Association for Continental Philosophy of Religion

Overview

Publications

Events

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The Association seeks to promote renewed critical thinking on religion, drawing upon the continental tradition of philosophy. This tradition draws much of its impetus from Kant's transcendental project of exploring what makes knowledge and faith possible. Kant inspired reflection upon the active, constructive role played by the subject of knowledge as well as the creative transgression of the limits of reason in articulating religious ideas.

Aims and objectives

The Association promotes research and reflection on continental philosophy of religion by

Holding regular seminars with invited speakers
Organising occasional major international conferences
Sponsoring colloquia on particular subjects
Running a regular philosophical reading group
Sharing information with other relevant networks and groups, particularly with regard to conferences, publications and sharing good practice in teaching continental philosophy of religion
Encouraging research and publication
Utilising online resources to promote wider discussion and dissemination of ideas

Intensities

The Association encourages publication of original work, especially though its series with Ashgate, entitled Intensities: Contemporary Continental Philosophy of Religion.

This series sits at the forefront of contemporary developments in continental philosophy of religion, engaging particularly with radical reinterpretations and applications of the continental 'canon' from Kant to Derrida and beyond but also with significant departures from that tradition. A key area of focus is the emergence of new 'realist' and materialist schools of thought whose potential contribution to philosophy of religion is at an early stage. Rooted in a vibrant tradition of thinking about religion, whilst positioning itself at the cutting edge of emerging agendas, this series has a clear focus on continental and post-continental philosophy of religion

Books in the series include:

Katharine Sarah Moody and Steven Shakespeare (eds), Intensities: Philosophy, Religion and the Affirmation of Life (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2012)

George Pattison, Heidegger on Death (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2013)

Pamela Sue Anderson, Re-visioning Gender in Philosophy of Religion (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2013)

Kenneth Jason Wardley, Praying to a French God: The Theology of Jean-Yves Lacoste (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2014)

Katharine Sarah Moody, Radical Theology and Emerging Christianity: Deconstruction, Materialism and Religious Practice (forthcoming)

Chris Baker, Tom James and John Reader, A Philosophy of Christian Materialism (forthcoming)

To discuss a proposal for the series, please contact one of the series editors, Patrice Haynes or Steven Shakespeare.

Other related publications

In addition to the Intensities volume mentioned above, an additional collection of material drawn from or inspired by the Association’s 2009 ‘Towards a Philosophy of Life’ conference appeared as a special issue of the journal Angelaki, Volume 1, Issue 19, 2014. Entitled Immanent Materialisms: Speculation and Critique, the issue was edited by Charlie Blake and Patrice Haynes.

Economic Theology After Neoliberalism: Thinking the Conjuncture

An Association for Continental Philosophy of Religion Seminar with Philip Goodchild and Joshua Ramey

Wednesday 16th May 2018

While the last forty years of capitalist history might be viewed as nothing more than a simple re-entrenchment of capitalist class power against the mid-century gains of the working class, the particular ideological grip of neoliberalism has been and remains so powerful that even in the face of radical inequality, global migration crises, neo-fascist formations, and ecological catastrophe, the basic framework of public debate continues to be framed by the same neoliberal assumptions that led to the current crises, and social movements seem critically unable to construct a compelling alternative ideological framework for post-capitalist life. Philip Goodchild and Joshua Ramey have both argued, in their work, that our supposedly secular era has become increasingly defined by a peculiar mode of theology - a disavowed yet public and powerful religion of money that demands and acclaims the sacrifice of much of humanity and terrestrial life upon the altars of profit, linked to the supposedly oracular and divinatory power of market forces. In this event, Goodchild and Ramey will discuss their current work on how to construct an alternative theological economics to that espoused by the hegemony of capitalist class power.

Philip Goodchild (University of Nottingham) has authored two groundbreaking works in economic theology, Capitalism and Religion: The Price of Piety (2002) and Theology of Money (2007). He is also nearing completion of a new work, Credit and Faith: A Philosophy of Theological Economics. Joshua Ramey (Grinnell College, USA) is the author of The Hermetic Deleuze: Philosophy and Spiritual Ordeal (2012) and Politics of Divination: Neoliberal Endgame and the Religion of Contingency and is currently co-translating François Laruelle's Non-Philosophical Mysticism for Today's Use.

Duane Williams: Book Launch

The Association for Continental Philosophy of Religion hosted an event to launch Duane Williams' book Language and Being: Heidegger's Linguistics on Wednesday 25th April 2018. Dr Williams gave a short talk on key themes in the book, to which Dr Steven Shakespeare will respond. There will then be time for discussion.

From the book description:

'Martin Heidegger's radical and, for that matter, controversial reflections on language were not simply a passing interest in his thinking, but a fundamental, career-long concern arguably as significant to him as his study of being. This book traces the intimate connection between language and being in Heidegger's philosophy, and shows how they cannot be understood apart from one another. It discusses why Heidegger's undervalued philosophy of language is increasingly important, how it figures in the wider context of his work, and how it is to be approached and understood for our times. This includes the significance to Heidegger of being, the logos principle, etymology, phenomenology, mysticism, and poetry.'

Political Theology: The Liberation of the Post-secular?

July 10th – July 12th 2015

Keynotes

Saba Mahmood (UC Berkeley), author of Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject and Is Critique Secular?
Catherine Keller (Drew University),author of The Face of the Deep. A Theology of Becoming, On the Mystery. Discerning Divinity in Process; Cloud of the Impossible: Negative Theology and Planetary Entanglement (2015); co-editor of Postcolonial Theologies: Divinity and Empire.
Katharine Sarah Moody, author of Post-Secular Theology and the Church: A New Kind of Christian is A New Kind of Atheist and Radical Theology and Emerging Christianity: Deconstruction, Materialism and Religious Practice (both forthcoming).
Richard Seymour, author of The Liberal Defence of Murder, American Insurgents: A Brief History of American Anti-imperialism and Against Austerity.