News from the Nordic Society for Philosophy of Religion (NSPR)

17th ESPR Conference
Place: Oslo
Time: August 28-31, 2008

Information about the conference will continuously be updated at: "Sacrifice" ESPR Conference Homepage

Sacrifice has become a key concept for a philosophical analysis of religion and culture, faith, violence, and responsibility in late 20th and early 21st century thought. Two main strands of the discussion may be identified in French phenomenology and in the influential philosophy of culture advocated by Rene Girard. Given the plurality and mutual interference of religious traditions, and facing religious and political violence in conflicts all over the world, the question of sacrifice appears also to break open new perspectives for philosophy of religion in the years to come. Hence, the European Society for Philosophy of Religion (ESPR) has dedicated its 17th biannual conference in Oslo August 28-31, 2008 to the problem of Sacrifice.

The plenary speakers at the 2008 conference include John Milbank (GB), Lourens Minnema (NL), Jayne Svenungson (SE), Walter Sparn (DE), Merold Westphal (US), Claudia Welz (DE), Troels Nørager (DK), and Peter Jonkers (NL).

Professors and PhD students are invited to submit a paper for one of the four subtopics. See our Call for Papers. Deadline for abstracts (300 words) is March 15, 2008. Send abstracts to: Atle.O.Sovik@mf.no

Annual Nietzsche Seminar
Place: University of Latvia, Riga
Time: March 6-8, 2008

The Faculty of Theology of the University of Latvia organises annual seminars on Nietzsche’s philosophy of religion, publishing their results for the Latvian public. Whereas the first seminar “The Hermeneutics of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Religious Philosophy” (March 2007) mostly explored Nietzsche’s hermeneutics of Christianity and “the death of God”, the upcoming seminar “Nietzsche and Religions” is devoted to Nietzsche’s understanding of religions except Christianity and Judaism. “Nietzsche, Judaism and the Jews” is the theme for the year 2009.

Presentations are welcome on Nietzsche’s interpretations of such religions as Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, the Greek religion and others or the relation of perspectives from these or other religions (e.g., Hinduism, Islam) to Nietzsche’s thinking.


Please send your inquiries and/or applications (presentation title; abstract - 100 words; author’s CV - 50 words) to:
normunds.titans@lu.lv by 8 February 2008 (ASAP appreciated)

Respectfully yours,
Normunds Titans,
Faculty of Theology
University of Latvia

Conference and Ph.D. course

Title: "Religion and Subjectivity: Reconsidering the Relational Self"

Time: March 13-15, 2008


The fact that the self is relational has been stated often enough – but what precisely does this mean? This is still to be explored and explained. Further, to what extent is it appropriate to oppose the category of substance (or, subsequently, of the subject or the self) to the category of relation, and in which sense do we need a 'substantial' correlate of the relations we investigate? The issue of selfhood in relations will be approached from different perspectives. Particularly we are aiming at a dialogue between phenomenology, philosophy of religion and theology, focusing on accounts of a 'relational ontology of the person' in Luther, Kierkegaard, Levinas, Ricoeur and Scheler.



Confirmed keynote speakers: Günter Bader, Jeffrey Bloechl , Arne Grøn , Bo Kristian Holm, Werner Stegmaier, Anthony Steinbock.

Call for papers: Ph.D. students are welcome to submit proposals for short papers on this topic (incl. discussion max. 30 min, no more than 2200 words). If you would like to present a paper, please send an abstract of about 200-400 words to Claudia Welz at clw@hum.ku.dk.

Deadline: January 15, 2008. A reply will be sent by February 1, 2008 .

Location: University of Copenhagen . More details will be announced at www.cfs.ku.dk.

Organized by the Center for Subjectivity Research in cooperation with the Nordic Society for Philosophy of Religion and the Theological Faculty of the University of Copenhagen .

Organizers: Arne Grøn , Carsten Pallesen and Claudia Welz .

