In May 2018, the Temenos Academy joined the Saint Damien Community in Leuven, Belgium, for a weekend on Religious Thought in Today’s World. The conference brought together interdisciplinary approaches from theology and philosophy to reflect on the place of religious thought in an increasingly secular world. From mysticism to ethics, sacred poetry to metaphysics, the overarching aim of the conference was to present a vision that affirms the unique contribution of sacred thought to the world.
The Keynote lectures were:
Prof. William Desmond; Superiority beyond Interiority: Augustinian Thoughts on Default Atheism and the Intimate Universal
Prof. John Alonso Dick; Made in America Christian Fundamentalism
Dr. Joseph Milne; Society and the Desire for the Good
Valentin Gerlier; Language, Wonder and Adoration
Moderated panel sessions, given by students of the Saint Damien Community and the Temenos Academy took place during each afternoon:
Metaphysics of Tradition – Jonathan Culbreath
Normalising Maori Spirituality in New Zealand – Jack Goldingham Newson
Re-Grounding the Modern Soul in Poetry – Adele Guyton
Fear and Wonder: Narrative and Religious Mediations – James Gayaldo
Film Seeking Undersanding: Can Film Elicit Religious Experience – Sebastian Temlett
‘What is it that I love when I love my God?’ (conf. 10.6): Love of God, Love of Self, and the Saeculum in Augustine and Bernard – Pablo Irizar
Mother of Love: Deification as Motherhood in the Writing of Hadewijch – Lydia Shahan
The Bérullian Jesuit: Henri de Lubac – Rick Perry
What is Prophecy? – Alex Ferrant
Can Husserl find Truth in Today’s World? – Eli Hage
Lonergan’s Fidelity to Aquinas’ Metaphysics: A Comparison of Lonergans’s Notion of ‘Body’ and Aquinas’ Notion of ‘Essence.’ – Kyle Norris
