TRANSFORMATIVE PROGRAMS AT RENISON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, WATERLOO
We are so honored and excited to be hosting Ingrid Mattson, Juliane Hammer, Mohammad Fadel, and Tayyab Rashid at Renison University College (University of Waterloo) this fall for a series of challenging, important discussions!
CHALLENGING & TRANSFORMATIVE INTERFAITH ENGAGEMENT RENISON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE at the University of Waterloo, with support from the Anglican Foundation of Canada, is set to launch a three month, interfaith series exploring how we theologically approach and process the “darkness” of evil and oppression that is perpetrated with religious sanction or in the name of religion.
Called “Dealing with Our Darknesses: An Anglican-Muslim Conversation about Transgression, Penitence, and Transformation,” the series features expert presentations and facilitated, community conversations. Topics highlighted for consideration include the “Residential Schools” and the religiously sanctioned violation of the indigenous peoples of Canada; the phenomena of religious militancy, religiously sanctioned violence, and the (seemingly) widening appeal of radical, xenophobic, homophobic militancy; gender oppression and sexual violence justified by patriarchal traditions and misogynist readings of religious texts; and predatory crimes perpetrated by religious leaders and people in positions of authority within our communities, to name a few.
Developed by Renison’s Studies in Islam program, Renison’s Centre for Dialogue and Spirituality in the World’s Religions, and the Renison Institute of Ministry, the series will tackle some of the most sobering and challenging religious questions as it seeks religiously inspired strategies for healing, reconciliation, and transformation – even when religion itself has been implicated in the trauma and darkness.
The series will kick off with a pair of expert lectures by the National Indigenous Bishop of the Anglican Church of Canada, Bishop Mark MacDonald, and Dr. Ingrid Mattson, the London and Windsor Community Chair in Islamic Studies at Huron University College at the University of Western Ontario. The talks will present theological and pastoral resources within Christian and Muslim traditions for responding in transformative ways to our broken histories and contemporary realities. This kick-off event will be followed by three Sunday afternoon sessions, which will feature expert presentations and facilitated community conversations.
Event 1: Friday, September 30th, Inaugural Event
THEOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL FOUNDATIONS FOR CONFRONTING OUR DARKNESSES AND EMBRACING THEM AS CALLS/OPPORTUNITIES FOR REPENTANCE, HEALING, RENEWAL, AND TRANSFORMATION
Event 2: Sunday, October 30
PATRIARCHY & GENDER OPPRESSION
This module seeks to explore the ways in which gender oppression, gender violence, family violence, systemic-institutional violence, and other forms of gender injustice and oppression are connected to patriarchy, privilege, concepts of authority, and patriarchal hermeneutics within our traditions.
Event 3: Sunday, November 20
MILITANCY & THE THEOLOGICAL EXPLOITATION OF RELIGION FOR VIOLENCE
This module examines religious & ethnic othering, militancy, terrorism, and the theological and legal justifications for violence and oppression, past and present. Topics to be considered here include stories, with analysis, of religiously sanctioned/promoted violence (often mixed with values of the state or dominant culture), as well as concrete examples of the complexities of trying to address the “religious” and cultural justifications for violence so we can emerge from the darknesseses of supremacism, dehumanization, persecution, and the many other faces of violence.
Event 4: Sunday, December 11
MOVING FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT: STRATEGIES AND STORIES OF RESILIENCE AND POSITIVE TRANSFORMATION
This module opens up pathways for surviving in and through the mess and the darkness. Topics here include Christian and Muslim perspectives on penitence and forgiveness as transformative processes, faith-based strategies for both survivors and perpetrators, restorative justice, and redemptive suffering.
Generously funded by a grant from the Anglican Foundation of Canada, all events are free and open to the public, but advanced registration is required.
See our website and Eventbrite page for details.
For more information, contact:
Timothy J Gianotti (Ph.D., University of Toronto, 1998)
Associate Professor, Studies in Islam
Renison University College, University of Waterloo
240 Westmount Road North, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G4
T: 519-884-4404 ext. 28751
E: timothy.gianotti[AT]uwaterloo.ca
or
Darrol Bryant
Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Religious Studies
Director, Centre for Dialogue and Spirituality in the World’s Religions
Renison University College, University of Waterloo
240 Westmount Road North, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G4
T: 519-884-4404 Ext. 28641
E: mdbryant[AT]renison.uwaterloo.ca