Call for Papers

The Life and Legacy of Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Movements in Scholarly Perspective

29-30 May 2017

Antwerp, Belgium 

Organized By

The European Observatory of Religion and Secularism (Laïcité) in partnership with Faculty of Comparative Study of Religion and Humanism (FVG), CESNUR and CLIMAS (Bordeaux) 

Venue

Faculty of Comparative Study of Religion and Humanism (FVG) 

Bist 164 – B-2610 Wilrijk-Antwerpen. Belgium. Tel.: +32 (0)3 830 51 58. 

E-mail: info@antwerpfvg.org

www.antwerpfvg.org

2016 marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of Exposition of the Divine Principle, written by Sun Myung Moon (1920-2012), founder of the Unification Church that has its roots in South Korea (1954). Since that time, the Unification Church—or Unificationism/Unification Movement(s), among other names and affiliated organizational entities—has spread worldwide and expressed itself in a variety of international contexts. The original Unification Church is a case study of a new religious movement that claims Christian roots but contains a unique and evolving theology, set of practices, and community life that set is apart from the majority Christendom (Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox traditions). In this way it may be comparable to say Mormonism or Christian Science, though of course the Unification Movement has its origins outside the United States, and not surprisingly most of its members reside in Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and throughout East Asia. With the death of Rev. Moon in 2012, the Unification Church has fractured and a number of rival groups—in addition to dozens of smaller schismatic groups—now claim to be the rightful heirs of the founder’s theological mission and institutional legacies. 

Thirty-three years after the publication of Eileen Barker’s groundbreaking book The Making of a Moonie (Oxford, Blackwell Publishers, 1984), we invite religious studies scholars to join us in Antwerp to focus on the Unification Church and Movement(s)—their evolution and possible transformations— over the course of 60+ years of existence. 

The list of topics below is not exhaustive: 

• – Evolution of the governance of the Unification Church/Movement(s), 

• – Organization and associated groups, 

• – Membership: numbers, growth, sociological profile. International expansion, 

• – History, theology, and practices, iconography, 

• – Perception in the world as a South Korean-born new religion, 

• – Judicial issues addressing its status; prosecution in certain countries, 

• – Impact on humanitarianism, art and culture in general, 

• – Media relations and media coverage, 

• – Influences in popular culture, 

• – Relationship with the broader society. 

Practical Information

Language of the conference: English. 

Send a 10 line abstract, with a 5 line résumé of your previous work to: 

Régis Dericquebourg, Associate Professor at the FVG and President of the European Observatory of Religions and laïcité (secularism) redericq@netcourrier.com

and/or to Bernadette Rigal-Cellard, Professor at Université Bordeaux Montaigne, Vice-President of the Observatory. 

bcellard@numericable.fr

and /or Massimo Introvigne : maxintrovigne@gmail.com

and/or Donald Westbrook : westbrook@humnet.ucla.edu

and/or Chris Vonck : fvg.faculteit@skynet.b 

Papers will be considered for publication, with editorial details given during the conference. It is understood that each presenter must submit his or her paper first to the organizers for possible inclusion in the conference proceedings. When submitting the abstract, please inform the committee whether the paper has been submitted for review or publication in another venue.

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Religious and Ethnic Future of Europe: An International Conference

12-13 June 2017, Åbo Akademi University, Turku/Åbo, Finland

Conference website: http://www.abo.fi/refe/

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1684659638516383/

Europe is undergoing significant demographic changes due to an aging population and increased immigration. This expert symposium will gather internationally leading experts to discuss the cultural, ethnic and religious aspects of this ongoing demographic shift.

The demographics of religion is a new field that has developed alongside growing xenophobia and Islamophobia worldwide. Fear of the demographic change in Europe is one of the ideological motors behind several xenophobic and populist social and political movements. Academic research has lagged behind, but now there is a growing body of serious scholarship on this controversial topic. The conference will bring together people to present the latest research findings as well as methodological and theoretical questions concerning the cultural and societal implications of demographic trajectories. Groundbreaking research has been conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Global Religious Futures Project that has provided elementary data on global demographic trajectories in the 2010s. Also the Vienna Institute of Demography has given major contributions in projecting the future development of religious adherence in the City of Vienna and developing methodologies for the visualization of demographic change.

