Fall 2004 CSER Conference

[AuntieSocial]

JUST WAR AND JIHAD:
Violence in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism

The Fall 2004 CSER Conference will be held at the Statler Conference Center at Cornell University November 5-7, 2004.

While recent political and media focus has tended to emphasize the violent reaction of extremist Islam to modern culture, it is less well-known that there is lively academic debate about the origins of religious and political violence in the sacred texts and traditions of the three great monotheistic religions. CSER will examine the dynamics of this discussion by bringing together some of the leading international experts in the study of religion and violence.

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Tentative Conference Program

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Friday, November 5th
Statler Hotel Ballroom (Cornell University Campus)

[/li][li]6:30 PM -- Professor Paul Kurtz, Welcome and Introduction
[/li][li]7:30 PM -- Professor R. Joseph Hoffmann, "Positioning the Question of 'Religious' Violence"
[/li][li]8:00 PM -- Keynote Address: Dr. Pauletta Otis

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Saturday, November 6th
Statler School Auditorium (Adjacent to Statler Hotel)

9 AM * Session 1
[/li][li]Plenary Address: CSER Lecture
[/li][li]Professor James Hitchcock, "Nihilism and the Metaphysics of Violence"
[/li][li]Dr. Nadia al Baghdadi, "Islam, War, and Modernities"
[/li][li]Professor Robert B. Tapp, "The Christian Critique of Just War Theory: Charles E. Raven, A.J. Muste and Others"
[/li][li]Panel until 11:30 AM (Moderator: Dr. R.J. Hoffmann)

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1:15 PM * Session Two
[/li][li]Professor Carol Delaney, "Sacrificial Heroics: The Story of Abraham in Justifications for War"
[/li][li]Professor Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez, "Religion, Terror, Justice"
[/li][li]Professor Regina Schwartz, talk title TBA.
[/li][li]Panel until 3:30 PM (Moderator: Dr. Arthur Bellinzoni)
Coffee

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4:15 PM * Session Three
[/li][li]Dr. J. Harold Ellens, talk title TBA.
[/li][li]Professor Joyce Salisbury, "'In Vain Have I Smitten Your Children': Augustine Defines Just War"
[/li][li]Professor Charles Bellinger, "Needed: A New Copernican Revolution - Understanding Violence and Religion"
[/li][li]Panel until 5:45 PM (Moderator: Dr. Austin Dacey)

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Sunday November 7th
Statler School Auditorium (Adjacent to Statler Hotel)

9 AM * CSER Lecture
[/li][li]Dr. Judith Lichtenberg, talk title TBA.
[/li][li]Professor David Perry, "Just War Criteria and War in Iraq"
[/li][li]Professor Mark Juergensmeyer, talk title TBA.
[/li][li]Dr. Aziz al Azmeh, "The Historical Anomaly: Is Jihad a 'Holy' War?"
[/li][li]Reuven Firestone, talk title TBA.
[/li][li]Plenary Panel Session (all participants)

Concluding Remarks:
[/li][li]Dr. Hoffmann, "The Apocalyptic Consciousness" [/b]

[AuntieSocial]

