Exiting Violence: The Role of Religion(s)

Berkley Center, Fondazione Bruno Kessler and ResetDoc are pleased to invite you to the “Exiting Violence: The Role of Religion”conferences.

The Conference “Exiting Violence: The Role of Religion” is online. Discover the seven panels of the conference holde at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs

October 11-12, 2018

Location: Berkley Center Third Floor Conference Room

3307 M St NW, Suite 200 – Washington, DC 20007

“Exiting Violence: The Role of Religion” is a two-year research project led by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, the Bruno Kessler Foundation, and Reset Dialogues On Civilization, aimed at examining how sacred texts and related theories shape political frames—either toward tolerance and pluralism or, on the contrary, to radicalism and violence. An initial conference, held in October 2017, focused on the hermeneutics of sacred texts used to legitimate and de-legitimate violence across all world religions.

This second conference will examine contemporary sociohistorical dynamics of religiously legitimated violence, as well as religious practices of non-violent struggles for justice and peacebuilding within the Christian and Muslim traditions. Panelists will engage in conversation on the following topics: the political-theological debates for and against the use of “legitimate” violence and peacemaking within the Christian and Muslim traditions; the sociohistorical dynamics of state power and non-state armed struggles in specific Christian and Muslim settings; and the practices of grassroots religious actors committed to peacebuilding and dialogue in contexts of protracted violence.

SCHEDULE

Thursday, October 11

9:00 – 9:15 a.m. | Welcome Remarks
Giancarlo Bosetti, RESET DOC
José Casanova, Georgetown University

9:15-10:45 a.m. | Catholicism and Political Violence in Latin America
José Casanova, Georgetown University (moderator)
Ivan Garzón, Universidad de La Sabana
Steve Hege, United States Institute of Peace
Gustavo Morello, Boston College

10:45 – 11:00 a .m. | Coffee Break

11:00 – 12:30 p.m. | Religion, Violence, and the Moral Problem of Blackness
Lee Butler, Chicago Theological Seminary
Soyica Colbert, Georgetown University
Terrence Johnson, Georgetown University (moderator)
Alphonso Saville, Georgetown University

12:30-1:30 p.m. | Lunch Break

1:30-3:30 | Peacebuilding Lived Through Religious Communities
Charles Gardner, Community of Sant’Egidio
Katherine Marshall, Georgetown University (moderator)
Wolfgang Palaver, University of Innsbruck
Antti Pentikäinen, Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers

3:30 – 4:00 p.m. | Coffee Break

4:00-5:30 p.m. | From Just War to Just Peace: The Shift of Catholic Social Teaching?
Drew Christiansen, S.J., Georgetown University (moderator)
Marie Dennis, Pax Christi
David Hollenbach, S.J., Georgetown University
Gerald Schlabach, University of St. Thomas

Friday October 12

9:00-11:00 a.m. | Contested Political, Theological, and Sociopolitical Issues Within Islam: Legitimate Violence and State Power
Jocelyne Cesari, Georgetown University
Daniel Madigan, S.J., Georgetown University (moderator)
Andrew March, Yale University
Ebrahim Moosa, University of Notre Dame

11:00 – 11:30 a.m. | Coffee Break

11:30-1:00 p.m. | Illuminating What’s Unseen: Acknowledging and Engaging Religious Women and Youth in Peacebuilding
Susan Hayward, United States Institute of Peace (moderator)
Irene Jillson, Georgetown University
Maryann Cusimano Love, Catholic University of America
Ayse Kadayifci-Orellana, Georgetown University

1:00- 2:00 p.m. | Lunch Break

2:00-3:30 p.m. | Conflict and Peace in Northern Ireland: The Role of the Churches, Past, Present, Future
Paul Arthur, University of Ulster
Gerard Mannion, Georgetown University
Bruce Morrison, Former U.S. Congressman, Maryland Commission
David Tombs, University of Otago

3:30 – 4:00 p.m. | Concluding Remarks

Gerard Mannion, Georgetown University
Marco Ventura, Foundation Bruno Kessler, Trento