Fall Conference press release

PRESS RELEASE

NOTRE DAME CENTER FOR ETHICS & CULTURE

12^TH ANNUAL FALL CONFERENCE

NOVEMBER 10-12, 2011

Radical Emancipation:

Confronting the Challenge of Secularism

The Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture is proud to announce our 12^th annual flagship fall conference, Radical Emancipation: Confronting the Challenge of Secularism. Scholars, artists, professionals, laymen and students will gather November 10-12^th, 2011 in McKenna Hall to reflect on the secularization of Europe and America. Taking Pope Benedict XVI’s insight that “The real opposition that characterizes today's world is not that between various religious cultures, but that between the radical emancipation of man from God, from the roots of life, on one hand, and from the great religious cultures on the other,” as our inspiration, we seek to explore secularizing influences in the realms of philosophy, theology, law, literature, medical ethics, education, economics, film, the arts and culture.

Our aim, as always, is to bring together a large number of respected scholars representing all the main academic fields, from Catholic, Christian, and secular institutions, to engage in a spirited discussion of this theme from many different perspectives.   A full schedule, which includes over one hundred and twenty-five presentations and thirteen invited lectures, is available online at ethicscenter.nd.edu. 

            Rev. Robert Barron, of Word on Fire Ministries, will inaugurate the conference with the Josef Pieper Keynote Lecture entitled, “Evangelizing the Secular Culture,” on Thursday evening, November 10^th, at 7:30 p.m., in the main auditorium of McKenna Hall.  This lecture is sponsored by the Jacques Maritain Center of the University of Notre Dame.

            On Friday evening, November 11^th, at 7:30 p.m., in the main auditorium of McKenna Hall, Alasdair MacIntyre, Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Contemporary Aristotelian Studies in Ethics and Politics, London Metropolitan University, will give a lecture entitled “On Being a Theistic Philosopher in a Secularized Culture.” 

            Other invited speakers at the conference include:

Ø  Michael Baxter, DePaul University, who will present a paper entitled “Beyond Secular Reason and Back Again: A Memoir in Theory and Practice”

Ø  Lucy Beckett, Independent Scholar and Author, who will present a paper entitled “Radical Emancipation and the Teaching of English Literature”

Ø  Jean Bethke Elshtain, University of Chicago, who will present a paper entitled “Forgetting Jerusalem: Has the West Lost Its Way?”

Ø  H. Tristram Engelhardt, Rice University, who will present a paper entitled “After Metaphysics: Taking Hegel Seriously”

Ø  David Lyle Jeffrey, Baylor University, who will present a paper entitled “Translating Scripture in a Secular Age”

Ø  Daniel McInerny, Baylor University, who will present a paper entitled “Christians and Aliens: Making Movies in a Culture of Death”

Ø  Timothy Shah, Georgetown University, who will present a paper entitled “March of the Jacobins: The Global Rise and Decline of Political Secularism”

Ø  Robert Sloan, President of Houston Baptist University, Stephen Minnis, President of Benedictine College, and Br. John Paige, CSC, President of Holy Cross College, who will present a panel entitled “Christian Universities and Secularizing Forces in the Culture”

Ø  Christian Smith, University of Notre Dame, who will present a paper entitled “Sociological Perspectives on Secularism”

Additional Information

The cost of the conference ($250) includes all receptions, and on Friday and Saturday, a continental breakfast and a served lunch and dinner.  All conference sessions and meals will be held at Notre Dame’s McKenna Hall. Conference talks are free and open to the public, but those wishing to participate in the meals and receptions must register.

For more information on Radical Emancipation: Confronting the Challenge of Secularism, please visit our website at http://ethicscenter.nd.edu.  Our site also offers the full conference program, and descriptions of papers.  You can register for Radical Emancipation: Confronting the Challenge of Secularism online now by visiting http://conferences.nd.edu.  Registration questions should be addressed to the Notre Dame Conference Center by telephone at (574) 631-6691, by e-mail to conferences@nd.edu, or by facsimile to (574) 631-8083.  Any questions related to the conference itself should be directed to ndethics@nd.edu.

The Center is grateful to the Maas Family Excellence Fund, the Strake Foundation, and the Jacques Maritain Center for supporting Radical Emancipation: Confronting the Challenge of Secularism.