On Thursday, April 2, Columbia University will host a graduate student conference entitled “Belief Matters: Reconceptualizing Belief and Its Use.” Dedicated to examining how “concepts of belief and believing remain central to how scholars, practitioners, institutions, and states conceptualize what religion is and how it operates,” the conference will include addresses from Penny Edgell and Michael Taussig as well as responses from Courtney Bender, Mark C. Taylor, and Wayne Proudfoot:
When: 2 April 2009
Where: Barnard College, Sulzberger Hall, Tower Meeting RoomsHosted by the Columbia University Religion Graduate Students Association
In recent decades, sociologically- and anthropologically-minded scholars of religion have focused far more on rituals, practices, identities, and institutions than on doctrines and beliefs. This emphasis has stemmed from a recognition that “lived religion” is multi-layered, less systematic, and less voluntary than belief-centered paradigms tend to presume, as well as from an awareness that such paradigms fit some traditions and methodologies far better than others.
The turn away from belief has helped scholars see religion as a dynamic phenomenon that exists not just in peoples’ heads but also in their assumptions, everyday practices, and relationships. At the same time, however, this shift may have kept scholars from examining ways in which concepts of belief and believing remain central to how scholars, practitioners, institutions, and states conceptualize what religion is and how it operates in the world.
By reexamining what it means to “believe,” this conference explores if and how belief still matters.
Find details and registration information at the conference website.
