Monday, May 2,2011

University ofCalgary

Social SciencesRm. 1339

Schedulefor

the Day

9:15- Coffee and Registration

10:00 Opening Remarks and Welcome

10:10 Presentations: Moderated by Chris Daniels

10:10 Andrews Pardes

10:40 Fry

11:10 Sawchenko

11:40 Coffee Break

12:00 Presentations: Moderated by Jonathan Napier

12:00 Gallant

12:30 Mogen

1:00-2:30 Light Lunch (Provided)

2:30 Presentations: Moderated by Oren Steinitz

2:30 Gurr

3:00 Koczkur

3:30 Versi

4:00 Closing Remarks

Zvi Andrews Pardes isan MA student at theDepartment ofReligious Studies,University of Calgary.His academic interestslie mainly in the areasof religion andphilosophy. He studiesunder the supervisionof Dr. Eliezer Segal

Baruch Spinoza is often seen as a radical new voice in theEnlightenment. His systematic effort at defining God as nature,based on a coherent set of rationally deduced axioms was certainlycontroversial during his times. Spinoza set out to show that miraclescould not logically be changes in the fixed and immutable order ofnature, as such would be imply that nature and thus God was not afixed, immutable, and eternal system and acceptance of such wouldcast the certainly of all mathematical truth into doubt. Spinoza,disdainfully and compellingly struck down the layers ofinterpretation surrounding Scripture, and thus in turn laid low formany the powers of ecclesiastic authority. Spinoza transformed theBible into a book not of eternal truths but of moral principles,readily accessible to the reflective mind. Salvation became nothingmore than the mind’s acquiring of true, logically necessary ideas. Allof this shocked the European traditionalists in a milieu wherechurches and scholars vied to retain control over a rapidly changingand contentious intellectual landscape. Yet, amongst somecontemporary scholars tend to understate just how indebted Spinozais to his intellectual forbearers. In particular stands the philosophy ofMoses Maimonides whom, I argue, is the undeniable origin of muchof Spinoza’s thought. The Theological-Politcal Treatise in whichmuch of Spinoza’s perspectives on the Bible and on religion are tobe found cannot even be properly understood within the context ofthe history of philosophy without a reasonable understanding of theGuide for the Perplexed. I argue that despite the intense controversysurrounding Spinoza’s drastic redefining of religious terms and ideassuch as God, prophecy, and miracles, Spinoza’s thought, whilecontroversial in his time, did not represent a complete innovation,but rather was a natural extension and development withinMaimonidean rationalism.

Spinoza and Maimonides:Origins and Rediscovery in the Enlightenment

C. M. L. Fry iscurrently completingher MA in ReligiousStudies at theUniversity of Calgary,specializing in SecondTemple Judaism andthe Jesus Movement inthe 1st century CE. Shegraduated with anHonours in Classicsfrom Mount AllisonUniversity in 2009where she focused onthe social history andarchaeology of theRoman world. Herpaper extends from asecondary researchinterest in the rationalefor and thedevelopment ofHistorical Jesusresearch as a disciplineduring the EuropeanEnlightenment.

Both within and without confessional circles, 18th and 19th centuryEuropean writings on moral philosophy and religion frequently saw aconscious reimagining of both the Jesus of history and of his earliestfollowers. Seen as a means of supplanting the ecclesiastical andinstitutional authority of tradition with a recovery of an ‘authentic’ or‘original’ Christianity, philosophers and theologians alike beganinterpreting New Testament texts with this goal in mind. Theambiguity of the historical record made this endeavour particularlyattractive and figures like Jesus, Paul and Peter could easily beportrayed as either archetypes or arch-villains of variousEnlightenment and post-Enlightenment philosophical trends. Ashort survey of these varied depictions of Christian origins will begiven and a discussion of the relationship between the quest for thephilosophical Jesus and the later quest for the historical Jesus will beexamined. In particular, the paper will concentrate on the JesusMovement’s conceptualisation in the writings of the German Pietists,Edelmann, Nietzsche, and Kierkegaard. This paper highlights onemeans by which Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment thinkersused religious structures in order to construct arguments againstreligious institutions. Further, the relationship of history to Christiantheology and ideology is discussed. Finally, what are the implicationsof the genealogy of the discipline for scholars currently engaged inresearch into the Jesus Movement? Is the historical inquiry intoChristian origins inextricably bound up in what is still, for manycontemporary Christians, a quest for ‘authentic Christianity’?

