SSCE News

Our conference this year, Affected Bodies: Ethics, Physicality, and Emotion,” will take place on March 31 at the University of Aberdeen. Registration can be found here.

 

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The field of ethics cannot escape bodies. Bodies are either the direct or implicated subject matter of ethics, they are the places from which ethical dilemmas and questions arise, they are the ever-moving points between which ethical conversations occur, and they are, finally, the place from which and towards which we take ethical action. These bodies, though made of the same stuff, are not the same. Bodies are situated differently within times and cultures. Bodies are implicated differently in our moral tales. And, to make life in bodies even more complicated, persons who inhabit/are these bodies, understand and interpret their bodies, and what they are, differently.

Christian theological ethics, along with theology more broadly, has begun to turn toward the particularity of bodies as a site of important information for the practice of ethics. This turn is a turn toward the body in its situatedness, its history, its particularity, its affect, its dis/abilities, its desires, its needs. This years SSCE Postgraduate conference will address the ways in which bodies–what they are and how they are affected and affectable–matter for the practice of theological ethics.

Below is the schedule of the event. Please note the optional dinner event on Thursday evening and optional writing workshop on the Saturday morning that follows the conference (and an optional—but enticing—dinner and karaoke outing on the Friday following the conference). The price of the conference (£25) covers everything from 9am-5:30pm on Friday. Do reach out with questions!

 

2023 SSCE PG Conference Detailed Schedule

Thursday, March 30

7:30pm Pre-conference Welcome Dinner and drinks at 6°N 

Friday, March 31
8:30am Morning Prayer in Kings Chapel
9am Coffee + Light Breakfast

9:15am Welcome + Introduction to the day
9:20am Keynote 1: Dr. Katy Hockey, Lecturer in New Testament at University of Aberdeen, “Social bodies, emotion and the love of enemies in Luke 6”

9:50am Q&A

10:15am Short Coffee Break
10:30am Student Paper - Melissa Barciela Mandala, University of St Andrews, ”What Bodies Are': Pauls Suffering Body in 2 Corinthians 4:7–12 and Implications for an Ethic of Suffering”

            Respondent: Olly Mears, Durham University

11:05 Q&A
11:30am Coffee Break

11:45am Student Paper - Andrew Borror, University of Aberdeen, "Christ's Body and Ours: Working Out the Meaning of the Body”

            Respondent: Oliver Wright, University of Oxford

12:20pm Q&A

12:45pm Catered Lunch
1:45pm Keynote 2: Professor Grant MacAskill, Kirby Laing Chair of New Testament Exegesis, University of Aberdeen, “On Rhizomes and Repentance: Neurodiverse Embodiments and the Interpretation of Scripture”

2:15pm Q&A
2:40pm Short Break
2:50pm Student Paper - Victoria Phillips, University of Oxford, Ambassadresses for God and America: Re/Reading Female Missionary Memoirs and Autobiography”

            Respondent: Jared Stacy, University of Aberdeen

3:25pm: Q&A

3:50pm: Student Paper - Iona Curtius, University of Aberdeen, Cyborgs vs. the Metaverse: Identifying the 'good' in a techno-dystopian body”

            Respondent: Joelle Lucas, Durham University 

4:25pm: Q&A

4:50pm Break

5:05 Closing conversation about themes from the day

5:30pm Conclude 

7:30pm Conference Dinner off-site in Aberdeen, followed by Karaoke (of course)

 

Saturday, April 1
9am-12:15pm Writing Workshop: Developing and Reflecting on Voice - Authority, Audience, and Conversation (Indicate interest when you fill out the survey sent to those who sign up for the conference; workshops participants will be asked to bring one page of their writing)

 

Conference Bursaries

Travel and Accommodation bursaries are available for those who wish to attend the conference but need additional funding to do so. The application can be found here.

 

Contact Information

Please reach out to the current post graduate co-conveners, Ed Chan-Stroud (Oxford) and Annie Dimond (Aberdeen) at pg-convener@ssce.org.uk if you have any questions related to the conference, our other events, or postgraduate membership in the society more generally.

 

You can follow us on Twitter (@PgSsce) and Facebook (SSCE Postgraduates) to stay updated. For any questions, you can email us at pg-convener@ssce.org.uk.

