Symposium: Ecology, War and Religion

0 Shares

Ecological Aspects of War: Religious Perspectives from Australia

The conference is supported by two Colleges of the University of Divinity, Trinity and Whitley, and by the Yarra Institute for Religion and Social Policy, is a one-day symposium to consider intersections between war and ecology, through the lenses of religious social teachings and sacred texts, representative of the multi-cultural and inter-faith constitution of contemporary Australian society.

Convenors: Keith Dyer and Anne Elvey

Keynote presentation: “Planet Earth as a Victim of War” by Dr Jenny Grounds

DR JENNY GROUNDS is past president and now vice-president of the Medical Association for Prevention of War, the Australian Affiliate of IPPNW, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. MAPW is a professional not-for-profit organisation that works to promote peace and disarmament. MAPW aims to reduce the physical and psychological impact, as well as environmental effect of wars throughout the world. Jenny is a General Practitioner working in rural Victoria for 22 years. She trained and worked at the Repatriation Hospital in Heidelberg and later worked in Community Health in North Richmond, Victoria, working with refugees from various regions affected by war. Her special interests are community organisation and education; environmental effects of war; valuing the planet over profits and non-violent conflict resolution, and resistance to militarism.Onsite participation is encouraged

When: Monday 28 September 2015, 8.45am to 5.30pm

Where: Trinity College Theological School, Trinity College, Royal Parade, Parkville

Registration: Full $40 and Concession $30

Early registrations are appreciated

Registrations close: Friday 11 September 2015

For further information contact Anne Elvey: aelvey@tpg.com.au

Please use this link to view the official flyer.

With papers in two streams (programme timetable will be available in July/August)

Stream 1: Engagements with sacred texts

‘A bow in the clouds’ (Gen 9:13): YHWH’s qešet and the Rainbow Serpent as Metaphors of Life and Destruction
Jeanette Mathews, St Mark’s National Theological Centre (Canberra), Charles Sturt University

Drones over Sodom: Resisting the Fantasy of Security
Carolyn Alsen, Whitley College, University of Divinity

The Death of Absalom: The Forest is Mightier than the Sword
Marie Turner, Flinders University
Violence and Destruction in Opposition to Justice and Righteousness
Anne Gardner, Monash University

Reading the Magnificat in a Time of Crisis: Taking and Giving Life: H. Drake Brockman’s Short Story “Magnificat”
Anne Elvey, Monash University, and Trinity College Theological School, University of Divinity

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the Consequences of War (Rev. 6:1–11)
Keith Dyer, Whitley College, University of Divinity

Stream 2: Religious and theological perspectives

Oil beyond war and peace: rethinking the meaning of matter
Deborah Guess, University of Divinity

Oil and blood on the bayonet: Empire, war, oil and ecology
Mick Pope, meteorologist and eco-theologian, Bureau of Meteorology

The use of war under Islam
Asmi Wood, Australian National University

Our War with Nature and Each Other from a Buddhist Perspective
Shelini Harris, scholar in the field of peace and conflict studies and religious studies

Bonhoeffer and The Right to Self Assertion: Understanding Theologically the Mastery of Nature and War
Di Rayson, University of Newcastle

Proactively Defending the Earth: Just War Ecotheology
Mark Manolopoulos, Swinburne University of Technology and Monash University

Ecology, War, and the Path of Reconciliation
Clive W Ayre, University of Queensland

0 Shares