Sent on behalf of Patrick Nolin, VP Conference.
Call for Papers
Toronto School of Theology Graduate Students’ Association (TGSA) Conference
Traditioning Sources for Contemporary Theological Engagement
June 11th, 2021
Theology when properly conceived is informed both by its past expressions and the theologian’s response to the present context. There thus resides a continual tension in theology: between contemporary concerns facing a faith-based community and a commitment to particular traditions. “Traditioning Sources for Contemporary Theological Engagement” seeks to explore projects that reflect upon past sources in their constructed argumentation, employed methodology, or underlying assumptions that may provide insights for contemporary theological projects. ‘Traditioning’ may be interpreted as a process of: creatively, constructively, and/or critically retrieving traditional sources (broadly conceived across denominational and religious perspectives) for the production of insights to meet the need for a theology “at the level of our times.” This conference seeks a wide range of perspectives on this topic and is open to proposals from a variety of disciplines, including: theological ethics, religious studies; Biblical studies; historical, systematic, practical, and/or critical theologies. Papers might explore:
- The uses and abuses of ‘tradition’ as a theological source/norm;
- The authority of tradition(s) in relation to other theological sources;
- Re/consideration of what rightly counts as ‘tradition’;
- Theologies of retrieval/ressourcement;
- Dynamics of power in the ‘traditioning’ process;
- The interplay between traditions’ authority and contemporary pressures;
- cultural, religious, and/or ethnic plurality and traditional particularity
Graduate students are invited to propose 20-minute presentations by submitting a title and abstract of no more than 400 words in a MS Word document and sent to tgsaconferences@gmail.com no later than Monday, April 5th. Selected proposals will be presented Friday, June 11t h 2021 in an online format in accordance with current health and safety precautions. All inquiries can be directed to tgsaconferences@gmail.com.
