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.