Flourishing: Adventism and the Good Life
September 26, 2016 § Leave a comment
Join us for our seventh annual symposium as we explore the nature and possibility of “the good life” in the 21st century.
*Presentations will be streamed on our Facebook page.
Dates: November 17-18, 2016
Location: San Antonio, TX – The Emily Morgan Hotel (Library)
Keynote address: Niels-Erik Andreasen (Andrews University, retired)
Schedule:
November 17, 2016
8:30am – Welcome and Introduction
“Witness to a Life Worth Living”
– Aleksandar S. Santrac (Washington Adventist University)
9:00-10:30am – Session 1: Liberalism and the Good Life
“Toward a Theological Ethics of Democratic Flourishing and Virtue”
– Yi Shen Ma (Claremont School of Theology, Ph.D. candidate)
“Religious Liberty, Natural Rights, and Human Flourishing”
– Gary V. Wood (Andrews University)
10:30-12:00pm – Session 2: Authenticity and the Good Life
“Flourishing and Expressive Individualism”
– Ronald E. Osborn (Association of Peripatetic Philosophers)
“Foucault, Truthfulness, and Flourishing”
– Ante Jerončić (Andrews Theological Seminary)
12:00-1:30pm – Lunch
1:30-3:00pm – Session 3: Secularism and the Good Life
“Despicable Me: Defeating Flourishing Egoism”
– Marina F. Garner (Boston University, Ph.D. student)
“Humanism(s), Flourishing, and Grace”
– Charles Scriven (Association of Adventist Forums)
3:00-5:00pm – Session 4
Keynote Address: Niels-Erik Andreasen
Panel
5:30pm – Dinner followed by casual after dinner discussion of papers
November 18, 2016
3:30pm – Business meeting*
*Meeting will take place at a different location
Registration: Please register by e-mailing adventistphilosophy@gmail.com. The registration fee is $50 for non-society members and $25 for members. Payments can be made here or at the conference, but please register by sending us an e-mail. (Space is limited and priority will be given to society members.) The fee is waived for conference presenters and those who have already made a contribution to the organization of the conference.
Accommodations: Conference participants are responsible for their own meals, lodging, and transportation.
2016 Call for Papers
April 22, 2016 § Leave a comment
The Society of Adventist Philosophers invites submissions for papers and panels to be presented at its annual symposium.
Theme: Flourishing: Adventism and the Good Life
Date: November 17, 2016
Location: San Antonio, TX
What, precisely, does it mean to flourish? And what difference does religion, and more specifically Christianity, make? We plan to explore such questions at the level of the individual, as well as socially, and welcome presentations and panels dealing with the nature and prospects of human flourishing.
Possible figures/topics include (but are not limited to):
- Ancient Greek philosophy, esp. Aristotle, and medieval appropriations
- Enlightenment humanism
- anti-humanism
- secularism
- environmentalism
Submission Guidelines:
Papers, paper abstracts, and panel proposals of up to 300 words should be submitted by July 15, 2016 to adventistphilosophy@gmail.com. Paper length should not exceed 10 pages, double-spaced, or 3000 words.
Notice of acceptance will be sent by August 1, 2016.
Society Returns to Atlanta for Sixth Annual Conference
January 11, 2016 Comments Off on Society Returns to Atlanta for Sixth Annual Conference
“How, if at all, does God-talk matter?
For the seventh time, the Society of Adventist Philosophers gathered today in a hotel conference room for what leader Zane Yi, of Loma Linda University, called “conversation and friendship.” A single question animated interactions among the 25 or so who were attending the Society’s annual meeting: How do human words relate to the Word, the divine self-communication that has given rise to the (biblical) people of God? The meeting formal theme was “words and the Word: Adventism and the Linguistic Turn.”
Papers and discussion began with reflection on the connection between God and the language of the Bible. It ended with consideration of whether, in a secularizing world, speech about God has any usefulness at all, any importance worth contending for? Today in Atlanta, commonplace Adventist self-preoccupation, normally evident at gatherings of church scholars, gave way to focus on issues that fascinate and disturb all people of faith.”
To read the rest of Spectrum’s report by Charles Scriven, click here.
words and The Word: Adventism and the Linguistic Turn
September 9, 2015 § Leave a comment
Join us for our sixth annual symposium as we explore the intersections between philosophy of language, theology, and the life of faith.
Dates: November 19-20, 2015
Location: Atlanta, GA – Doubletree by Hilton, Athena Room
Keynote address: Richard Rice (Loma Linda University)
Schedule:
November 19, 2015
8:30am – Welcome and Introductions
9:00-10:30am – Session 1: Inspiration
“God’s Involvement in Inspired-Biblical-Language”
– Iriann M. Irizarry (Andrews Theological Seminary)
“The Incarnation as a Speech Act”
– Jasper St. Bernard II (University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point)
10:30-12:00pm – Session 2: Interpretation
“Against Idols: Wittgenstein’s Zerstören”
– Moises Estrada (Andrews Theological Seminary)
“How Long, O Lord?: Derrida’s Messianic Structure in Isaiah 6”
– Cosmin Ritivoiu (Fuller Theological Seminary)
12:00-1:30pm – Lunch
1:30-3:00pm – Session 3: Communication
“A Philosophical Turn to Words and the Word”
– Kenneth Bergland (Andrews Theological Seminary)
“The Disintermediated Word: Notes on Adventist Literacy and Information Culture”
– Keisha E. McKenzie (McKenzie Consulting Group)
3:00-5:00pm – Session 4
Keynote Address: “When Philosophy Killed God: Logical Positivism and the Death of God”
– Richard Rice (Loma Linda University)
Response: Timothy J. Golden (Walla Walla University)
5:30pm – Dinner followed by casual after dinner discussion of papers
November 20, 2015
3:30pm – Business meeting*
*Meeting will take place at a different location
Registration: Please register by e-mailing adventistphilosophy@gmail.com. The registration fee is $50 for non-society members and $25 for members. Payments can be made here or at the conference, but please register by sending us an e-mail. (Space is limited and priority will be given to society members.) The fee is waived for conference presenters and those who have already made a contribution to the organization of the conference.
