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The XIXth World Congress
of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR),
24-30 March 2005, Tokyo, Japan
Conference Theme
Religion: Conflict and Peace
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The conference theme addresses
one of the most urgent issues of our time -- conflict and peace
-- which is widely discussed in academic circles today.
Scholars of religions can make an important contribution
to the debate by analysing the role of religion generally in matters
concerning conflict and peace in their various aspects, as well
as of single religious traditions in their various forms. This theme
concerns ancient as well as living religions. Historical, sociological,
anthropological, psychological, textual, iconographical and philosophical
approaches: all have relevant contributions to make.
The conference theme is basically concerned with
religion and power. It attempts to explore the many facets of human
conflict, social stability, and the relationships between majorities
and minorities, authorities and dissenters, revolution and evolution,
male and female, 'us' and 'them', and so forth. It assumes that
religion is a social and cultural factor or, as some would say,
a social and cultural construction. Religion is also associated
with political power in either an implicit or an explicit manner,
which provides another important aspect of study.
Religion may serve as an identity marker in the
maintenance of ethnic, social or political stability. But it can
also serve as an identity marker in conflicts of such nature. Religion
does not have to be the cause of, or a contributing factor to, violent
conflict between social groups. Religion and religious ideology
can also serve to regulate social violence. At the time of the cold
war, religion was often regarded as a constructive factor that could
contribute to the stability of peace. In recent decades, however,
there has been a growing concern about its destructive side, as
evidence seems to suggest that religion may intensify conflicts
between civilizations. At the same time, there has been an increasing
expectation of solving conflict through a dialogue between civilizations.
Religion can promote discourses of oppression
that regulate relations between genders, generations, classes, or
other social groups. It can also provide models for an ideal society
and for ideal relations between genders and groups. Religion can
become a tool in the service of freedom, whether political or existential.
Growing violence, political oppression and poverty may contribute
to the emergence of new religious movements that are seen to indicate
a better future for those who are suffering, but may themselves
become the cause of serious new conflicts.
Religions often have traditions in which exemplary
individuals, semi-mortal figures, or deities have attained victories
for peace and emancipation. On the other hand, gods may be mirror
images of their mortal servants, constantly at war with each other,
spreading intrigue and misery in the divine and human worlds. The
gods may serve as the ultimate justification for violence and hatred,
or for peace and harmony between mortals. Some religious figures
may invoke doom, exciting instability and frenzy, whereas others
may serve as promoters of peace.
In this congress we intend to pursue these matters
in such a way that our knowledge and understanding of these issues
will be deepened. We hope for exciting scholarly debates that will
illuminate the way in which historical and contemporary religions
have contributed, and still contribute, to questions of conflict
and peace. The study of these phenomena will also lead us to renewed
reflection on theories of religion and methodologies in the study
of religion.
The theme of this congress invites panels and
symposia on a whole range of topics. The following examples are
listed as suggested areas only:
| * religion and war |
* religion and globalisation |
| * religion and violence |
* religion and migration |
| * religious persecution |
* religion and terrorism |
| * religion and human rights |
* religious fundamentalisms |
| * religion and identity |
* sacred canons of peace |
| * religious conflict in the media |
* sacred canons of violence |
| * religious conflict on the internet |
* gods of war and gods of peace |
Etc., etc. .: We welcome all suggestions.
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Sub-themes for the
IAHR World Congress in Tokyo 2005
1. The Religious Dimension
of War and Peace
| Today, religion is often considered a root cause of war. The question
is whether this is indeed so. Is religion an obstacle to, rather than
an instrument for, peace? It is important to investigate in what ways
religion may contribute to either war or peace. This should be done
both at an ideological and a historical level. What meanings and values
have religions attributed to the ideas of war and peace? And in what
ways have they put such ideas into practice in past and present times?
These long disputed problems need to be examined and considered anew
at the beginning of the 21st century. |
2. Technology, Life, and Death
| Religion can be seen as a system that mediates nature to humanity.
In fact, religions have produced various systems of ideas and practices
according to which people live and die in their natural environment.
Such systems inevitably reflect the technological resources of their
time and place. Contemporary innovations in techno-sciences and -industries
are not only destroying indigenous religious systems of knowledge,
but also introducing new questions concerning the human body, natural
environments, humankind's and nature's life and death, that are often
problematic. Addressing these unprecedented difficulties is one of
the tasks confronting scholars today. In view of the long history
of religions, it is also an urgent task for scholars of religion. |
3. Global Religions and Local
Cultures
| Some religions show a tendency to universal expansion, attempting
to transcend the cultural and regional limits in which they originally
emerged. At the same time, religious traditions are deeply rooted
in particular regional cultures. The so-called world religions have
to integrate themselves in a local culture and become indigenous in
a sense, in order to fully actualize their universal aspirations.
The combined processes of globalization and localization (glocalization)
of the contemporary world necessitate revising traditional dichotomies
and terminologies, such as world religions and ethnic religions, monotheisms
and polytheisms, and others. |
4. Boundaries and Segregations
| Religions offer epistemological schemes to understand, evaluate,
and order objects, events and humans in the world. Drawing clear lines
between 'us' and 'others', inner and outer groups, etc. is one important
function religion may assume. Today, however, the drawing of boundaries
and the creation of segregation should be examined in relation to
the universalist claims of human rights. In fact, religions have often
recognized the importance of particular distinctions among humankind,
for example those of men and women, and as a result legitimized certain
forms of discrimination. In some cases, religious groups, despite
advocating the fundamental equality of humankind, have nevertheless
deemed certain people or groups to fall outside this category -- to
be inhuman, in other words -- thus justifying aggression towards that
which is deemed external to society. These aspects and functions of
religion need reconsideration from a wide perspective. |
5. Method and Theory in the
Study of Religion
| Methodological reflection is a continual task in the study of religion.
The complex interplay between method and theory in the human and social
sciences plays an integral role in academic reflection and scholarly
debates related to it. In recent decades, it seems that under the
influence of sister-disciplines as well as because of other factors,
the study of religion has witnessed remarkable changes and developments
in the fields of method and theory, in comparison with earlier eras.
Further evaluations and discussions need to be carried on in order
to refine methodological reflection and debates. These debates are
even more compelling, in the light of the main theme of this congress. |
Opening Symposium
| The keynote addresses are given by distinguished
scholars who are invited by the Congress Academic Program Committee
(CAPC). The keynote addresses of the 19th World Congress, which is
arranged as the opening session on "Religions and Dialogue among
Civilizations," will be open to the general public. It will provide
an opportunity to reflect on what religions can do to contribute to
peace in the world, and what role the scholarly study of religion
might have in this respect. For details, please refer to
the Prospectus.
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Prof. Susumu Shimazono, President of the JARS Congress
Secretariat of the 19th World Congress of IAHR
Department of Religious Studies, Faculty of Letters, University of
Tokyo
7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan 113-0033
TEL: (81)3-5841-3765@ FAX: (81)3-5841-3888
E-mail address: iahr@l.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Congress website: http//www.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/iahr2005/ |
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