 

 

Interruptions – Theological Responses to Suffering, Crisis, and Death
The Society for the Study of Christian Ethics Post-Graduate Conference 2022
11th March 2022, Oxford, 8.45AM-18:30 PM
 
Plenary Speakers:
Professor Karen Kilby- Cross, Resurrection and How to Think About Suffering
Professor John Behr- Dying to Live and Be Human
 

To be human is to be, among other things, finite, dependent, and vulnerable. Although the ‘developed’ world is more technologically advanced than ever before, we still succumb to sickness, suffering, and finally death. These phenomena are existential certainties that nevertheless manifest as harsh interruptions of everyday life. In this way, modern existence is defined by a deep angst, even for those who believe in the creating and redeeming power of God. How can we do theology in the midst of these interruptions? What kind of ‘theologies of interruption’ can be formed in response to the crises we inevitably face? How are these theologies shaped by the post-Christendom, or perhaps increasingly post-secular, context we encounter in the west? It is now also time to take stock of the Christian theological heritage – which speaks of the God-man who suffered the brutal interruptions of his human life, being tortured and murdered for the sake of others – and reassess what insight might have been lost along the way. What, then, is the shape of Christian ethics before these perennial human crises in the distinctively twenty-first century form they take? We invite your participation in this conference as we consider how we should now live.
 

Plenary Speakers

Professor Karen Kilby is the Bede Professor of Catholic Theology at Durham University. She has written widely within systematic and philosophical theology. She is known for her contributions to the questions of evil and suffering and modern Trinitarian theology. Her publications include Karl Rahner: Theology and Philosophy (2004), Balthasar: A (Very) Critical Introduction (2012), and God, Evil and the Limits of Theology (2020).

Reverend Professor John Behr holds the Regius Chair in Humanity at the University of Aberdeen. He is known for his contributions to the fields of patristics and theological anthropology. Some of his more recent works include Becoming Human: Theological Anthropology in Word and Image (2013), St Irenaeus of Lyons: Identifying Christianity (2013), and John the Theologian and His Paschal Gospel: A Prologue to Theology (2019

 
Participating in the Conference

We wish to offer access to the conference also for those are not able to travel to Oxford. Therefore, we are offering two types of participation: online and in-person. Below you can see what each participation option includes and their prices.

In-person participation

  • Ticket price: £25 + transaction fee
  • This option is required for those who give papers.
  • Allows you to fully participate in the conversation and meet the other participants.

Online Participation

  • Ticket price: £5 + transaction fee
  • Allows you to listen to all the papers, but participation in the conversation is limited.

Registration

To purchase your ticket and register for the conference, please see the following link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ssce-postgraduate-conference-11-march-2022-tickets-213511226827. The deadline for registration is Monday 7 March 2022. Please note that those who have been invited to give a paper, will also have to register and purchase an in-person ticket. People who are not presenting papers are also very welcome to attend in person to hear our plenary speakers and graduate papers, and to participate in the discussion. The conference will take place at the Ertegun House, Oxford (37A St Giles', Oxford OX1 3LD)

 

Full Programme  

8.45 Registration and Coffee/Tea
9.15 Opening
9.30 First Plenary Speaker-Professor Karen Kilby: Cross, Resurrection and How to Think About Suffering
11.00 Break
11.15 Post-Graduate Papers I

  • 11.15-11.45 Edward Wong: From Wounds to Scars: The Embodiment of a Forwarded Past through the Body of Jesus in John 19-20
  • 11.45-12.15 Sara Stone: Blame-shifting in the Book of Job and the Climate Crisis
  • 12.15-12.45 Annie Dimond: The Difficult Logic of Vulnerability: An Ethics and Epistemology of Interruption
  • 12.45-13.15 Joshua Blanchard: Augustinian Reflections on Interruptions

13.15 Lunch (provided by the conference organizers)
14.00 Second Plenary Speaker- Reverend Professor John Behr: Dying to Live and Be Human
15.30 Coffee, tea, and refreshments
16.00 Post-Graduate Papers II

  • 16.00-16.30 Dallas A. Callaway: An Indescribable Grace: Kierkegaard’s Kinship with Pascal Regarding Suffering as the Natural State of the Christian
  • 16.30-17.00 Florence O’Taylor: The Interruption of Addiction: Paying Attention to the Cry of Affliction with Simone Weil
  • 17.00-17.30 Samuel Efraín Murillo Torres: As Living Gospels ‘Going ahead’ in Time of Death, Longing, and Mourning; Bonhoeffer’s Thought in Dialogue with the Reality of Enforced Disappearances in Mexican Necropolitical Struggle
  • 17.30-18.00 Rahel Siebald: Managing or Discerning Interruptions? Re-Thinking Church Leadership in the Light of the Prophetic Office of Christ
  • 18.00-18.30 Tijana Petkovic: How is Technology Changing the Way We Suffer?

