Instituting Calvin: Society, Culture & Diaspora
International Conference
June 18-21, 2009
Victoria College, University of Torronto
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Five Centuries of Global Calvinism(s)
Calvinism was one of the most extraordinarily revolutionary movements to develop in the Renaissance and Reformation, with an impact that Calvin himself could hardly have anticipated. Calvin’s inner tensions – between a driving activism for change and a deep-seated quest for order – defined the Calvinist legacy and have resonated down through the centuries. In its many manifestations, Calvinism has profoundly affected the cultural and social contours of the world since the sixteenth century.
This interdisciplinary conference marking the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birth will examine Calvin’s own historical context and explore Calvinism’s subsequent impact around the globe. Aiming to explore a range of topics from the intellectual achievement of the Institutes of the Christian Religion to the dynamics of instituting a Calvinist movement, the conference organizers invite proposals for papers and sessions on such themes as:
- Calvinism as an Intellectual System: including doctrinal developments; Calvinism in relation to Medieval traditions; Catholic responses to Calvinism; Rereading Calvin from theoretical and critical approaches such as postmodernism, postcolonialism, and feminism; Calvinism and the scientific revolution.
- Calvinism and European Expansion: including Calvinism in the establishment of European empires and settler societies (eg., the role of Calvinism in the Dutch or French or English empires; indigenous churches in South Africa, Indonesia, or Sri Lanka, missions to Brazil and South Africa); Calvinism and economic history, including trade, the work ethic, slavery, etc.
- Calvinism and the Invention of Tradition: Collective Memories, Myths and Revisionist Historiography: including Myth, Reality and Invented Traditions in the retelling of key historical events such as the St. Bartholomew Day Massacre.
Book History and Print Culture: Calvin as an author and Calvinist texts as commodities in the publishing world; editorial practices and publishing in 16th and 17th centuries; print culture. - Calvinism and the European Enlightenment: Calvinism and the French and American Revolutions; Calvinism and the Scottish Enlightenment and Liberalism.
- Imposing and Resisting Authority: Calvinism as a form of Social Discipline (consistory; relation with popular religion, marginals, and witch trials; Scottish Kirk); Calvinism and revolution; Calvin and political order; Calvinists and the Other (Jews, Aboriginals)
- The Calvinist Diaspora: Calvinism as a Refugee Religion, and Geneva as a refugee centre; ‘Nicodemism;’ Calvinism in the Mediterranean; Calvinism and immigration (South Africa; North America).
- Calvinism and the Life of the Emotions and the Senses: Calvinist approaches to eating and drinking in the 16th Century and beyond; Calvinism and Social Psychology.
- Calvinism and the Construction of Space and Time: Creating the Sacred physically, liturgically, & psychically through architecture, music, painting, etc.
- Calvin and Piety: Calvin’s Spirituality, Calvinist Revivals, Calvinism in 19th and 20th century Europe and Americas.
The conference will be held at the University of Toronto, and is sponsored by a number of its constituent colleges (Victoria College, Emmanuel College, Knox College) and research institutes (Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies).
Deadline for Submissions: 31 January 2008.
You may submit your proposal by e-mail or on-line. Written proposals of no more than 150 words, together with contact information (e-mail, phone, and fax) to:
Brian Clarke (b.clarke@utoronto.ca)
Nicholas Terpstra (nicholas.terpstra@utoronto.ca)
Kim Yates (crrs.vic@utoronto.ca)
Online submission: http://link.library.utoronto.ca/calvin/conference
Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies
Victoria College – University of Toronto
73 Queen’s Park Crescent
Toronto, ON
M5S 1K7