Showing posts with label event. Show all posts
Showing posts with label event. Show all posts

Tuesday, 4 June 2024

CBC Ideas to Air Beyond Culture Wars Keynotes

The radio show Ideas from the CBC will be airing audio recordings of the two keynote addresses from the Beyond Culture Wars conference this past April. On Wednesday, June 5, Ideas will air the episode "On Culture Wars in Christianity: Philosopher James K. A. Smith." The episode will air live on Radio One at 8:00pm, and will be available for on demand listening on the CBC Listen website afterward. 

A second episode featuring the keynote address from Kristin Kobes Du Mez will air later this fall. We will share more information about that episode closer to the air date.


June 5 Episode Summary

"Culture wars" divide faith communities, as well as secular society. But Christian thinker and philosopher James K. A. Smith argues that solidarity is possible, and a state that exists beyond our identification with what we know and believe. The only way to get there, in his view, is through what he calls "the mystic crucible of unknowing." The Calvin University professor is a Canadian-born, U.S.-based philosopher and author. He spoke about Christianity and social division in April 2024 at a conference called 'Beyond Culture Wars,' sponsored by the Institute for Christian Studies, and Martin Luther University College at Wilfrid Laurier University. You'll hear his talk, and a conversation with IDEAS producer Sean Foley.

Thursday, 2 May 2024

2024 Convocation Livestream and How to Attend


On May 24th, the ICS community will gather to celebrate our annual Convocation. This year's ceremony will include the granting of degrees to our Junior Members, and the delivery of the Convocation Address by ICS President Dr. Ronald A. Kuipers titled "Rescuing Lost Time."

Convocation will begin by 6:30pm ET on May 24th. The event is taking place in person in Toronto, but will also be available to livestream. If you'd like to join the livestream, you can watch the whole ceremony in real time on our YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/live/vPmQyHneo8c

We hope you will be able to join us either virtually or in person for this special night celebrating the accomplishments of our Junior Members.

Join the Livestream!


Want to attend in person? Please email Danielle at dyett@icscanada.edu so we can plan to expect you in person and we'll send you more details. Feel free to also email if you have any questions about how to join online. 

Lecture - Nurturing a Postcolonial Imaginary: Art and Spirituality

On Wednesday, May 15 at 5-6pm, the Toronto School of Theology is hosting a lecture by Br. Emmaus O'Herlihy and a reception at Regis College (Classroom C, 100 Wellesley St. W, Toronto). The lecture is titled "Nurturing a Postcolonial Imaginary: Art and Spirituality," and would be of particular interest to all those keen to explore ways that the visual arts intersect with spirituality and theological understanding.

If you'd like more information, please email tstadmin@utoronto.ca.

Lecturer bio: Emmaus O’Herlihy, a Benedictine monk from Ireland, holds a BDes from the National College of Art and Design (Ireland) and an MTS and PhD in Theology (Toronto School of Theology). A working visual artist, Br. Emmaus’ commissions hang in Toronto, London, Los Angeles, Dublin, and Limerick. Dr. O’Herlihy’s area of research focuses on the relationship between the visual arts and theology, in particular, how recent strategies in art reshape aesthetic priorities that help awaken an ethical summons to the other.

Saturday, 6 April 2024

Save the Date: ICS Convocation 2024

The Institute for Christian Studies' 2024 Convocation ceremony will be taking place on Friday, May 24th around 6:30pm ET. This year, we will be celebrating our Junior Member graduands with an in person and livestreamed event at Christ Church Deer Park in Toronto. 

More details will be made available in the coming weeks. You can email ics-communications@icscanada.edu if you have any questions. 

Monday, 4 March 2024

Conference Registration Now Open


Registration is now open for our April 18–20 conference in collaboration with Martin Luther University College on the topic: “Beyond Culture Wars: Fostering Solidarity in an Age of Polarization.” Some of our community partners include Citizens for Public Justice, Shalem Mental Health Network, and Vision Ministries Canada.

This event will be hosted in person at the campus of Martin Luther University College (Wilfrid Laurier University), and our plenary sessions will be made available online. This event will be an education and discussion forum for faith communities, and for the larger public, to counter the ‘culture wars’ mentality and explore together more positive and mutually beneficial ways of relating religion to the broader society. 