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Among the speakers and panelists participating:
[/li][li]Dr. Aziz al-Azmeh, Social Historian; former Senior Fellow, School of Oriental Studies (Islamic Studies) at Oxford University and Professor of Historical Studies at the American University of Beirut. Author of Islam and Modernities and studies of the Islamic thinker Ibn Khaldun.
[/li][li]Prof. Nadia al-Baghdadi, Central European University, Islamic History, author of dozens of articles on Islam and its interface with the modern world and currently a Fulbright Visiting Professor in the USA.
[/li][li]Dr. Charles Bellinger, Professor of Religious Studies at Texas Christian University and author of The Genealogy of Violence: Reflections on Creation, Freedom, and Evil.
[/li][li]Prof. Carol Delaney, Sociologist at Stanford University, winner of the Galler Prize, and formerly a director of the Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions. Author of Abraham on Trial: The Social Legacy of Biblical Myth.
[/li][li]Dr. J. Harold Ellens, Psychologist and Research Professor at the University of Michigan, Executive Director of CAPS International 1974-1989; Editor in Chief of Journal of Psychology & Christianity 1975-1988. His most recent contribution is a distinguished 4-volume series for Greenwood Press, The Destructive Power of Religion: Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
[/li][li]Prof. Reuven Firestone, Professor of Medieval Judaism and Islam at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, where he directs the Edgar J. Magnin School for Graduate Studies. Firestone authored the books Journeys in Holy Lands: The Evolution of the Abraham-Ishmael Legends in Islamic Exegesis (SUNY Press), Jihad: The Origin of Holy War in Islam (Oxford University Press), and Children of Abraham: An Introduction to Judaism for Muslims (Ktav).
[/li][li]Prof. R. Joseph Hoffmann, Historian; Chair of CSER and Campbell Professor of Religion and Human Values at Wells College, New York, formerly Professor of Civilization Studies, American University of Beirut and Senior Research Scholar of St. Cross College, Oxford. Dr. Hoffmann is a specialist in the social and cultural history of early Christianity.
[/li][li]Prof. Mark Juergensmeyer, Sociologist, Professor and Director of Programs in Global and International Studies at University of California Santa Barbara, California; author of Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence.
[/li][li]Prof. Paul Kurtz, Religion and Science, Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus at State University of New York at Buffalo; author or editor of 45 books in the field of ethics, social theory, and humanism, including Science and Religion and The Transcendental Temptation; Editor in Chief of Free Inquiry and Chair of the Center for Inquiry-Transnational.
[/li][li]Prof. Judith Lichtenberg, Director of the Committee on Public Policy and Philosophy, University of Maryland. She has held visiting appointments at Harvard's Kennedy School, Yale University, Dartmouth College, and the University of Melbourne (Australia). She is the author of Preemption and Exceptionalism in U.S. Foreign Policy: Precedent and Example in the International Arena and The Ethics of Retaliation.
[/li][li]Prof. Daniel Maguire, Distinguished Professor of Religious Ethics at Marquette University and author of Ethics for a Small Planet and some 200 articles in professional journals and magazines, including Theological Studies, Cross Currents, Atlantic, The New York Times, Crisis: Journal of the NAACP, and Ms.
[/li][li]Dr. Pauletta Otis is Senior Fellow for Religion in International Affairs at the Pew Forum on Religion in Public Life in Washington, D.C. She is a leading expert on cultural and religious violence, and was Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Colorado State University/Pueblo between 1990 and 2003. Author of The Gulf Conflict-1990-1991 and Conflict Prevention: Path to Peace or Grand Illusion? Recent publications include Religious Terrorism, published by the Journal of Defense Intelligence (Spring 2002); The Academic in the Intelligence Community (Spring 2003); Ethnic Conflict: What Kind of War? published by the Naval War College (1999).
[/li][li]Prof. Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez, author of the Routledge Encyclopaedia of Religion and War, Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Youngtown State University.
[/li][li]Dr. J.A. Nelson Pallmeyer, Professor of Justice and Peace Studies, University of St. Thomas, MN, and author of Is Religion Killing Us? Violence in the Bible and in the Koran.
[/li][li]Dr. David Perry, formerly Director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, now Professor of Ethics at U.S. Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Dr. Perry is a leading international expert on, and has written extensively about, Just War theory, including "Killing in the Name of God: The Problem of Holy War."
[/li][li]Prof. Rosemary Radford Ruether (keynote presenter), is a pioneering Christian feminist theologian. Ruether teaches feminist and third-world liberation theology at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. Besides her numerous interviews and media appearances, she is the author of many books including Sexism and God-Talk, WomenChurch, Women and Redemption: A Theological History, and The Wrath of Jonah: The Crisis of Religious Nationalism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
[/li][li]Prof. Joyce Salisbury, historian and social theorist at the University of Wisconsin, is author of a number of significant works on the role of gender in the world's religions and the understanding of violent death/martyrdom, including Blood of the Martyrs: Unintended Consequences of Ancient Violence.
[/li][li]Prof. Regina Schwartz, Professor of Religion at Northwestern University and Director of the Chicago Institute for Religion, Ethics and Violence; author of The Curse of Cain: The Violent Legacy of Monotheism.
[/li][li]Prof. Robert B. Tapp, Professor Emeritus of Humanities at the University of Minnesota and Dean of The Humanist Institute.

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Accommodations:
[/li][li]Statler Hotel, 607-257-2500; 800-541-2501 - very limited availability
[/li][li]Holiday Inn, (downtown-restaurants within walking distance), 222 S. Cayuga, 607-272-1000
[/li][li]Best Western University Inn, East Hill Plaza, 607-272-6100
[/li][li]Courtyard by Marriott, 29 Thornwood Drive, 607-330-1000
[/li][li]Comfort Inn, 356 Elmira Road, 607-272-0100
[/li][li]Hampton Inn, 337 Elmira Road, 607-277-5500
[/li][li]Ramada Inn, 2310 N. Triphammer Road, 607-257-3100

There are also some really nice Bed & Breakfast loctions in the area, although they may be taken by Cornell students. The "Finger Lakes" region of upstate New York is absolutely beautiful. It should be spectacular in November, with the trees turning colour for the Autumn.

There is also a gorge that runs across the south end of the campus (I think it's the south end). There are pathways down into the gorge. I found it to be a wonderful place to sit and write, read or think. (yes, I have been to seminars/conferences at Cornell University. It is a great facility. I wish I could attend this conference as well.)