‘Authentic Christianity’: Authority and Ambiguity inEnlightenment and Post-Enlightenment Portraits of

Christian Origins

Leslie Sawchenko hasresided in the Calgaryarea most of her life.Along with her careerin publishing andbookselling, shepursued her education,completing herundergrad in ReligiousStudies at the U of Cand is currently in thefirst year of herMaster's programfocusing on thephilosophy of religion.Leslie's plans for thefuture include work inthe book industry,teaching and businesscoaching along withspending time inEurope - and of course,further studies.

Husserl’s question began with epistemology. How is it possible for usto know the world and the things in it? His work revealed thathuman reflection is direct, immediate and real. Although indebtedto Descartes’ subjectively oriented philosophy and his discovery ofconsciousness, Husserl’s system represents a turn “back to the thingsthemselves”, revealing the reality of the phenomenon that theknowing subject perceives. His thought was strongly influential in thedevelopment of the philosophy of existentialism, both atheistic asexemplified in Jean-Paul Sartre, and Christian as developed byGabriel Marcel. He profoundly influenced Martin Heidegger whoworked closely him in his early years. His ideas informed the workof Mircea Eliade and Paul Ricoeur among many others. Husserl’sphenomenological project provides a methodology for a uniqueanalysis of reality that is over against the strong current of idealismand relativism in current philosophic inquiry. Husserl disputes anyform of idealism in which an object is understood as a mental imageor picture in the mind. As well as considering objects and theessence of things, Husserlian phenomenology addresses the self,providing a transcendent view of human experience andrelationships that does not replace natural reason, but offers insightand clarification in the manner of the ancient Greek and medievalphilosophers. Husserl’s views on human experience as well as on thenature of language offer a valuable corrective to current behavioralneurobiology. In my presentation, I will demonstrate the Husserlianstructures of reflection, showing the usefulness and wisdom of hisideas. It is my conviction that an understanding of Husserl’sphilosophy is essential for making sense of modernity’s developmentof conflicting philosophic theories and for an appreciation of thedepth of philosophy’s contribution to human knowledge.

Edmund Husserl and the Beginnings of Phenomenology:Back to the Things Themselves

Sarah Marie Gallant isa doctoral candidate inReligious Studies at theUniversity of Calgary.Her dissertationresearch examines therole the imaginationplays in theconstruction andreception of exemplaryfigures portrayed inexemplary religiousliterature in light ofPaul Ricoeur’s work onthe productiveimagination.

In my paper I will examine The Life of Umiliana de’ Cerchi as anexemplary narrative from the Western Christian tradition.Exemplary religious narratives present a person or figure for thepurposes of demonstrating proper conduct to the religiouscommunity. In this text Umiliana is presented by her hagiographer,Vito of Cortona, as an exemplary figure worthy of emulation. Themodel of Christian humility she embodies is intended as a model forChristian laypersons of Late Medieval Florence. Vito, a Franciscanfriar, composed his text during an uncertain time for the Franciscansin Florence and the concerns of the Franciscan Order arediscernable in the text itself. Although Umiliana is the central figurein the narrative and her example of humility and obedience is thestated purpose for the text’s composition, her Life can be read as aform of Franciscan propaganda. In much of the currenthagiographical scholarship the Lives of saintly figures have been readas presentations of “exemplars”. However, Paul Antony Haywardhas recently argued against this interpretation. He cautions thatwhile these texts may directly claim to present examples for ordinaryChristians, this claim of exemplarity may be merely a trope. Ifexemplarity is indeed a trope and not the sole purpose of these texts,how then does this impact the way in which the scholar of religionreads such texts, as opposed to the insider intending to read anexample of proper conduct? This is the question I intend to focuson in my examination of Umiliana’s Life.