Keynote speakers are Kristin Kobes Du Mez, (April 18 at 7:00pm) and James K.A. Smith (April 19 at 7:00pm). There will also be several workshops and conversation sessions from our community partners, as well as ICS and Luther faculty (we are in the process of scheduling these sessions now). 

Please visit https://luther.wlu.ca/events/beyond-culture-wars/index.html to register and find more information. 


Wednesday, 7 February 2024

Save the Date: Conference with James K.A. Smith and Kristin Kobes Du Mez in April 2024


On April 18–20, 2024 the Institute for Christian Studies will collaborate with Martin Luther University College, Vision Ministries Canada, Shalem Mental Health Network, and Citizens for Public Justice to present a conference on the topic: “Beyond Culture Wars: Fostering Solidarity in an Age of Polarization.”

Hosted at the campus of Martin Luther University College (Wilfrid Laurier University), this event will be an education and discussion forum for faith communities, and for the larger public, to counter the ‘culture wars’ mentality and explore together more positive and mutually beneficial ways of relating religion to the broader society. To accomplish this goal, “Beyond Culture Wars” will engage a wide variety of academic and community voices in seeking to raise awareness and understanding across sectors through facilitated dialogue, knowledge mobilization, and community cooperation.

The conference will feature keynote speakers James K.A. Smith and Kristin Kobes Du Mez, as well as several workshops and conversation sessions.

Please save the date and keep an eye out for more information in the coming weeks.

Saturday, 3 February 2024

Sylvia Keesmaat Presenting at Scripture Faith & Scholarship Symposium on Feb 26


Title:
Seeds of Resistance and Healing:
Grounding the Bible

Date and Time:
Monday, February 26, 2024 at 2:00pm


Location (Hybrid):
1. Knox College, Classroom 3 (59 St. George St., Toronto)

From creation to new creation, the lament of the land to the grief of God, the Bible narrates the desire of the Creator to inhabit and rejoice in the wondrous and diverse creation that surrounds us. How does such a desire shape our response to the crisis of our age? And how does creation help us to understand the story of the Creator?

Join us online or in person for this semester's Scripture, Faith, and Scholarship Symposium with Dr. Sylvia Keesmaat. Details about the location and the link to join via Zoom are included above. Please email cprse@icscanada.edu to if you have any additional questions. Hope to see you there!


Presenter Bio:

Dr. Sylvia C. Keesmaat is a biblical scholar, activist, and farmer. She obtained her doctorate at Oxford University, studying with N.T. Wright, and was a Senior Member in Biblical Studies and Hermeneutics at ICS from 1994-2004. She has most recently taught as an Adjunct Professor of Biblical Studies at Trinity College, Toronto School of Theology, as well as for the Creation Care Studies Program in Belize.

Sylvia is the co-author, with Brian Walsh, of Romans Disarmed: Resisting Empire, Demanding Justice  (Brazos Press, 2019) and Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire (IVP, 2004). She is also the author of Paul and His Story: (Re)Interpreting the Exodus Tradition (Bloomsbury, 1999). 

Sylvia is the past co-chair of the Bishop's Committee on Creation Care for the Anglican Diocese of Toronto. She speaks frequently on topics related to the Bible and economic justice, climate catastrophe, gender justice, and Indigenous justice.

Sylvia founded her online teaching platform Bible Remixed in 2021 to help nurture a community of Jesus followers who are deeply rooted in the biblical story, and who are becoming a community of welcome, healing and nurture for those people and creatures who suffer most from the violence of our world. She offers online courses throughout the year that are open to all on a pay-what-you-can basis.

From 2016 to 2023 Sylvia held an heirloom tomato seedling sale every spring on her farm. She also speaks to horticultural societies and other groups about permaculture, forest gardening and pollinator insects.

Sylvia lives at Russet House Farm, an off-grid permaculture farm in the Kawartha Lakes on the traditional territory of the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg, with her husband, Brian Walsh, and a fluctuating number of people and animals.


Saturday, 11 November 2023

Save the Date: Online AGM on December 2

This year's Annual General Meeting for ICS Members will be held on the afternoon of Saturday, December 2nd. The meeting will take place online so that ICS supporters can join from anywhere in the world to hear the latest on what's happening at ICS.

Voting materials, an agenda, and details for how to join the meeting are being sent out via mail and email to ICS Members, so keep an eye on your inboxes and save the date in your calendars. 

If you haven't renewed your ICS membership for 2024, visit www.icscanada.edu/support or email donate@icscanada.edu to arrange your donation. 

