Proposals sought in Buddhist Studies and other fields for Bristol Postgraduate Conference

Paper proposals are being accepted for the Twentieth Annual Postgraduate Conference for Religion and Theology (13-14 March, 2015). Located in beautiful Bristol, England, the University of Bristol Theology and Religious Studies department provides the perfect venue for postgraduates along with some undergraduates and early career academics to present their work before a diverse, thoughtful, and supportive audience. In past years, presenters have come from around the world to take part in this, the UK’s largest postgraduate conference in the humanities (and second in the world only to Harvard). 

This year proposals are sought on the topic of Nature and Religion (though any topic in religion is welcome). The deadline for proposals is February 25 but those needing earlier responses for travel purposes can let organizers know of their needs. Papers should be presented in 20 minutes and proposals can be sent to Dr Jon Balserak ([email protected]). From the call for papers:

The relationship existing between religion and nature manifests itself in numerous ways in nearly all religions. Throughout the centuries, thinking about nature has been perceived both as extremely supportive of and also profoundly damaging to religion. This year’s postgraduate conference invites papers exploring all aspects of the theme of nature, including environmental (papers on things such as climate change, food chains), biological (animal welfare, bio-ethics), philosophical and theological subjects (questions on creation-evolution, the nature-grace dichotomy), historical (on mythical and monstrous animals, the black plague), scriptural (the use of natural metaphors in scripture and preaching), ethical issues (themes of environmental sustainability, categories of beings/animals, the question of the status of nonhuman beings), inter-personal relationships, gender and sexuality, esoteric, gnostic, and new-age spirituality and the occult, natural religions, issues associated with ontology, hamartiology, anthropology, physics, astronomy and history, politics and sociological issues. We invite papers on these and a myriad of other topics related to religion and nature. All religions: Buddhist, Hindu, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Druidism, Rosicrucianism, Bahaism, Sufism, Shamanism, Atheism, etc are open for study, as well as many others. As always, papers will also be accepted on all subjects related to religion and theology.

Having co-organized the conference last year and attending several times in the past I can strongly recommend the conference to all students interested in the field of religion. It really is quite a huge conference and, as one attendee from Oxford in the video notes, tends to be one of the best organized events of its kind.

Besides, where else are you going to get to learn about hamartiology?

Definitely go if you can. You won’t regret it. If you have any questions, ask them in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer them, or go straight to the guy in charge: Dr Jon Balserak : [email protected].

Need more convincing? Here’s a taster video put together from the 2013 conference: