<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Dear Colleagues,<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">I am new to the list, and so was happy to  receive my first email from you and read the Call for AAR! <br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">My name is Olga Louchakova-Schwartz, I am Professor(emerita) of Psychology and Comparative Religion, now affiliated with the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. I also teach at the Jesuit School of Theology, and, as a medical doctor by training and neuroscientists in my prior career, at Uc Davis Public Health Sciences Department.<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Finally, I am Founding President of the Society for the Phenomenology of Religious Experience. I am glad to share with you a Call for Abstracts for our upcoming conference (also pasted below) <a href="http://sophere.org/conferences/biennial-conference">http://sophere.org/conferences/biennial-conference</a>/ ,  and a call for papers for an issue of Open Theology  titled Phenomenology of Religious Experience II; Perspectives in Theology, available here <a href="http://sophere.org/publications/active-calls-papers/">http://sophere.org/publications/active-calls-papers/</a><br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Submissions from the Eastern Orthodox theologians are very welcome!<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Olga Louchakova-Schwartz<br><a href="https://ucdavis.academia.edu/OlgaLouchakova">https://ucdavis.academia.edu/OlgaLouchakova</a><br><br>



















<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>CALL FOR ABSTRACTS<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><u><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%">“Image,
Phenomenon, and Imagination in the Phenomenology of Religious Experience”<span></span></span></u></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>The Society for Phenomenology of Religious
Experience (SOPHERE) Biennial Congress, Prague, 2018<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>Dates: November 2, Friday, to November 4,
Sunday, 2018<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>Hosted by the Institute of Philosophy of the
Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>Venue: Prague, Narodni 3, the Czech Academy of
Sciences (main building)<span></span></span></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>Keynote speakers:<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>Hans Rainer Sepp, Charles University, Prague<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>Michael J. Shapiro, University of Hawaii at
Manoa<span></span></span></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>Presidential address:<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>Olga Louchakova-Schwartz, Jesuit School of
Theology and UC Davis, USA<span></span></span></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>Conference director:<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>Martin Nitsche, Czech Academy of Sciences,
Prague<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>The 1^st Biennial Congress of the
Society for the Phenomenology of Religious Experience invites submission of
papers dedicated to the phenomenologically determined themes of imagination,
image-consciousness, appearance and the non-apparent, phenomenological ontology,
and genetic phenomenology, with regard to religious experience. We further
invite innovative philosophical and theological reflections on image,
imagination, and creativity in religious experiencing, as well as reflections
on a reverse problem of how religious experience contributes to the above mentioned
faculties examined in the psychological horizon. The topics will be discussed
in following perspectives:<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><u><span>1. Methods in Phenomenological Research<span></span></span></u></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Applicability of phenomenological methods to
study religious experience in general.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Applicability of phenomenological methods to
study images of religious experience and its imaginative aspects in particular.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Imagination and the embodied nature of
religious experience.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Philosophy and phenomenological research of
religious experience <span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><u><span>2.<span> 
</span>Phenomenological Ontology and Metaphysics<span></span></span></u></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Can phenomenology capture the non-apparent? <span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- What is the relationship between
phenomenality and religious experiencing?<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- How do we think relationship between phenomenality,
intentionality, and visible light? <span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- What are the modes of givenness in religious
experiencing?<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- How does religious experiencing transcend (or
not) intentionality?<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Is there a religious experiencing sans the
“moral emotions”?<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- What is the relationship between religious
experience, certainty, and truth?<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- How do the questions of phenomenological
manifold and unification manifest in regard for religious experiencing? <span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><u><span>3. History of Phenomenology:<span></span></span></u></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Phenomenological accounts of image and
imagination in the work of phenomenological scholars (Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty,
etc.).<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><u><span>4. Phenomenological Psychology<span></span></span></u></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Imagination, fantasies, and dreams in
religion and religious experience.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Images in spiritual praxis.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Imagination and the altered states of
consciousness.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Spatiality and other cognitive aspects of
religious imagery.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><u><span>5. Phenomenological Theology <span></span></span></u></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Connection between images and the concepts of
Divine.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Imagination in pastoral praxis.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Theological importance of sacred images.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><u><span>6. Phenomenological aspects of Image in Religious
studies<span></span></span></u></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Relation to images and/or imagination in
different religions and religiosities.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Comparative iconography (also with regard to
language).<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Images and imagination in mythopoetics, or history
of religion.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><u><span>7. Phenomenology and Philosophy of Religion<span></span></span></u></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Picture theory of meaning.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Phenomenological ontology of “Imago Dei”.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Visual vs. symbolic consciousness in
generation of religious concepts.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Phenomenology of symbolic forms.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Phenomenology of relations between image and language
in religious contexts.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><u><span>8. Theory of Images<span></span></span></u></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Image and representation - related to
religion and religious experience.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Pictorial turn - related to religion and
religious experience.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Synesthesia in religious experience
(tactility of images).<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Apparent and unapparent in phenomenology of
religious experience.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><u><span>9. Theory of Art<span></span></span></u></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Different kinds of images: film, photography,
painting, sculpture, performance - related to religion and religious experience.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Contemporary religious art.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><u><span>10. Media Theory<span></span></span></u></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Image as medium of religious experience.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Communicological virtues of religious image.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><u><span>11. Politics of Images<span></span></span></u></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Political dimensions of image and imagination
in religion and religious experience<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Religion and images of holocaust.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Social phenomenology of religious image.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- “We-intentionality” and religious visuality.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><u><span>12. Ethics<span></span></span></u></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Ethical dimensions of image and imagination
in religion and religious experience.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Image and healthcare.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Image and hope.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>- Religious transformation in the images of good
and evil.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>We welcome paper proposals related to the main
theme of the conference, but not necessarily bound by the topics listed above.
Session proposals with at least three presentations are also welcome.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;text-indent:35.4pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>Propositions have to be written in English.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>Please submit an abstract of approximately 250
words. To be considered all presentation proposals should be anonymized and must
include a cover sheet with name, paper title, affiliation, five key words, and
full contact information including email. For more information, see our website
<a href="http://sophere.org">http://sophere.org</a><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>Session proposals must include abstracts of at
least three presentations, a clear title of the session, a name of its chair,
and a short description of the session.<span></span></span></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>Abstracts should be sent to: <a href="mailto:conferenceprague@sophere.org">conferenceprague@sophere.org</a><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>Deadline for submitting presentation proposals:
June 10 2018<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>Deadline for submitting session proposals: June
3 2018<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>Notification of acceptance: until June 30 2018<span></span></span></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>Selected papers from the conference will be
invited for publication in the topical issue of Open Theology, De Gruyter,
“Phenomenology of Religious Experience III”, planned for 2019.<span></span></span></p>

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