If you have any questions about voting in the AGM or how to join, please email ics-communications@icscanada.edu. 

Thursday, 28 September 2023

ICS Hosting Society for Ricouer Studies Annual Conference: October 12-14

The Institute for Christian Studies is hosting the 2023 Society for Ricoeur Studies Conference taking place online and in person at Regis College (100 Wellesley Street West) at the Toronto School of Theology. 

The theme of this year's conference is: Ricoeur in Practice, and the keynote speakers are Stephanie Arel (Fordham University) and Scott Davidson (West Virginia University). Dr. Arel will speak on "Ricoeur and Hope: Living after Rupture," and Dr. Davidson will speak on "What Makes ChatGPT Think? Ricoeur and Generative AI." 

You can view the full conference program here or by visiting ricoeursociety.org/conferences.

ICS President Ronald A. Kuipers will open the conference and moderate a session, Associate Director of the CPRSE Héctor Acero Ferrer will be moderating one of the panels and will present a paper titled "'Our-self as Another?' Understanding the Development of Narrative Identity in Ecclesial Base Communities through the Lens of Paul Ricoeur," and ICS alumnus Andrew Tebbutt will be presenting a paper titled "Who is the Subject of Recognition? Ricoeur’s Institutional Hermeneutics." 


Register to Attend Online or In Person

  • USD$80 for faculty
  • USD$50 for students
  • USD$25 for non-grad student ONLINE 











Oct 16: Scripture, Faith, and Scholarship Symposium with Neal DeRoo

Our newest Senior Member Dr. Neal DeRoo will be leading our next Scripture, Faith, and Scholarship symposium on Monday, October 16 at 2pm ET at Knox College, hosted by the Centre for Philosophy, Religion, and Social Ethics. Dr. DeRoo will present on the topic: The Heart of Philosophy/Philosophy of the Heart. This event will take place both in person and online.

When? 
Monday, October 16, 2pm ET

Where? 
Classroom 3, Knox College, 59 St. George Street, Toronto
Online via Zoom

What?
How can the biblical notion of the heart inform our understanding of philosophy, and how can philosophy help us think through all the implications of the biblical notion of the heart? That is the two-fold question to be pursued in this talk. It will lay out a vision of humanity as heart-ed beings, image bearers who cannot help but express something else in everything they do. It will then pick up the theme of spirituality to talk about what is expressed through human actions, exploring what spirits are being expressed in our common life together and how philosophy can be a tool to help creation better express the spirit of God. 


If you would like to join this event via Zoom, please email cprse@icscanada.edu to receive the link. 

Saturday, 23 September 2023

Sep. 29 Book Launch: 15th Anniversary Edition of Beyond Homelessness

On Friday, September 29th, the Sanctuary community in Toronto will be hosting the book launch of the 15th anniversary edition of Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement by Steven Bouma-Prediger and Brian Walsh.

There will be live music, refreshments provided, and a book-signing and short presentation by co-author Brian Walsh. 
Books will be available on site for purchase! 

When?
Friday, September 29
7:00-9:00pm

Where?
Sanctuary
25 Charles Street E.
Toronto, ON


Want to hear more about the book? 
Brian was a recent guest on an episode of Alan Graham's podcast Gospel Con Carne. Have a listen to the conversation here or wherever you get your podcasts: https://mlf.org/a-conversation-with-beyond-homelessness-author-brian-walsh/.








Wednesday, 10 May 2023

Convocation 2023 Livestream & How to Attend


On May 26th, the ICS community will gather to celebrate our annual Convocation. This year's ceremony will include the granting of degrees to our Junior Members, the investiture of Dr. Pamela Beattie as ICS Chancellor, and the delivery of the Convocation Address by Dr. Robert Sweetman on the occasion of his retirement as ICS Senior Member. 

Convocation will begin by 6:30pm EDT on May 26. The event is taking place in person in Toronto, but will also be available to livestream. If you'd like to join the livestream, you can watch the whole ceremony in real time on our YouTube channel at: youtube.com/watch?v=J6M_9C7Nu0I.

We hope you will be able to join us either virtually or in person for this special night celebrating the accomplishments of our Junior Members and the scholarly legacy of Bob Sweetman.

Join the Livestream!


Want to attend in person? Please email Danielle at dyett@icscanada.edu to let us know that you would like to attend this event in person and we'll send you more details. Feel free to also email if you have any questions about how to join online. 


