Conferences and symposia
The Cambridge Interfaith Programme hosts, co-hosts and sponsors an array of conferences, symposia and related activities. Read on for information on upcoming conferences (including active calls) and selected past examples.
Upcoming conferences and symposia
Explore upcoming opportunities to encounter research with and from the Cambridge Interfaith Programme.
This sixth Political Theologies conference interrogates social, political, legal, ethical, and theological foundations of constitutions and related to that, how constitutions are seen to embody and be directed toward the common good.
The call for papers has now closed.
Each year, the Cambridge Interfaith Programme supports postgraduate students from the University of Cambridge to arrange and deliver a one-day symposium featuring themed papers from undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Current students who would like to join the organising committee are invited to contact us about this opportunity.
Recent conferences and symposia (selected)
This chronologically-ordered selection provides an indication of how and where CIP has supported innovative inter-religious research.
What was the shape of interfaith encounters between the eighteenth and the twentieth centuries in South Asia? In this online one-day symposium, convenors Dr Ankur Barua & Dr Anindya Purakayastha invited scholars working on different aspects of the religious history of South Asia to explore the writings of thinkers who operated “in between” Indic and European idioms between the eighteenth and the twentieth centuries.
View the full schedule of the Images of interfaith in South Asia symposium.
Religions and spiritual traditions have long grappled with our temporalised existence: what is time? Is it linear, cyclical, or something else altogether? What are our rituals and rhythms in time? Can we escape time? What awaits us in the future: an ‘end of times’, utopia or apocalypse? And what about our own mortality—birth, rebirth, judgement, purgatory, or oblivion?
Organised by the Centre for Faith in Public Life (Wesley House), this conference brought together religious practitioners, scholars, and theologians for an in-person multi-faith conference aiming to revitalise non-violent theologies of peace. Featuring papers from a range of faith traditions, global contexts, and disciplines that aim at understanding, promoting, and enacting peace within oneself, communities, and nations.
Download the detailed programme as a PDF via wesley.cam.ac.uk.
A multi-session, multi-day online workshop exploring facets of memory with artists and creative professionals. This series was the culmination of a project funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in association with CIP, exploring creative practice and memory in the diaspora (sensory studies), with specific reference to Armenian–Turkish relations.
Disclaimer: Support by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation does not constitute endorsement of any specific opinion, perspective or approach expressed or utilised in this event.
View further information about the Artistic interventions in memory (AIM) series.
Bringing together scholars from the Global South to examine the complex interactions between tradition, modernity, and religion in diverse cultural contexts. Focusing on Argentina, Ghana, and India, this interdisciplinary forum offered insights into how religious dialogue contributes to redefining the concepts of tradition and modernity in these regions. Organised in partnership between CRASSH, the Faculty of Divinity, and CIP.
View further information about the Rethinking tradition & modernity symposium via CRASSH.cam.ac.uk.
A one-day symposium exploring the theological, philosophical, linguistic, ethical, material, and ritual dimensions of the Satsaṅga Dīkṣā, BAPS Swaminaryan scripture authored in the opening months of 2020. This event was supported by the University of Cambridge, University of Heidelberg, St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology, BAPS Swaminarayan Research Institute, and CIP.
View a report from the Satsaṅga Dīkṣā symposium courtesy of convenor Tilak Parekh.
Held at Homerton College, this symposium aimed to consider what practices and techniques can be used to spark dialogue about and between religions, with particular reference to classroom contexts. The event incorporated a panel discussion on practices of dialogue and workshops introducing a practice of dialogue run by the The Faith & Belief Forum and Solutions Not Sides. The panel addressed questions such as what sparks meaningful dialogue, what kinds of learning can dialogue facilitate, and what are the limits of dialogue.
Read a post-symposium reflection from one of the Cambridge PGCE Religious Studies cohort.
A two-day conference aligned with CIP’s involvement in the Ofwat-funded project Water efficiency in faith and diverse communities. The conference brought together scholars, practitioners, and activists from diverse backgrounds to explore the intricate intersections of religion, water, and sustainability. The programme included a keynote address from Professor Veronica Strang (Oxford), thematic panels, and an interactive Scriptural Reasoning workshop.
Read a summary of the Being with Water Otherwise conference.
Organised and hosted by Dr Anastasia Badder (Cambridge) and Dr Lea Taragin-Zeller (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) with Professor Esra Özyürek (Cambridge), this two-day conference brought together sociologists, anthropologists, theologians and religious studies scholars. Several papers have now been published in a special issue of Material Religion (20) edited by the convenors.