Reading Extraordinary Lives: Exemplarity inHagiographical Literature

Sharon MurphyMogen is presentlycompleting her MA inReligious Studies atthe University ofCalgary, specializingin Early Christianityand womenʹs role indeath and burialduring lateantiquity. She is aretired teacher,grandmother, and life‑long learner interestedin the much neglectedarea of women anddomestic religiosity(the practice of thepeople). Sharonʹs paperon the  pilgrim, Egeria,examines the interfaceof place study withliturgy and womenʹscontributions in thedevelopment of aChristian identity.

In the latter part of the fourth century C.E. a devout Christianwoman named Egeria made a pilgrimage from her home in thewestern empire (Spain or Gaul) to Jerusalem and the Holy Land toexperience the “place” where Jesus had walked. This “place” was notonly a geographical location for Christian pilgrims like Egeria butalso the very “hearth” of Christianity, their connection to Christianidentity, and the site of the new heavenly city announced in the Bookof Revelations. This “place,” Jerusalem, had only become availableto Christians after 325 when the emperor Constantine ordered thedestruction of the pagan temple on the site of Christ’s tomb.Following a monumental building campaign in the Holy Land byConstantine and his mother—and the raising of structures like theChurch of the Holy Sepulcher, a church at Bethlehem, another onthe Mount of Olives—pilgrims began to flock to Jerusalem to witnessthese “places” for themselves. Using the scholarship of Jonathan Z.Smith, Edward S. Casey and others, I will argue that Jerusalem as“place” is not only a geographical location for Egeria and fellowpilgrims, it is also a holy “space” shaped and shared by its history,ritual process, and memory. I will show that Egeria and the pilgrims,by virtue of their experience of Jerusalem, are part of the “place,”affecting and contributing to it, and in turn, themselves foreverchanged by it. Egeria’s diary, the Itinerarium, becomes the vehiclefor the transmission and perpetuation of Christian tradition and isresponsible in part for making Jerusalem the “place” it is today.

Jerusalem as Place: Egeria’s Legacy

Vanessa Gurr is anM.A. student in theDepartment ofAnthropology at theUniversity of Calgarywho specializes in thesocial construction ofspace andplace inNunavut. Her graduatethesis inquires into thesocial logic whichintersects the structuresof personal religiousconversion (as a dualhabitus), social spaceand class in practice.She has worked as aconsultant for industrydoing socio-economicimpact assessments(SEIA) , which identifyand mitigate project-specific "social impacts"to communities interms of that project'soverall benefits andcosts to the northerneconomy.

This paper considers the utility of Pierre Bourdieu's concept ofsymbolic domination to frame and explore issues of culturalcontinuity, change and the engagement of a small Inuit-ledcongregation with the contemporary Christian evangelicalmovement. The questions are specifically: How do evangelicalInuit understand and relate their conversion? Are evangelicalreligious structures a true departure from the structures ofentrenched colonizing religions? Can religious capital then beused by converts for social status in place of traditionalmeasures? These questions are critically assessed with respect tonew findings from the anthropological literature ofcontemporary Inuit village life and the results of the author'sfieldwork.

Contesting Doxa with Native Knowledge: Religious Storiesand Symbolic Power in an Inuit-led Charismatic Church

Matthew Koczkur iscurrently taking hisMA in ReligiousStudies at theUniversity of Calgary.While hisundergraduate workwas completed atCalgary's Mount RoyalUniversity in the areaof Policy Studies, Matthas since beenrehabilitated and iseager to continue hisscholarship inReligious Studies. Hisresearch interestsinclude alternativespirituality, particularlyNeo-shamanism, andTheory andMethodology inReligious Studies.