CPJ Celebrates 60 Years

Our colleagues at Citizens for Public Justice are celebrating 60 years of being “inspired by faith to act for justice,” and you are invited to join the anniversary celebration!
  • When: Thursday, June 1, 7:30pm - 9:00pm (EDT)
  • Where: Holy Trinity TO, #19 Trinity Square, Toronto, ON (beside the Eaton Centre) & virtually via Zoom
Hear from current and former staff, Board members, and partners as CPJ reflects on the theme of intergenerational advocacy. Let’s celebrate the ways the folks at CPJ have effected change and how we, ourselves, can be changed to build a more just and sustainable society.
 
Please click this link for more details and to register (in-person & virtual).

Tuesday, 4 April 2023

May 6: Join Us for the Dancing in the Wild Spaces of Love Book Launch!



Mark your calendars for Saturday, May 6th, 2-4pm EST, when we'll gather for a long-awaited celebration of ICS Senior Member Emeritus Jim Olthuis' latest book: Dancing in the Wild Spaces of Love: A Theopoetics of Gift and Call, Risk and Promise (Wipf and Stock, 2022)!

This event will feature a panel discussion on topics arising from Jim's book, and ICS Senior Member Bob Sweetman will be moderating. An in-person reception will follow the discussion time. 

The panel discussion portion of this event will be hybrid, so please email cprse@icscanada.edu to RSVP and mention whether you plan to attend in person or online. 

- - -
Book blurb from the publisher's website: 

In the twenty-first century, amid globalized violence, rising demagogues, and the climate emergency, contemporary philosophers and theologians have begun to debate a fundamental question: Is our reality the result of the overflowing, ever-present creativity of Love, or the symptom of a traumatic rupture at the heart of all things? Drawing on decades of research in postmodern philosophy and experience as a psychotherapist, James H. Olthuis wades into this discussion to propose a radical ontology of Love without metaphysics. In dialogue with philosophers like John D. Caputo, Slavoj Žižek, Luce Irigaray, and others, Olthuis explores issues from divine sovereignty and the problem of evil to trauma and social ethics. Experience in therapeutic work informs these investigations, rooting them in journeys with individuals on the path to healing. Olthuis makes the bold claim that while trauma, pain, and suffering are significant parts of our human lives, nevertheless Love is with us to the very end. Creation is a gift that comes with a call to make something of it ourselves, a risky task we must take on with the promise that Love will win. We are all dancing in the wild spaces of Love: ex amore, cum amore, ad amorem.


Save the Date: Celebrations of Bob Sweetman

The Institute for Christian Studies' 2023 Convocation ceremony will be taking place on May 26th around 6:30pm EDT. 

This year, we will be celebrating our Junior Member graduands with a hybrid event at Christ Church Deer Park in Toronto. The evening will also feature an exaugural address by retiring ICS Senior Member Bob Sweetman.

In addition to this yearly event, we will also be hosting the event: Gestures of Grace: Celebrating the Scholarly Contributions of Bob Sweetman. As the title suggests, this will be a celebration of Bob’s work and his lasting impact on the ICS community, and will take place earlier in the afternoon at 2pm EDT on May 26th. This celebration will feature a panel discussion on topics revolving around Bob's work and teaching. This will also be a hybrid event taking place at Regis College (100 Wellesley St. W) in Toronto.

Both Convocation and this panel will be open to the public and available to join in person or online. Feel free to email dyett@icscanada.edu if you have any questions about joining. 

The Vision of Home: A Conversation with Miroslav Volf on May 9



We're delighted to announce an upcoming event with Professor Miroslav Volf, Founder and Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture! On May 9, 2:30-4:00pm EST, Prof. Volf will be giving a talk entitled The Vision of Home. This will be a hybrid event, graciously co-hosted by Regis College of the Toronto School of Theology, so please let us know if you'd like to join us in person or online. 

In the spirit of his latest book, The Home of God: A Brief Story of Everything (Brazos Press, 2022), co-authored with Ryan McAnnally-Linz, Prof. Volf will explore the contemporary "crisis of home" on display in challenges like nationalisms, natural disasters, mass global migration, and housing crises. We will consider, among other things, what possibilities might open up in the "Christian story of creation, redemption, and consummation through the lens of God's homemaking work."

We look forward to welcoming Prof. Volf to speak with us. Below you'll find Prof. Volf's bio and details for how to RSVP to this event. 

