Knowledge and Religious Identity

The Advancement of Knowledge and Religious Identity: Institutions of Higher Learning in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Beyond

October 4-5, 2007
All day - C100 Hesburgh Center Auditorium

Sponsored by the University of Notre Dame's Office of the Provost, the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, the Department of History and the Center for the Study of Religion and Society.

This colloquium will bring together a group of scholars from different fields to think about the scope and nature of scholarly work in light of and in the context of the claims of religion and religious identity. The task of reconciling claims of religion with those of unrestricted scholarly debate and enquiry has been and is not confined to the three "religions of the book," although it remains a particular concern in them. In all three religions writings of scholars, philosophers and theologians that later became canonical were during their life times questioned and criticized for stepping beyond the boundaries of orthodoxy. Salient examples are Maimonides, Thomas Aquinas and Ibn Taymiyya. Furthermore, in all three religions, scholarly institutions have at times welcomed and supported and at other times excluded those whose ideas were felt to compromise the integrity of faith and practice. The complexity of these issues and responses to them increases when the enquiry moves from writing for learned and educated readers to the different levels of instruction: how has the public role of institutions of higher learning  (yeshivas, universities, madrasas, etc.) affected these debates? Another set of issues arises when faith based institutions teach or encourage modes of thought and conduct that - for whatever reason - are or are perceived to be at variance with or destructive of society or of surrounding societies. This colloquium seeks to inform and enrich ongoing debates at Notre Dame about this university's Catholic identity and its mission as a research university that welcomes open enquiry and free speech. Our enquiry and papers prepared for this colloquium will range in chronological focus from antiquity to contemporary times.

Agenda

All presentations will take place in the Hesburgh Center for International Studies auditorium.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

8:00 – 8:30 am
Continental Breakfast
Hesburgh Center, Great Hall

8:30 – 8:45 am
Welcome by Sabine MacCormack, Conference Organizer
Hesburgh Center, Auditorium

8:45 – 9:45 am
“Not Becoming a Religion: Rabbinic Regulation of the Rogue Scholar”
Kalman Bland, Duke University

9:45 – 10:45 am
“Quaestio de natura deorum: Ancient Inquiries into the Nature of the Gods”
Clifford Ando, University of Chicago

10:45 – 11:00 am
Coffee Break
Hesburgh Center, Great Hall

11:00 am – Noon
“Scepticism and Religion: Towards a Possible Marriage”
Luis Bacigalupo, Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru

Noon – 1:30 pm
Lunch
South Dining Hall, Hospitality Room

1:45 –2:45 pm
“Faith, Reason, and the Legacy of Syriac Christianity”
Joseph Amar, University of Notre Dame

2:45 – 3:45 pm
“The Ghazali Brothers and their Institutions”
Ahmet T. Karamustafa, Washington University, St. Louis

3:45 – 4:00 pm
Coffee Break
Hesburgh Center, Great Hall

4:00 – 5:00 pm
“On the hinc et nunc of moral theology: Vitoria’s Teaching and Missionary Experience in the Spanish Colonies”
Osvaldo Pardo, University of Connecticut, Hartford

Friday, October 5, 2007

8:00 – 8:45 am
Continental Breakfast
Hesburgh Center, Great Hall

8:45 – 9:45 am
“Faith, Reason and the Madrasa: Reflections on Medieval Islamic Civilization and the Advancement of Learning”
Paul Cobb, University of Notre Dame

9:45 – 10:45 am
“Formae vitae: Organizing the Life of the Mind in Medieval Jewish, Muslim and Christian Contexts”
Gadi Algazi, Tel Aviv University

10:45 – 11:00 am
Coffee Break
Hesburgh Center, Great Hall

11:00 am – Noon
“‘Abd al-rahman al-Bistami and the Brotherhood of Letters in the 15th Century”
Cornell Fleischer, University of Chicago

Noon – 1:30 pm
Lunch
Hesburgh Center, Room C-104/105

1:30 – 2:30 pm
“‘The Connection and Mutual Influence of Learning–Piety’: The Success of The Princeton Circle at Creating a Stable Religious and Educational Identity, 1768–1929/32”
Mark Noll, University of Notre Dame

2:30 – 3:30 pm
“Free Inquiry, Its Discontents and Responsibilities:
The Case of Moses Mendelssohn”
Miriam Bodian, Touro College, New York

3:30 – 3:45 pm
Coffee Break
Hesburgh Center, Great Hall

3:45 – 4:45 pm
“The University’s Finite Universe:
Understanding Religious Diversity through Study Abroad”
Martha Merritt, University of Chicago

4:45 – 5:00 pm
Closing Remarks by Sabine MacCormack