The Religious Studies Department of the University of Lethbridge presents
The 6th Annual
RESEARCH IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES CONFERENCE
Saturday, May 3 – Sunday, May 4, 2008
6th Floor – D Section – University Hall
Saturday, May 3
8:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast & Registration Room D 635
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8:45 – 9:00 Opening Remarks: Prof. James Linville (Chair, Religious Studies) Room D 634
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SESSION 1 THE BODY RITUAL AND THE BODY POLITICAL Room D 634
Matthew Salmon, University of Lethbridge, presiding
9:00 – 9:30 Constructing Gender Subjectivity: Rites of Initiation and the Performance of Gender
John Siddons, University of Calgary
9:30 – 10:00 This IS My Body: The Transgressive Bodies of the Eucharist
Jenna Belding, University of Saskatchewan
10:00 – 10:30 Masculinity & Non-Material Grievances: Linkages to the Rise of Religiously Motivated Violence in Islam
Erika Jahn, University of Lethbridge
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10:30 – 10:45 Refreshments Room D 635
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SESSION 2A Early Christianity Room D 630
Tobias Blake, University of Notre Dame, presiding
10:45 – 11:15 4 Maccabees and Origen: An Examination of Second Century Cosmologies
Michael S. Domeracki, University of Notre Dame
11:15 – 11:45 True Witness and Martyrs as Truth-Bearers
Greg Thiessen, Regent College
11:45 – 12:15 The Virgin Mary’s Assumption: The Latin Narrative of Pseudo-Melito
Ross Benson, University of Calgary
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SESSION 2B Christian Theology Room D 631
Matthew Salmon, University of Lethbridge, presiding
10:45 – 11:15 A Way between Totality and Ambiguity: Søren Kierkegaard and Richard Kearney on How to Speak about God
Nathan Bonney, Prairie Bible College
11:15 – 11:45 The Power of the Pulpit: God’s Grace or Man’s Might?
Tyler Remington Harkness, Prairie Bible College
11:45 – 12:15 Heideggerian Influence in Rudolf Bultmann’s Theory of Understanding
Darryl Ferguson, University of Calgary
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SESSION 2C Methodology I Room D 632
Erika Jahn, University of Lethbridge, presiding
10:45 – 11:15 The Role of Music in Sufi Practice and Theology in the West
Rhea McCarroll, University of Calgary
11:15 – 11:45 The Sage, The General, and The Modern Leader
Milagros Richardson, University of Calgary
11:45 – 12:15 Social Network Analysis and the Study of Religion
Ryan Williams, University of Calgary
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12:15 – 1:00 Lunch (registrants only) Room D 635
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SESSION 3A HINDUISM I Room D 630.
Leya Russell, University of Calgary, presiding
1:00 – 1:30 Divided Flames: The Difficulties of Discussing Sati in Western Academia
Kendra Marks, University of Calgary
1:30 – 2:00 The Role and Functioning of Love within the Hindu Tradition
Campbell Peat, University of Lethbridge
2:00 – 2:30 The allure of colour: Sita’s trial by fire
Ashleigh Delaye, Concordia University
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SESSION 3B CHRISTIANITY, SOCIETY AND SCIENCE Room D 631
Julie Chamberlain, Duke University, presiding
1:00 – 1:30 The Extent of the Protestant and Counter Reformation’s Impact on Health and Social Welfare in Early Modern Europe
Kenny Wee, University of Calgary
1:30 – 2:00 Reason’s Second Son: Intersections between Religion and Science during the scientific revolution
Jonathan Reimer, Regent College
2:00 – 2:30 The First Generation since Genesis: The Re-Figuring of American Civil Religion in Clerical Responses to the Nuclear Crisis
Christopher Friedman, Vanderbilt Divinity School
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SESSION 3C READING BIBLICAL TEXTS Room D 632
Michael S. Domeracki, University of Notre Dame, presiding
1:00 – 1:30 Edom and Judahite memory in the vision of Obadiah
Tobias Blake, University of Notre Dame
1:30 – 2:00 Future Primitive: Anti-Civilizational Trends in the Biblical Narrative
Joel Laforest, University of Calgary
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2:30 – 2:45 Refreshments Room D 635
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SESSION 4A COMBINED SESSION: ECOLOGY AND EQUALITY Room D 630
Matthew Salmon, University of Lethbirdge, presiding
2:45 – 3:15 Honouring the Earth: The environmentalist movements influence on contemporary Wicca’s cosmology
Sheena A. Mac Isaac, University of Calgary
3:15 – 3:45 Evangelicalism and the Environmental Crisis
Megan Lacerte, University of Lethbridge
5 MINUTE BREAK
3:50 – 4:20 Quietly Destructive: Old and New Antisemitism in Canada
Amie Piche-Schaufele, University of Lethbridge
4:20 – 4:50 Reformation through Revelation: The relationship between the Latter Day Saints Melchizedek priesthood, the civil right movement, and the 1978 revelation