Neo-shamanism, as a new religious movement, refers to the practicewhereby ‘outsiders’ adopt shamanistic beliefs and practices, tendingto be drawn from aboriginal religious traditions, and then adapt thesepractices to their individual cultural and social contexts. In this way,shamanic rituals involving psycho-active plants (termed entheogens –literally: that which generates God from within), have as well beenadopted by Neo-shamans and then adapted to their specific culturaldomains. Of interest to this paper are those entheogenic, neo-shamanic rituals that find expression in contemporary Westernsocieties, particularly Canada and the United States. Thispresentation will commence with a brief history of Neo-shamanismand the use of entheogens in Western society intended to providethe context necessary to better understand the phenomena underconsideration as a form of alternative spirituality. Such instances ofreligious adoption have the potential to become sites of culturalappropriation and are thus best elucidated through the use of acritical perspective. Through applying the post-colonial approachdeveloped by Richard Horsley, which seeks to categorize theinteractions between religion and empire into a tripartite taxonomy,it will be shown that entheogenic Neo-shamanism is both, aconstruction expressed from the perspective of individualspositioned within the Western capitalist empire, as well as, aresponse of resistance orchestrated by those same individuals againstthe power wielded by imperial elites. By viewing this religiousphenomenon as possessing these dual characteristics, the nuancespresent in the beliefs and motivations of Neo-shamans can be betterunderstood while maintaining a post-colonial critique, ultimatelypositioning Neo-shamanism within the arena of global powerstruggle.

Entheogenic Neo-shamanism and Empire:Post-Colonial Perspectives

This study examines the impact of religion onacculturation in a specific community, using the frameworkpresented by Berry. Working from a Canadianperspective, Berry has created a framework that unifiesmuch of the existing research, taking into account factorsthat impact acculturation prior to migration, such aseducation, economic status, gender roles, andmigration expectations, as well as factors that arise duringthe acculturative process, such as the views of the newsociety towards migrants, the acculturation strategy chosen,and the phase of migration. This study uses rich,qualitative data from interviews, supplemented byprimary and secondary source material, to focus on areligious community, the Khoja Nizari Isma'ilis from EastAfrica, who have immigrated to a Canadian setting andappear to have acculturated quite successfully here.Findings demonstrate that religion, including communitystructures, social resources, and guidance from theirImam, have had a profound and positive impact on theacculturation of Khoja Nizari Isma'ilis from East Africa inCanada. It is hoped that this case will help to fill gaps inthe existing body of research and encourage scholars toconsider the impact that religion may have as a uniquecategory when considering acculturation, and prompt itsinclusion along with the other factors, such as thoseproposed by Berry, rather than having it subsumed underthem, as has typically been the case.

Salima Versi is currently a PhDCandidate in the University ofAlberta's Religious StudiesDepartment, under thesupervision of Professor Abu-Rabi. Her general focus isIslamic studies, but her researchmore specifically examines NizariIsma'ilism, particularly in Canada.She also holds a and a Master's inCounselling Psychology from theAdler School of ProfessionalPsychology, where her focus wason social justice and counsellingin multi-cultural anddisenfranchised populations,especially immigrant and visibleminority women and childrenwho were survivors of abuse inthe home. Because of herbackground in both Religion andPsychology, she does her best tomerge the two in her research, ascan be seen in the paper she ispresenting here, which examinesboth a psychologicalphenomenon, acculturation, anda specific religious community,the Canadian Khoja NizariIsma'ilis from East Africa.

Make This Your Home: The Impact of Religion onAcculturation: The Case of Canadian Khoja Nizari

Isma'ilis from East Africa

Please join us afterthe conference fora social gathering.

KilkennyIrish Pub

3630 BrentwoodRoad NorthwestCalgary, AB T2L

1K8, Canada

SPIRAL and its members would like to offer specialthanks to the following:

Chris Daniels, Jonathan Napier and Oren Steinitz formoderating our presentations today.

The committee of faculty and students who reviewedall submissions and chose today’s papers.

The faculty and staff of the Religious StudiesDepartment for their unfailing support of SPIRALendeavours.

Our presenters for their hard work and for sharingtheir scholarship with a wider audience.

The SPIRAL Conference Committee for organizingtoday’s events.

Many Thanks to…