Bible and Critical Theory Seminar

Call for papers: Auckland Bible and Critical Theory Seminar

[This is a reblog from here]

Date for seminar: 1-2 September 2012
Due date for paper proposals: 30 June 2012
Venue: Queens Ferry Hotel, 12 Vulcan Lane, Central Auckland

Now in its fifteenth year, the Bible and Critical Theory Seminar once again steps over the ‘ditch’ to New Zealand, meeting this time in Auckland and under the watchful and sober guidance of Robert Myles and Caroline Blyth

Papers for the seminar typically seek intersections between critical theory and the Bible, both interpreted broadly. We understand critical theory as deriving initially from the Frankfurt School (more fully, the Institute for Social Research at Frankfurt am Main) and the work of Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, but now enriched and broadened by a host of other methods. These approaches include but are not restricted to post-structuralism, feminism, psychoanalysis, ideological criticism, post-colonialism, Marxism, ecocriticism and queer studies. Some of these approaches are new, whereas others have been revitalized after the 1960s. All of them are characterized by the need to discern (kritikos) what is beneficial and what not, to negate the negative and draw out the positive in any given idea, position or tradition. Thus, critical theory incorporates the initial impetus of the Frankfurt School, while significantly broadening its mandate.

The international reach of the seminar has grown, with a ‘Bible, Critical Theory and Reception Seminar’ meeting in the UK under the auspices of W. John Lyons and James Crossley. And of course, there is the Bible and Critical Theory Journal, which has entered its eighth year of publication, as well as our comrade, the journal Relegere.

Paper proposals should include a title and a 200-word abstract.
Please send to:

Roland Boer: roland.t.boer[at]gmail.com
Caroline Blyth: c.blyth[at]auckland.ac.nz
Robert Myles: robertjmyles[at]gmail.com
UPDATE: More info about the venue.