18.30 Finish

You can follow us on Twitter (@PgSsce) and Facebook (SSCE Postgraduates) to stay updated. For any questions, you can email us at pg-convener@ssce.org.uk.

This year’s conference is made possible with the generous support of Campion Hall, Oxford and the Ertegun Graduate Scholarship Programme for the Humanities.

 

'Beyond the Academy:Connecting and contributing to professional life beyond the university.'

 

Join us for a session devoted to postgraduate students.

 

with

 

Joshua Hordern (Associate Professor of Christian Ethics, Oxford University and Director of Healthcare Values Partnership)
 
Edward David (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The Oxford Character Project, Oxford University)
 
Madeliene Pennington (Head of Research, Theos)
 
Esther D Reed (Professor of Theological Ethics, University of Exeter and President of SSCE)

 

This session runs from 11.30am-12.45pm, Thursday 9th September on Zoom. Attendance is FREE for this session. 

SSCE Annual Conference

Truth, Lies and Christian Ethics

9-11th September 2021, VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

 

Programme

 

Thursday 9th September

 

1130-1245                      Postgraduate Conference: ‘Beyond the Academy’

                                           Connecting and contributing to professional life beyond the academy

                                           Contributors: Bethan Willis, Edward David, Esther D. Reed…

                                           Convenors: Alex Trew and Maikki Aakko

 

1345 –                             Welcome from Esther D. Reed, President

 

1400 – 1515                    Jennifer Herdt, Partisan Epistemology and Post-Truth Power

                                           Chair: Dave Leal

                                           Respondent: Harriet Harris

 

1600 – 1715                   Michael Banner, Telling Lies, Telling Tales and Telling (and Doing) the Truth: Racism, Moral Repair and the Case for Reparations

                              Chair: Beth Phillips

                                          Respondent: Chigor Chike

 

1900 – 2030                  Short Papers: Session 1

 

Track 1 | (Chair: Timothy Nagy) 

a. Robb Torseth, “The Sanctification of Our Speech”: The Theological Function of Truth and Falsehood in John Webster’s “Sins of Speech”

b. Robyn Boere, “Grandma and the Dog Now Live on a Farm”: Children and the Instrumentality of Truth and Lies

 

Track 2 | (Chair: Anna Westin.

a.Stewart Clem, Truth and Truthfulness in the Practice of Health Care

b.David Robinson, Against a Docetic Ecclesiology: Schleiermacher and Bonhoeffer on Christ’s Body Politic

 

2030-2130                      Social Space (WonderMe)

 

 

 

Friday 11th September

 

0930-0945                       Morning Prayer – Ruth Valerio

 

1000 – 1130                   Short Papers: Session 2

 

 Track 3 | (Chair: Gary Hall)

a. Elisa Koch, On the Vulnerability of Religious Truth: A Comparative Theological Perspective

b. Rob Heimburger, Rise Up: Exploring a World Resurrected in the Book of Acts        

 

Track 4 | (Chair: Jackie Tait)

a.Luke Lee, The Question of Communism and the Birth of Chinese Public Theology: A postcolonial perspective

b. Wong Kwun Shing, Barth's Actualistic Ethics as a Response to Leo Strauss’ Critique on the Ethics Affected by the Fact-Values Distinction

 

Track 5| (Chair: Alex Trew)

a.Susan Beverley Cross, Wreaths of Empire and wreaths of mist: Racism, the legacy of colonialism and the inhospitality of the Church of England

b.Florence O’Taylor, Affliction, addiction and the history of force: rethinking substance dependence through a political theology lens

 

1400 – 1515                   Mark Wynn, Truth and Christian Ethics: A Narratival Perspective

                                          Chair: Oliver Crisp

                                           Respondent: Edward A. David

 

1600 – 1715                   Esther D Reed, Truth, Lies and New Weapons Technologies: Prospects for Jus in Silico?

                                           Chair: Brian Brock

                                           Respondent: Paul Schulte

 

1715-1815                      Social Space (WonderMe)

 

Saturday 11th September

 

0930-0945                      Morning Prayer – Ruth Valerio

 

1000 – 1115                   AGM
 

 

1145 – 1300                   Linda Woodhead, Truth and Deceit in Institutions

                                           Chair: Joy Clarkson

                                           Respondent: Amra Bone

 

1300 – 1315                   Neil Messer, President

 

 

The SSCE Postgrad Conference 2020 will take place on 30 March at the University of Aberdeen.  We welcome paper proposals (due by 7 February 2020). See here for more details.

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