Over the past several decades, religious leaders, cultural critics and sociologists have written about the ever-increasing disengagement from institutions and practices that have been considered the norm over the past few centuries. This trend has been noted especially among younger people in the Northern Atlantic parts of the world and has often been understood as the result of the secularization of society and the pluralism of religions. At the very same time, a growing number of people are converting and moving to more orthodox religious practices. Not only is this widespread in the Northern Atlantic areas, it appears as a powerful movement also in the Middle East, Central and South Asia, and in Africa. Many of the religious people left in between these two movements feel diminished. All tend to worry about the next generation. Analyses of these diverse movements vary from the "death of traditional religion" to "the birth of a new authenticity." One conclusion appears to be clear: Western culture has affeced the world dramatically in the last fifty years, and its impact has been seismic. What does all this mean for the next generation?
This international conference will explore these multivalent developments. Scholars will explore historical, philosophical and theological dimensions of these trends and present sociological research that documents the current religious topography. Researchers will examine the diversity as well as institutional vitality of religion, and will pay special attention to generational differences and the transmission of religious tradition and practice. Various models that transmit the vitality of religion will be presented and critiqued. In particular, the conference will highlight models that retain religious traditions in non-reductive ways while at the same time bridging in an open and dialogical way the ever-increasing religious pluralism of the contemporary world.
This conference is made possible through a partnership between:
Conference Schedule
Sunday, October 10, 2004
1:00pm
- Conference Registration, Davidson Conference Center
2:00pm
- Nancy Ammerman, "Journeys of Faith: Meeting the Challenges in Twenty-First Century America"
2:45pm
- Christian Smith, "Is Moralistic Therapeutic Deism the New Religion of American Youth?"
- Jennifer Lindholm, "The 'Interior' Lives of American College Students: Perspectives, Practices, and Projections for the Future"
- Ihsan Bagby, "Muslim Young Adults in America: The Second Generation's Search for Identity"
- Philip Schwadel, "Jewish Teenagers: Strong Community, Weak Religion"
5:15pm
- Peter C. Phan, "Religious Identity and Belonging Amidst Diversity and Pluralism: Challenges and Opportunities for Church and Theology"
6:00pm
- Jack Miles, "The Leisure of Worship and the Worship of Leisure"
7:00 - 8:30
- Discussion over Dinner & Dessert
Monday, October 11, 2004
8:00am
- Breakfast & Continued Conference Registration
9:00am
- Msgr. Melchor Sanchez de Toca, "Looking to God. Religious Indifference in Perspective"
9:45am
- Brother John of Taize, "A Spiritual Crossroads of Europe: The Taize Community's Adventure with the Young"
10:45am
- Rabbi J. Rolando "Roly" Matalon, "BJ: A Portrait of a Revitalized Synagogue"
11:45am
- Amira Quraishi, "Safe Space for Questioning: Programs for Young American Muslims"
12:30pm
1:45pm
- Ghada Osman, "Identity and Community in a New Generation: Muslims as a Minority in the Early Seventh Century and Today"
2:30pm
- Tobin Belzer, Richard Flory, & Nadia Roumani
"Illuminating the Black Hole: Successful Young Adult Programming in Four Religious Traditions"
4:00pm
- Diane Winston, Closing Remarks
5:00-6:00pm
- Conference-wide Discussion
Additional October 11, 2004Evening Program
6:30pm
7:15-9:00pm
- Dinner with Stephen B. Sample, President, University of Southern California
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Conference Committee
Dafer M. Dakhil
Director of Community Development and External Affairs, Omar Ibn Al Khattab Foundation
Rabbi Reuven Firestone
Professor of Medievel Judaism and Islam, Director of the Magnin School of Graduate Studies,
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Fr. James L. Heft
President and Founding Director, Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies
Rabbi Susan Laemmle
Dean of Religious Life, University of Southern California
Donald E. Miller
Professor of Religion, Executive Director of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture, University of Southern California
Conference Speakers
Nancy Ammerman, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology of Religion, Boston University
Ihsan Bagby, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Kentucky
Tobin Belzer, Ph.D.
Fellow, USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture and Kasen Institute for the Study of the Role of Jews in American Life
Richard Flory, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Biola University
Brother John of Taize, Ph.D.
Taize Community, France
Jennifer Lindholm, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Higher Education, University of California, Los Angeles
Associate Director of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) at the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI)
Rabbi J. Rolando "Roly" Matalon
Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, New York
Jack Miles
MacArthur Fellow (2002-2007)
Senior Advisor to the President at the J. Paul Getty Trust
Ghada Osman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Arabic Language, Culture, and History, San Diego State University
Peter C. Phan, Ph.D.
Ignacio Ellacuria Professor of Catholic Social Thought, Georgetown University
Amira Quraishi
Muslim Youth Camp, Muslim Student Network & Omar Scholars Program
Nadia Roumani, M.A.
Independent Research Consultant
Monsignor Melchor Sanchez de Toca
Undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture
Philip Schwadel, Ph.D.
National Study of Youth and Religion, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Christian Smith, Ph.D.
Stuart Chapin Distinguished Professor
Associate Chair in the Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Diane Winston, Ph.D.
Knight Chair in Media and Religion, Annenberg School for Communications, University of Southern California
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