- - -

Where?
St. Joseph Chapel, Regis College
100 Wellesley Street West
Toronto, ON M5S 2Z5

When?
Tuesday, May 9, 2023
2:30–4:00pm EST

- - -

Biography:

Miroslav Volf is the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and is the Founder and Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. He was educated in his native Croatia, the United States, and Germany, earning doctoral and post-doctoral degrees (with highest honors) from the University of Tübingen, Germany. 

He has written or edited more than 20 books, over 100 scholarly articles, and his work has been featured in the Washington Post, Christianity Today, Christian Century, Sojourners, and several other outlets, including NPR's Speaking of Faith (now On Being with Krista Tippett) and Public Television’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly.

Some of his most significant books include:

  • ‍Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation (1996; revised edition, 2019), translated in 9 other languages, winner of the Grawemeyer Award in Religion, and one of Christianity Today’s 100 most important religious books of the 20th century
  • Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace (2006), which was the Archbishop of Canterbury Lenten book for 2006
  • Allah: A Christian Response (2011), on whether Muslims and Christians have a common God
  • After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity (1998), winner of the Christianity Today Book Award
  • A Public Faith: How Followers of Christ Should Serve the Common Good (2011)
  • The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World (2006; revised edition, 2020), winner of the Christianity Today Book Award‍
  • Flourishing: Why We Need Religion in a Globalized World (2016) ‍
  • For the Life of the World: Theology that Makes a Difference (2019), co-authored with Matthew Croasmun

After receiving a B.A. from the Evangelical-Theological Faculty in Osijek, Croatia, Miroslav received his M.A. from Fuller Theological Seminary and both his Dr. theol. and Dr. theol. habil. from the University of Tübingen, Germany, studying under theologian Jürgen Moltmann. Prior to his appointment at Yale Divinity School in 1998, he taught at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Osijek, Croatia (1979–80 and 1983–90) and Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California (1990–1998).

A member of the Episcopal Church in the USA and the Evangelical Church in Croatia, Professor Volf has been involved in international ecumenical dialogues (for instance, with the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity) and interfaith dialogues (on the executive board of C-1 World Dialogue), and is active participant in the Global Agenda Council on Values of the World Economic Forum. In October 2007, Prof. Volf was the lead author of the Christian response to “A Common Word Between Us and You,” the historic open letter signed by 138 Muslim scholars, clerics, and intellectuals, which identified some core common ground at the heart of the Christian and Muslim faiths (the complete text can be found online at http://www.acommonword.com). The “Yale response,” as this response to “A Common Word” has become known, was published in November 2007 as a full-page advertisement in the New York Times, signed by more than 130 prominent Christian leaders and scholars.

Miroslav regularly teaches and lectures in Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, and across North America. He has given over 30 prestigious lectureships at universities around the world, including the Dudleian Lecture at Harvard University; the Chavasse Lectures at Oxford University; the Waldenstroem Lectures at Stockholm School of Theology; the Gray Lectures at Duke University, the Stob Lectures at Calvin University, and the Cadbury Lectures at University of Birmingham.

Wednesday, 1 March 2023

Dr. Amber Bowen at Scripture, Faith, and Scholarship Symposium on March 31

Dr. Amber Bowen will be joining us for the next Scripture, Faith, and Scholarship symposium on Friday, March 31st at 2pm EST, hosted by the Centre for Philosophy, Religion, and Social Ethics. 


Dr. Bowen (Ph.D. University of Aberdeen) is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Core Studies at Redeemer University. She wrote her dissertation on Kierkegaard and Phenomenology under the supervision of J. Aaron Simmons and is presently writing a monograph on a Kierkegaardian Philosophical Hermeneutics of Faith in consultation with Merold Westphal as part of the Widening Horizons in Philosophical Theology project at the University of St. Andrews.

The title of Dr. Bowen's talk is: On Seeing Further than the Present: A Kierkegaardian Hermeneutic of Hope.

At first glance, Kierkegaard’s account of hope in Works of Love sounds conveniently other-worldly—the kind that abdicates the present for “the sweet by and by.” However, in this talk Dr. Bowen will show how Kierkegaard’s account of hope is hermeneutically structured in such a way that it avoids the perennial dangers of either taking us out of the world (religious escapism) or confining us to the world (pious secularism).  She will argue that his deliberation on hope and his continual reference to “Eternity” should not be read through the lens of a Two Kingdom’s eschatology, but that it best accords with an eschatology of New Creation. Kierkegaardian hope, Dr. Bowen contends, is a hermeneutical virtue that discloses this world as having a future because of the Eternal’s work already in the present.

