Spirituality, religion and the sacred
Rome Campus, Australian Catholic University
June 4-7, 2025
The modern west has made a certain kind of subjectivity possible, if not compulsory – the self-identification of individuals as “spiritual, not religious.” Although now common, this kind of identification is historically unique. While spiritual energies have been regularly deployed in times of religious renewal throughout Western history, no previous generation would have figured itself in quite these terms. And yet, from the enormous popularity of Russell Brand’s podcasts and online courses offered by publishing houses such as Sounds True, to the celebrity resurgence of Transcendental Meditation and the wide reach of Instagram yoga “influencers,” the pursuit of “spirituality” has come to be seen as the most intellectually – and perhaps politically – responsible way of approaching the transcendent.
Accompanying the trend towards spirituality is a critique of religion. The critique and disavowal of organised religion is undoubtedly part of the complex history of other critiques of authority which characterise modernity – of feudal power, of the power of the church, and, after the second world war and the Holocaust, of national sovereignty and the “military industrial complex.” There is indeed much to recommend in the pursuit of spirituality – especially as it is connected to the yearning for authenticity, ecological holism and a recovery of meaningfulness – and in turn, much to value in the critique of tradition and authority. The wars of religion (as much about national as religious sovereignty), the horrors wrought by the divine right of kings, and the atrocities which were endorsed by “official” science and state power in preceding centuries – and even our own – should give any thoughtful person some pause about submission to the arbitrary exercise of authority.
By the same token, however, this development has not given us a world free from sectarian struggle, human rights abuses, and new forms of authoritarianism, while the kinds of freedoms that were thought to be withheld by tyrannical traditions have not all eventuated. There are a host of reasons to doubt that “spirituality” in all its forms is an adequately sustaining force, and that the religious impulse can or should so easily be left behind. The turn to individualised forms of spirituality and the fragmentation of cultural and religious forms – especially as a number of lines of empirical evidence indicates the effectiveness of these forms in providing a means for human flourishing, transcendence and sociality – poses fundamental questions about the liberal, “individualist” model of being human which achieved precedence during modernity. Attention must also be given to ways in which spirituality has been annexed by the commodity form.
These questions become more urgent when considered in the light of modern threats to human survival, particularly the extreme violence of modernity (e.g., world wars, terrorism, genocide, nuclear weapons) and ecological crisis. These threats indicate if nothing else that humans gravitate to cultural, political and religious forms – which they so easily sacralise – to find fundamental meaning, social bonding and transcendence, especially during crisis—even in an individualistic age, even when they are thought to have abandoned them. This apparent modern contradiction – increasing individualisation accompanied by dangerous collective behaviour – can be helpfully understood in the light of Rene Girard’s analysis of modernity and the foundational and regulative function of religion, along with his critique of a newly emerging post-secular sacred.
This conference will problematize any too-simple disjunction between “religion” and “spirituality”, not least because “religion” and “secular” are freshly contested classifications that from a functionalist perspective can be seen to overlap. Accordingly, we will seek to identify a third way beyond the stale standoff between these modern categories. The implications of the conference will entail, we believe, not only a different way of considering who we are – and might become – as individuals, but a novel reading of our unique historical moment, and how we have emerged into it.
The conference is open to academics, professionals, practitioners in the field, and anyone interested in the conference topic or René Girard’s mimetic theory.
Call for Papers
Paper proposals and panels from any field of study are welcome, particularly as they relate to the conference theme. As the aim of the Colloquium is to explore, criticize, and develop the mimetic model of the relationship between violence and religion in the genesis and maintenance of culture and as the Colloquium is concerned with questions of both research and application, we welcome papers related to all aspects of mimetic theory.
Proposals should contain your name, affiliation, the title of the paper, and an abstract of the planned paper of about 200 words. All submissions should include a statement at the end of the proposal listing technology needs. If needs are not stated at the time of submission, the host institution may be unable to accommodate them.
Papers are to be of a length for a 20-minute presentation, with 10 minutes for questions and discussion. Panels (of 90 minutes with 3 papers) on a particular theme are also welcome.
If you are a graduate student and your proposal has been accepted, there is the possibility of applying for the Raymund Schwager, SJ Memorial Essay Contest.
There will be two rounds of proposals (to assist those with planning and funding requirements). Responses will be given shortly after each due date. For more information or to send a proposal (including a title, 200-word abstract and contact details), please email the conference organisers at [email protected] and [email protected] by 15th December 2024 (for the first round). For the second round, please send your proposal by 15th April, 2025.
Workshop Proposals
The organising committee also welcomes proposal for practitioner-focused, interactive workshops that relate to the work of Girard or the conference theme. Such sessions could take different forms (e.g., workshop-style, forum, discussion group, panel) and may cover areas such as spirituality, peace-building, inter-faith dialogue, Girard and preaching, or Girard and psychotherapy (not an exhaustive list). Please provide a description and rationale for an inter-active workshop on a particular topic to be facilitated for approx. 45 or 90 minutes by appropriately qualified persons.
Raymund Schwager Memorial Essay Contest
To honor the memory of Raymund SCHWAGER, SJ, the Colloquium on Violence and Religion is offering an award of $1,500 shared by up to three persons for the three best papers given by graduate students at the COV&R 2025 meeting at the Australian Catholic University. Receiving the award also entails the refund of the conference registration fee – this should be factored in the calculation of the conference fee. Starting in 2019, the winners also receive a certificate.
Students presenting papers at the conference are invited to apply for the Raymund Schwager Memorial Award by sending a letter to that effect and the full text of their paper in an e-mail attachment to Prof. Scott Cowdell, chair of the three-person COV&R Awards Committee. The paper should be in English. The paper should be 2500 words, double-spaced-12-point font excluding notes. That should work out to a 10-page text excluding notes that can be read in 20 minutes. Because of blind review, the author name should not be stated in the essay or in the title of the WORD file. Due date for submission is 1 May 2025. Winners will be announced in the conference program. Prize-winning essays should reflect an engagement with mimetic theory; they will be presented in a plenary session and be considered for publication in Contagion.
Travel Grants
COV&R offers a limited number of travel grants for grad students or practitioners of mimetic theory (e.g., NGO/non-profit staff; journalists, government employees). Preference is given to graduate students but practitioners of mimetic theory are also encouraged to apply.
In order to be eligible you need:
- to have an accepted paper proposal and offer a presentation at the conference
- to have not received the travel grant previously
- to belong to the groups mentioned above.
To apply for a travel grant: send your confirmation of acceptance at the conference and your situation to the COV&R Executive Secretary, Joel Hodge.
COV&R travel grants are for cost of transportation only and are at a maximum of $US1,000 per person. If your travel costs are less, you will receive the actual cost of travel. If your travel costs exceed that amount, you will have to finance the excess yourself. The travel grant money will be awarded after the conference. Recipients’ conference registration fee will also be refunded.”