“The Risk of Repetition: Precarious Continuities in Religion and Beyond”

Is order the result of an ever-renewed repetition of (ritual) events, as some social theorists maintain? Or are philosophers of religion such as Søren Kierkegaard correct in asserting that repetition—and thus the creation of order—through ritual practices is not possible at all? How can the relationship between repetition that empties of meaning and repetition that brings meaning to the fore or transforms it be defined more precisely? These questions are the focus of the spring conference of the International Research Training Group “Resonant Self–World Relations in Ancient and Modern Socio-Religious Practices”, which will take place from 10 to 12 April at the Erfurt Seminary.

Entitled “The Risk of Repetition: Precarious Continuities in Religion and Elsewhere”, the conference will take as its starting point the new perspective recently introduced by Bruno Latour, making the dilemma of religious repetition the subject of discussion, both from the perspective of social theory and the philosophy of religion – whilst also drawing on the abundant poetological research in this field. The basis for this is one of the central questions of the debate on religion and of the social sphere in general: on the one hand, an influential trend in social theory seeks to understand order itself as the result of an ever-renewed repetition of events, which are initially understood according to an idealised model of religious rituals; this ranges from Durkheim – who himself draws on motifs from Bonald’s sociology aimed at ‘restoration’ – to more recent concepts of interactional ritual chains. On the other hand – particularly prominent in Kierkegaard’s work on repetition – there is a philosophical doubt regarding religion as to whether repetition is even possible. From this perspective, a theoretical focus on ritual practices would in itself be problematic.

The International Research Training Group “Resonant Self–World Relations in Ancient and Modern Socio-Religious Practices” is a collaboration between the Max Weber Research Group at the University of Erfurt and the University of Graz. In Erfurt and Graz, 19 doctoral candidates are currently working on their projects; a conference is organised twice a year, which, in addition to lectures, includes discussion sessions in which the doctoral candidates discuss their research projects with the experts present.

Registrations for the conference are open until 31 March 2019 at: elisabeth.begemann@uni-erfurt.de. The conference fee is 20 euros and includes refreshments during breaks.

You can find the programme here.