Lindsey Skakum, University of Lethbridge
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SESSION 4B CHRISTIANITY: STRUGGLING FOR THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF AMERICA Room D 631
Christopher Friedman, Vanderbilt Divinity School, presiding
2:45 – 3:15 A Worldwide Challenge: Campus Crusade for Christ and Ethnicity
Julie Chamberlain, Duke University
3:15 – 3:45 Statistical Analysis of the Megachurch
Dan Wimmer, University of Calgary
5 MINUTE BREAK
3:50 – 4:20 “I AM YOUR FLAG!”: The American flag as the Living Embodiment of American Patriotism and Totemic Religiosity Within Crystal Cathedral Ministries
Tyson Will, University of Lethbridge
4:20 – 4:50 Born (Again) in the USA
Kyle Penn, University of Lethbridge
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SESSION 4C COMBINED SESSION: METHODOLOGY 2 / HINDUISM 2 Room D 632
Rhea McCarroll, University of Calgary, presiding
2:45 – 3:15 Fighting On Holy Ground: Mapping New Territory between International Relations & Religious Studies
Erika Jahn, University of Lethbridge
3:15 – 3:45 Naturalism with a Human Face: a pragmatic contribution to the insider/outsider question in Religious Studies
Graham Baker, University of Calgary
5 MINUTE BREAK
3:50 – 4:20 Iconography and Interpretation: Sectarian Depictions of Kali
Nicole Hembroff, University of Lethbridge
4:20 – 4:50 Krishna’s Immanence and Transcendence
John Siddons, University of Calgary
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BANQUET: 6:30 p.m. Lethbridge Lodge Hotel (Cedar Ballroom)
Dr. James Mullens
Department of Religious Studies & Anthropology University of Saskatchewan
“If you see the Buddha Coming, grant him a degree”: Reflections on a Path without limit
Sunday, May 4
8:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast Room D 635
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SESSION 5A Theodicy & the Holocaust Room D 630
Darryl Ferguson, University of Calgary, presiding
8:30 – 9:00 Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Simone Weil: Writings on Suffering
Illana Huckell, University of Calgary
9:00 – 9:30 Addressing Evil and Suffering: The Balance of Theodicy and Anti-theodicy
Katherine Hundt, University of Calgary
9:30 – 10:00 Connecting Altizer and Rubenstein within the Death of God Movement
Kyle Nunweiler, University of Calgary
10:00 – 10:30 Fackenheim and Berkovits: Theological Responses to the Shoah
Matthew Van Dyk, University of Lethbridge
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SESSION 5B CANADIAN RELIGIOSITY Room D 631
Leya Russell, University of Calgary, presiding
8:30 – 9:00 The Evolution of the Evangelical Free Church of Canada
Stuart Barnard, University of Lethbridge
9:00 – 9:30 Changing Religious Participation in Canada
Kristen Desjarlais, University of Lethbridge
9:30 – 10:00 Studiousness and Godliness: A Foray into the Religious Lives of Students
Natasha Fairweather, University of Lethbridge
10:00 – 10:30 The “New” Metaphysical Secularization
Bonnie Shedden, University of Calgary
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SESSION 5B BUDDHISM Room D 632
Nicole Hembroff, University of Lethbridge, presiding
9:00 – 9:30 Jodo Shinshu Buddhism in Southern Alberta
Thera Body, University of Lethbridge
9:30 – 10:00 What has Zen to do with meditatio?
Johann Roduit, Regent College, Vancouver, BC
10:00 – 10:30 While She was Sleeping: The Conception and Birth of Rahula
Anna Samuelson, University of Calgary
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10:35 – 10:50 Refreshments Room D 635
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SESSION 6 EAST ASIAN EXPRESSIONS Room D 634
Rhea McCarroll, University of Calgary, presiding
10:50 – 11:20 Symbiotic Manifestation: the coexistence of transcendence and immanence within the Japanese cultural sphere
Kira Petersson-Martin, Brandon University
11:20 – 11:50 Expressing the Inexpressible: Zen Painting as a Means of Depicting Enlightenment
Bob Marthiensen, University of Lethbridge
11:50 – 12:20 The Media of Expression in Zen and Daoism
Colin Hirano, University of Lethbridge
12:20 Closing Remarks – James Linville (Chair, Religious Studies)
The members of the Conference Committee and faculty and students of the Dept. of Religious Studies would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Anne Moore and the generous students of the University of Calgary who attended the 2007 conference and chose to help sponsor this year’s conference.
To Register and reserve a banquet ticket, go to http://www.uleth.ca/fas/relg/
All fees are payable on site.
Research in Religious Studies Conference Committee
Faculty Member: James Linville james.linville@uleth.ca
Student Member: Matthew Salmon matthew.salmon@uleth.ca
Administration Assistant: Bev Garnett bev.garnett@uleth.ca Dept. Phone: (403) 380-1894