Accommodations: Conference participants are responsible for their own meals, lodging, and transportation.
2015 Call for Papers
April 23, 2015 § Leave a comment
The Society of Adventist Philosophers invites submissions for papers and panels to be presented at its annual symposium.
Theme: words and The Word: Adventism and the Linguistic Turn
Date: November 19, 2015
Location: Atlanta, GA
We welcome presentations dealing with developments and debates (historical and contemporary) in the philosophy of language, broadly construed, and their implications for Christian thought and practice, i.e. theology, the interpretation of Scripture, preaching, evangelism, etc.
Possible figures/topics include, but are not limited to:
- Wittgenstein
- Heidegger
- Gadamer
- Derrida
- logical positivism
- hermeneutics
- pragmatism
- structuralism
- post-structuralism
- deconstruction
Submission Guidelines:
Papers, paper abstracts and panel proposals of up to 300 words should be submitted by June 30, 2015 to adventistphilosophy@gmail.com. Paper length should not exceed 10 pages, double-spaced, or 3000 words.
Notice of acceptance will be sent by July 31, 2015.
Society Gathers in San Diego for Fifth Annual Conference
January 12, 2015 § Leave a comment
This year, we gathered to explore the possible relations and mis-relations between Adventism and 19th century ethical philosophy. Are humans “good with(out) God?”
Broaching this issue required situating Adventism’s relationship to the moral reasoning of the Enlightenment. Thinkers like John Stuart Mill and Immanuel Kant had articulated new was of thinking about right and wrong, emphasizing the calculation or maximization of utility or the weight and clarity of moral maxims and duty.Two features stand out of such approaches to morality—their universal aspirations and the displacing the central role religion traditionally played in grounding and motivating moral norms. Mill insists that God commands what God commands because God, too, is a utilitarian. Kant claims that God cannot command what goes against what we know to be moral rationally.
In the 19th century, we have both the culmination of the Enlightenment project, as well as a rejection of and reaction against it. Hegel, for example, constructs an all-encompassing rational system of explanation and understanding of reality and morality. Kierkegaard, we’ll see, rejects this as a form of intellectual hubris and idolatry.
Is Adventism an expression of or rejection of the Enlightenment’s intellectual and moral aspirations?
Charles Taylor has provided the helpful analysis of contemporary culture as being a three-cornered debate between religious humanists, secular humanists, and anti-humanists. The confusing nature of this debate is that allegiances shift and change with any of the two parties ganging up on the third, depending on the given issue. Does Adventism side with Kierkegaard and Neitzsche’s, some might say prophetic, critique of modernity? Or does it side with Hegelian systematization over Kierkegaardian fideism? Might it embrace certain elements of Neitzsche’s and Kierkegaard’s critique of Christianity?
Presenters and participants grappled with these and related questions throughout the day.
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- From left to right: Darin McGinnis, Dana Steilen, Cosmin Ritivoiu, Ron Osborn, Kenneth Bergland, Hans Guiterrez, Anthony Malagon, G. Russell Seay, Daryll Ward, Charles Scriven, Fritz Guy, C. Stephen Evans, David Larson, Abigail Doukhan, John Reeves, Jim Walters, Bonnie Dwyer, Zane Yi, Trisha Famisaran, Jasper St. Bernard, and Zack Plantak.
Good With(out) God?: Adventism and 19th Century Moral Philosophy
September 11, 2014 § Leave a comment
Join us for our fifth annual symposium as we explore 19th century reflections on the relationship between faith and morality.
Dates: November 20-21, 2014
Location: San Diego, CA – Thomas Jefferson School of Law, #227
Keynote address: C. Stephen Evans (Baylor University)
Schedule:
November 20, 2014
8:30am – Welcome and Introductions
9:00-10:30am – Session 1: Ethics and Idealism
“Freedom, Pantheism, and Radical Evil in Schelling’s ‘Middle Period’”
– Darin McGinnis (Wheeling Jesuit University)
“Hegel, Adventists, and the Pursuit of Truth”
– G. Russell Seay (Oakwood University)
10:30-12:00pm – Session 2: Ethics and Theism
“Grace and Good: Kierkegaard and the Challenge of Demythologized Religion”
– Charles Scriven (Kettering College of Medical Arts, emeritus)
“Is Everything Permitted Without God?”
– Ronald E. Osborn (Wellesley College)
12:00-1:30pm – Lunch
1:30-3:00pm – Session 3: Ethics and Emotions
“A Re-evaluation Of Feeling And Its Consequences For Religious Thought”
– Anthony Malagon (Queens College)
“Ressentiment and the Advent Hope”
– Jasper St. Bernard II (University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point)
3:00-5:00pm – Session 4
Keynote Address: “Divine Commands as the Basis for Moral Obligations”
– C. Stephen Evans (Baylor University)
Response: David Larson (Loma Linda University)
5:30pm – Dinner followed by casual after dinner discussion of papers
November 21, 2014
3:30pm – Business meeting*
*Meeting will take place at Hilton Bayfront (Coronado B)
Registration: Please register by e-mailing adventistphilosophy@gmail.com. The registration fee is $50 for non-society members and $25 for members. Payments can be made here or at the conference, but please register by sending us an e-mail. (Space is limited and priority will be given to society members.) The fee is waived for conference presenters and those who have already made a contribution to the organization of the conference.
Accommodations: Conference participants are responsible for their own meals, lodging, and transportation.
