MINI-CONFERENCE ON "MODELS OF GOD"

The mini-conference will examine specific models of God - that is, accounts of the nature or essence of the divine - both those that have arisen out of religious contexts and those developed within philosophical debates. The objective is to address the large question of the most philosophically satisfying way to conceive the nature of God.

This question is vitally important in the philosophy of religion. The model of God one assumes affects (for example) the fate of the traditional arguments for and against the existence of God, the coherence of theistic belief, and, for theists, the practice and tenor of the religious life. It is no surprise, then, that in the last century, and especially in the last 25 years, there has been an explosion of work on the topic - from Whitehead's
Process and Reality (1929), to, for example, Joshua Hoffman and Gary Rosenkrantz's The Divine Attributes (2002).

But no conference held in the U.S. has been devoted to this specific topic during the years when work on it has so proliferated. The mini-conference thus will encourage fruitful, philosophically sophisticated face-to-face
exchanges between proponents of the major models of God: classical and neo-classical theists, open theists, process theists, pantheists, panentheists, Ground-of-being theists, environmental theists, polytheists, theists writing from a feminist perspective, and others.

Submission of papers, and panel proposals, is invited to address the mini-conference's major topic:

• What is the philosophically most satisfying way to conceive the nature of the
divine?

In particular, mini-conference organizers welcome submissions that present and
critique:

• Well-known answers to the above question from any religious or philosophical tradition that has developed one or more models of God.
  
• Less familiar concepts of the divine already extant in the history of these traditions, or less obviously implicit in the work of other philosophers, e.g. Hegel's Absolute or Derrida's transcendental signifier.
  
• New answers to this question emerging from recent work in the philosophy of religion.
  
• Discussions that offer new insight into models of God by comparing and contrasting models across religious and philosophical traditions.
  
• Metatheoretical questions arising in connection with the topic, such as:
  • "Is it even possible to model God?"
    
  • "If so, is it desirable?"
    
  • "What desiderata might govern such models and help adjudicate between them?"
    
  • "What difference does it make which model of God one adopts - philosophically, theologically, socially, or, for theists, personally?"

Papers and proposals from philosophers, as well as from theologians discussing philosophical work, are welcome. We also warmly invite individuals who would like to be commentators or chairs to contact us at the email addresses below.

To facilitate blind review, please delete all self-identifying references and submit paper or panel proposal as an email attachment to both Jeanine Diller at jeanine@phoenix.ccainc.net and Philip Clayton at pclayton@cst.edu. However, please include in the body of the email your name, phone number, email address, and title of paper or panel. Please attach only one document (if you
are submitting a paper, please include both abstract and paper in the same file).

No more than one submission per person can be accepted. Panelists may not also present individual papers. Papers accepted for this mini-conference may not also appear on the Main Program of the 2007 Pacific Division APA meeting. Please indicate if you have submitted the paper for the Sept. 1 2006 deadline of the APA Pacific Division.

The mini-conference is able to offer a travel stipend of $200 on a basis of need to a graduate student whose paper is accepted.

Mini-Conference Organizing Committee
Jeanine Diller, Independent Scholar (Chair)
Philip Clayton, Claremont Graduate University
John Cobb, Claremont School of Theology
Edwin Curley, University of Michigan
Andrew Dell'Olio, Hope College
C. Stephen Layman, Seattle Pacific University
Parimal Patil, Harvard University
Samuel Ruhmkorff, Simon's Rock College of Bard
Charles Taliaferro, St. Olaf College

Please circulate this announcement to others who might be interested in it.

Technorati Tags: email addresses, panel proposals, san francisco california, philosophy of religion, religious contexts, mini conference, word limit, pacific division, conceive, affiliations, apa, satisfying, debates, essence, conjunction, submissions

Technorati Tags: email addresses, panel proposals, san francisco california, philosophy of religion, religious contexts, mini conference, word limit, pacific division, conceive, affiliations, apa, satisfying, debates, essence, conjunction, submissions