Keynote lectures:

• .”What we know and do not know about future religious developments: The contribution of demography” by Dr Anne Goujon, Vienna Institute of Demography, Austria
• .”New estimates and projections of Europe’s Muslim population” by Dr Conrad Hackett, Pew Research Center, USA
• .”Religion and demographic change around the world ” by Prof. Vegard Skirbekk, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Norway
• .”Estimating Future Religious Diversity in Finland” by Dr Tuomas Martikainen, Migration Institute of Finland

We invite people from different academic backgrounds to discuss religion and demographic developments including but not limited to the following topics:

• – Demographic projections on religion and ethnicity
• – Statistics on religion and ethnicity
• – The use and misuse of demographic and statistics of religion and ethnicity

• The larger implications of demographic changes for the research on multicultural societies, interreligious encounters and diversity.

To apply, please send an abstract of approximately 150 words to the Donner Institute, donner.institute(at)abo.fi, no later than 31 December, 2016. Letters of acceptance will be posted no later than 31 January, 2017.

Selected papers from the conference will be published in volume 28 of the Donner Institute series Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis as a co-publication of the Donner Institute and the Migration Institute of Finland.

The expert symposium is arranged jointly by the Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History, the Migration Institute of Finland and the “Young Adults and Religion in a Global Perspective” Åbo Akademi University Centre of Excellence in Research.

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Religious and Ethnic Future of Europe: An International Conference

12-13 June 2017, Åbo Akademi University, Turku/Åbo, Finland

Conference website: http://www.abo.fi/refe/

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1684659638516383/

Europe is undergoing significant demographic changes due to an aging population and increased immigration. This expert symposium will gather internationally leading experts to discuss the cultural, ethnic and religious aspects of this ongoing demographic shift.

The demographics of religion is a new field that has developed alongside growing xenophobia and Islamophobia worldwide. Fear of the demographic change in Europe is one of the ideological motors behind several xenophobic and populist social and political movements. Academic research has lagged behind, but now there is a growing body of serious scholarship on this controversial topic. The conference will bring together people to present the latest research findings as well as methodological and theoretical questions concerning the cultural and societal implications of demographic trajectories. Groundbreaking research has been conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Global Religious Futures Project that has provided elementary data on global demographic trajectories in the 2010s. Also the Vienna Institute of Demography has given major contributions in projecting the future development of religious adherence in the City of Vienna and developing methodologies for the visualization of demographic change.

Keynote lectures:

• .”What we know and do not know about future religious developments: The contribution of demography” by Dr Anne Goujon, Vienna Institute of Demography, Austria
• .”New estimates and projections of Europe’s Muslim population” by Dr Conrad Hackett, Pew Research Center, USA
• .”Religion and demographic change around the world ” by Prof. Vegard Skirbekk, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Norway
• .”Estimating Future Religious Diversity in Finland” by Dr Tuomas Martikainen, Migration Institute of Finland

We invite people from different academic backgrounds to discuss religion and demographic developments including but not limited to the following topics:

• – Demographic projections on religion and ethnicity
• – Statistics on religion and ethnicity
• – The use and misuse of demographic and statistics of religion and ethnicity

• The larger implications of demographic changes for the research on multicultural societies, interreligious encounters and diversity.

To apply, please send an abstract of approximately 150 words to the Donner Institute, donner.institute(at)abo.fi, no later than 31 December, 2016. Letters of acceptance will be posted no later than 31 January, 2017.

Selected papers from the conference will be published in volume 28 of the Donner Institute series Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis as a co-publication of the Donner Institute and the Migration Institute of Finland.

The expert symposium is arranged jointly by the Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History, the Migration Institute of Finland and the “Young Adults and Religion in a Global Perspective” Åbo Akademi University Centre of Excellence in Research.