Endangered Selves and Societies: Theologies of Tragedies and Disasters
Copenhagen, August 19-20 2016
Scholars often speak of endangered species but only rarely about endangered selves or endangered societies. One reason is the perception that human selves are fragile and mortal anyway and that societies only survive by constantly changing themselves. Another reason is that personal tragedy and social disasters are often regarded as cases of pure exception.
However, the emerging field of disaster research views disasters as symptoms of the vulnerability of human societies and considers how tragedies dig down into the deepest levels of human anxiety. Societies and selves have always been vulnerable. To live is to be exposed to dangers, and to live is to take risks, anticipating and absorbing external dangers while paradoxically also creating new risk in the very endeavor of establishing zones of safety.
Within the framework of University of Copenhagen’s excellence programme Changing Disasters (2014-2017), we develop the contours of a theology of vulnerability and resilience in the context of current paradigms of disaster research and at the interface between contemporary theology, practical theology, and cultural studies.
Our guiding assumption is that theology and the human sciences need to reflect on the interface between semantics (that is, interpretative studies of meaning) and pragmatics (that is, practice-oriented questions of improving life), when dealing with tragedy and disaster. Methodologically, we develop a theology of disaster in an interdisciplinary framework with perspectives reaching from geology and biology to psychology and sociology. Hereby, we aim to open up the field of sociological disaster research to theological and cultural studies regarding ways of coping with social vulnerability and personal tragedy in a world increasingly marked by transience and flux.
We are inviting colleagues from a variety of disciplines to take part in this endeavor, each bringing their respective research agendas to the floor of understanding and improving the life of endangered selves and societies. The conference is open to the public.
Sincerely,
Christine Tind Johannessen-Henry, Mikkel Gabriel Christoffersen, and Niels Henrik Gregersen
Location: Aud 11, Faculty of TheologyUniversity of CopenhagenKøbmagergade 44-461150 København K
Program
Friday 19 August 2016
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09:00-09:15 |
Welcome Address: Dean Kirsten Busch-Nielsen |
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09:15-10:45 |
Session 1: Disaster Studies and Evolution (Chair: Niels Henrik Gregersen) - Wenzel van Huyssteen: “Living with Death and the Deceased: Paleoanthropological Perspectives” (Followed by Q & A, 10 min.) - Michael Ruse: “Disasters from the Perspective of Evolutionary Biology” (Followed by Q & A, 10 min.) |
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10.45-11:15 |
Coffee Break |
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11:15-12:30 |
Session 1 continued: - David Chester: “The Role of Popular Catholicism in Shaping Responses to Earthquake and Volcanic Eruptions: A Comparison between Southern Italy and the Azores, Portugal” (Followed by Q & A, 10 min.) - Open discussion of the morning papers |
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12:30-14.00 |
Lunch |
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14.00-15:50 |
Session 2: Disaster Imaginations and Recovery (Chair: Jan-Olav Henriksen) - Lars Danbolt: “Ritual and Recovery. Traditions in Disaster Ritualizing” (Followed by Q & A, 10 min.) - Christine Tind Johannessen-Henry: “Multiplicity and Endangered Selves” (Followed by Q & A, 10 min.) - Open discussion |
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15:50-16:10 |
Break |
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16:10-18.00 |
Session 3: Health and Disease (Chair: Heike Springhart) - Günter Thomas: “The cross of Jesus Christ as divine disaster? Divine vulnerability reconsidered” (Followed by Q & A, 10 min.) - Ola Sigurdsson: “Mourning, Melancholy, and Humour: Psychotheology in Freud and Söderblom” (Followed by Q & A, 10 min.) - Open discussion |
Saturday 20 August 2016
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09:00-09:15 |
Coffee |
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09:15-10:45 |
Session 4: Vulnerability in Theology (Chair: Claudia Welz) - Jan-Olav Henriksen: “The endangered self as a challenge to religion: Considerations with special reference to the symbol ‘God’” (Followed by Q & A, 10 min.) - Heike Springhart: “Vulnerable Creation, the Wounded God and vulnerable human life between risk and tragedy” (Followed by Q & A, 10 min.) |
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10.45-11:15 |
Break |
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11:15-12:30 |
Session 4 continued: - Mikkel Gabriel Christoffersen: “Endangered Societies and the Outpouring of the Spirit” (Followed by Q & A, 10 min.) - Open discussion |
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12:30-14.00 |
Lunch |
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14.00-15:50 |
Session 5: Trauma and Selfhood (Chair: Christine Tind Johannessen-Henry) - Claudia Welz: “A Voice Crying out from the Wound – With or Without Words: On Trauma, Speech, and Silence” (Followed by Q & A, 10 min.) - Isak Winkel-Holm: “Endangered Existence: The Disaster Imaginary in Søren Kierkegaard” (Followed by Q & A, 10 min.) - Open discussion |
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15:50-16:10 |
Break |
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16:10-17.15 |
Session 6: Concluding Session (Chair: Mikkel Gabriel Christoffersen) - Niels Henrik Gregersen: “Positive Loss and Tragic Memory” (Followed by Q & A, 10 min.) - Concluding discussion |