Participation is free, but prior registration required. Please register before February 15th, 2008 , by sending an email to cfs@hum.ku.dk.

October 15-16 2007: Gianni Vattimo comes to the University of Oslo to give a guest lecture on "The Future of Religion" (Oct 15 at 12:15). Response by Prof. Trygve Wyller and discussion.

October 16 from 10:00-15:00: Seminar on Weak Thought lead by Marius Timmann Mjaaland. Papers by Vattimo, Groenkjaer, Oekland, Ramberg, and Mjaaland. Resgistration due Oct 9 by sending an email to: ekspedisjonen@teologi.uio.no

Oct. 15 at 18:30: Vattimo gives the public lecture "Credere di credere" at the Italian Culture Institute, Oslo. Reception.

More information at: Vattimo in Oslo

Tartu Conference Nov 8-11 2007

Call for papers due Oct 1st on Science, philosophy, and religion. It might still be possible to register for participation without paper presentation. If you are interested, please email Professor Anne Kull (annekull@hotmail.com) at the U of Tartu.

The research seminar is sponsored by Nordforsk enabling us to offer some support to cover your travel and accommodation expenses, if needed.

Registration Deadline: October 1, 2007
Please, send your registration to Anne Kull:
Email: Anne.Kull@ut.ee, or annekull@hotmail.com

Main papers: Niels Henrik GREGERSEN (Copenhagen, Denmark), Anne KULL (Tartu, Estonia), Markus KLEINERT (Munich, Germany) and Anne RUNEHOV (Copenhagen, Denmark)

NB: The research seminar is sponsored by Nordforsk enabling us to offer support to cover your travel and accommodation expenses, if needed.

The last years have brought a considerable development in the field of religion, as well as in science. With increasing complexity and plurality, a mutual interest has emerged between scientists and scholars of philosophy and/or religion in developing new perspectives and exploring the resources of different sources of knowledge. Hence, with an International Research Seminar on science, philosophy, and religion, we will face some of the recent challenges facing scientists, philosophers, and theologians alike.

More information at: University of Tartu

The participants include scholars from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Germany. Doctoral students with interdisciplinary interests are most welcome!

24.08.2007 10:00 Marius Gunnar Mjaaland  [bokmerke]

Sound files in mp.3 format have now been published on the conference program page. Enjoy! If you want the questions and answers from the session contact me! /Brynjulv (brynjulv.norheim@teologi.uio.no)

The conference takes place at the University of Oslo, Faculty of Theology. You may go there by taxi, take the subway no. 3 or 5 to "Blindern" and walk Blindernveien 5 minutes eastward, or take the tram no. 17 to "Vestre Aker" and walk Blindernveien 2 min. westward.

For a good map of Oslo, please take a look at: Map of Oslo from Visitoslo.com

The Guest House at Sta Katarinahjemmet is situated at Majorstuen, 15 minutes walk from the Faculty of Theology. Map here:Map showing Sancta Katarinahjemmet


The first evening there is barbecue at Mjaaland's residence in Nordbergveien 65. You may take bus no. 25 from "Vestre Aker" to "Nordbergveien" and walk 5 minutes down the street - or take a taxi. For a map, tip "Nordbergveien 65, 0875 Oslo" at:Map showing Mjaaland Residence


Have a nice trip - and good luck!

The Conference on Hermeneutics and Phenomenology has received a generous funding from Nordisk Kulturfond, giving us the best possible conditions for a successful conference.

See Nordisk Kulturfond: Nordisk Kulturfond

In this newsfeed Marius and Stine will post news concerning NSPR. NSPRs homepage is hosted at The Faculty of Theology (University of Oslo, Norway) at www.tf.uio.no/nspr. The headlines of the latest 5 news postings will be fed to the homepage. If you want to receive this newsfeed as an RSS feed please use this address: wo.uio.no/wo-data/nettlogg/rss/12247.rss. /Brynjulv Norheim