the Way of Peace': The Historical Evidence for God's Chosen People"

Richard W. Osborne, "Exile from Eden: A Girardian Perspective on Gender, Scapegoating, and the 'Battle of the Sexes'"

Tom Pace and Rusty Palmer, A Practicum: "Socrates Had It Easy: He Didn't Have to Live with Mimetic Theory

Dawn Perlmutter, "Skandalon at the Millennium: Contemporary Satanic Worship"

John Ranieri, "What Voegelin Missed in the Gospel"

Vern Neufeld Redekop, "Mimetic Structures of Blessing"

Raymund Schwager, "Conversion and Authenticity: Lonergan and Girard"

James G. Williams, "Prayer and the Mimetic Theory"

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