At the End of the World: A Transdisciplinary Approach to the Apocalyptic Imaginary in the Past and Present
Current events
Distinguished Lecture at CAPAS 22 Oct: Jayne Svenungsson | Political Theologies at the End of the World
22.10., 6-8 pm, Neue Universität Lecture Hall 5 | Heidelberg University
The idea that the world is coming to an end has never been far away in cultures rooted in the biblical tradition. In a longue durée perspective, the sense that the end is drawing near seems to have been the rule rather than the exception. Yet it is difficult to deny that the past decades have been particularly ripe of events that seem to herald the end. This heightened sense of urgency is reflected in the notion of ‘polycrisis’, which is regularly invoked today to describe how the world’s most pressing challenges – wealth discrepancies, armed conflicts, climate extremes, energy shortages, pandemics, mass migration, rising authoritarianism, global webs of exploitation, and so on – are intersecting and overlapping in ways that mutually exacerbate each other’s effects. If it is true that our times are facing challenges of apocalyptic proportions, what should be the proper philosophical response the situation? This lecture will address this question in dialogue with some leading political theologians and philosophers of our time.
Symposium: "Att skapa Hopp" | Lena Liepe · Max Liljefors · Jayne Svenungsson
20 november 2024 bjuder Lunds domkyrka in till ett symposium kring det nya konstglasfönstret Hopp och boken som dokumenterar och analyserar detta unika verk. Om boken: År 2023 firade Lunds domkyrka sitt 900-årsjubileum, och ett nytt konstglasfönster, Hopp, av Erika Lagerbielke installerades i kryptan – den första permanenta konstnärliga installationen där sedan 1500-talet. Boken undersöker den konstnärliga processen, glasmåleriets historia, ljusets teologi och rummets fenomenologi.
Program:
13.30: Samtal vid konstglasfönstret Hopp mellan Erika Lagerbielke och Lena Sjöstrand i kryptan. Därefter inlägg och samtal med författarna, modererat av Martin Garwicz, professor i neurofysiologi, i Domkyrkoforum.
17.00: Mingel i Domkyrkoforum.
Medverkande:
- Erika Lagerbielke – Glaskonstnär och professor, Linnéuniversitetet
- Lena Liepe – Professor i konst- och bildvetenskap, Linnéuniversitetet
- Max Liljefors – Professor i konsthistoria och visuella studier, Lunds universitet
- Lena Sjöstrand – Präst och teol.dr., lång erfarenhet av konstprojekt i Domkyrkan
- Jayne Svenungsson – Professor i systematisk teologi, Lunds universitet
Seminar: "Post-Apocalyptic Space Imaginaries" with Johan Lagerkvist, Erik Persson & Sandra Siljeström
26 November 16:15–19:00, 2024, LUX-building room C126, Lund. Invited speakers Johan Lagerkvist (Stockholm University), Erik Persson (Lund University) & Sandra Siljeström(RISE Research Institute of Sweden). Chair: David Dunér.
"There are advanced, concrete plans to establish space stations on the Moon and Mars, and to set up mining industries on asteroids and other celestial bodies. Countries new to the space race, as well as private industry, are now competing to achieve these goals. Meantime, deadly asteroids travel at high speed straight towards Earth, and an accelerating climate and ecological crisis might soon make Earth uninhabitable. The dream of future human life on other planets clearly connects to apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic traditions. If life on Earth perishes in a global cataclysm, humanity could survive, one hopes, in a post-apocalyptic civilization on another planet."
New Article from Jayne Svenungsson: "The End of Law and Other Miracles"
Read Jayne Svenungsson's latest article, “The end of law and other miracles: on the limitations of apocalyptic political theologies” from the latest edition of Studia Theologica here: “This article explores various attempts to critique law with reference to an authority or idea that isseen as transcending law in its existing forms. As heuristic tools, I use a distinction betweenprophetic and apocalyptic discourses, the former referring to discourses that remain sceptical tothe possibility of suspending law in any absolute sense; the latter describing discourses thatarticulate a belief in or commitment to a radical break with the law, envisioning a coming law-free age.”
New Article by Mårten Björk: "Becoming What We Know"
In a recent article "Becoming What We Know: Franz von Baader on Cognition and Revelation" with the journal Philosophy, Theology and the Sciences, Björk explores "the Bavarian physician, mining engineer, and Catholic romantic philosopher Franz von Baader's (1765-1841) enigmatic claim that we think because we are thought with the help of the moral theologian Servain Pinckaers OP (1925-2008) and the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934-2021)." The article is open access and can be found here.
New Essay by Marie Cronqvist (Under Strecket, SvD): "I dag har Hesa Fredrik en mer allvarsam ton"
Read the interesting essay on "Hesa Fredrik" : "Klockan 15, liksom alltid den första måndagen var tredje månad, testas larmsignalen Viktigt meddelande till allmänheten. Efter mer än 80 års regelbundet sirentjut har ”Hesa Fredrik” i dagens värld börjat väcka delvis nya instinkter och känslor. . . "
Image Credits
John Martin. The Great Day of His Wrath. Painting (oil on canvas), c. 1851.
Dasha Urvachova. Kid's shoe at kindergarden in Chernobyl. Photograph, 2020.
Unknown artist. The Celestial Jerusalem, detail. Tapestry from Château d'Angers, 14th century.