If you would like to join this event via Zoom, please email cprse@icscanada.edu to receive the link. 

Social Domains of Truth Publication and Book Launch

ICS is pleased to announce the publication of Social Domains of Truth: Science, Politics, Art, and Religion (Routledge, 2023) by Lambert Zuidervaart, ICS Senior Member Emeritus in Philosophy. Lambert considers this book a culmination of his life’s work; he has dedicated it to the memory of his friend and mentor Hendrik Hart.

Truth, Lambert argues, includes factual truth, but it is more than that. Truth as a whole involves our following societal principles such as solidarity and justice and fostering the interconnected flourishing of all creatures. This process comes to expression in distinct social domains, not only in science but also in politics, art, and religion. Anyone who cares about the future of truth in today’s society will want to read this pathbreaking book. More details can be found at the publisher’s website.

ICS supporters in West Michigan will have a chance to greet Lambert during a book launch on Friday, March 24, 3:00 pm EST, at the University Club, room DEV107C, in the DeVos Center on the downtown PEW Campus of Grand Valley State University (GVSU). This event is hosted by the GVSU Philosophy Department and co-sponsored by Friends of ICS and the Philosophy Department at Calvin University. To begin, Lambert will give a lecture titled “Truth and Politics: Arendt, Foucault, and the Truth of Politics.” A reception and book signing will follow. A summary of Lambert’s lecture is posted on the GVSU Philosophy Colloquium Series webpage. 

The event will be recorded, and anyone unable to attend can join the live stream at https://gvsu-edu.zoom.us/j/99263991812?pwd=ZS9jb0hSVWFOK0w0RWw4cHpNVWZIdz09. 

Wednesday, 1 February 2023

Webinar on Mining Justice from Development and Peace

ICS alums Dean Dettloff and Kiegan Irish are currently working with Development and Peace (Caritas Canada). On Thursday, February 16 from 7-8:30pm EST, Development and Peace will be co-hosting an online event with KAIROS and Student Christian Movement of Canada (SCM) featuring Indigenous and global partners who are advocating for mining justice.
 
These three groups have organized a learning and action series for students and young adults that includes an in-person study of Joan Kuyek’s book, Unearthing Justice: How to Protect Your Community from the Mining Industry. 

Everyone is invited to attend the February 16 webinar, during which Joan will moderate a panel of three global or Indigenous partners to deepen and expand this learning circle. Follow up to the webinar will include planning an action at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto in March.

The event is free to attend, but please register beforehand the the following link (the Zoom link will be sent in confirmation email): https://bit.ly/3j1udBw.

Online Lecture with Lambert Zuidervaart on February 28

Lambert Zuidervaart, ICS Senior Member Emeritus of Philosophy, will present a talk and lead a discussion on “Truth Post-Truth: Reimagining Philosophy for a World in Crisis” as part of the online lecture series Philosophy in Times of Crisis. 

Everyone is invited to join Lambert’s talk at 2:00pm EST on Tuesday, February 28, 2023. More information can be found on the series website: https://philosophyintimesofcrisis.com/.

This lecture stems from Lambert’s work on his forthcoming book Social Domains of Truth: Science, Politics, Art, and Religion. Here is a summary of what he plans to say:

Truth is in trouble. Prominent contemporary philosophers have questioned whether the idea of truth is important: Does it deserve the emphasis scholars have given it in the past? Should it play a central role in intellectual endeavors today? Do we even need it? Their questions both reflect and reinforce broader trends in society, where many people wonder whether they either can or should pursue truth. Indeed, according to some pundits, we have become a “post-truth” society, one in which feelings trump facts in public affairs. 

This talk briefly introduces three positions that trouble truth in philosophy: deflationism, radical contextualism, and politicization. Then it proposes a new conception of truth called holistic alethic pluralism, and it shows why, despite academic skeptics and popular pundits, truth remains a substantive and socially significant idea. As explained in the book Social Domains of Truth (Routledge, 2023), this new conception of truth simultaneously reimagines the tasks of philosophy. Philosophy, I argue, should offer both social critique and social-ethical wisdom for a world in crisis.