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Call for Papers
The C.S. Lewis Summer Conference Academic Roundtable
C.S. Lewis Foundation
Faith, Freedom, & the Public Square
Dates: July 8-10, 2016
The Academic Roundtable at the C.S. Lewis Summer Conference, July 8-10, 2016 at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst will be a community of interdisciplinary scholarly engagement and discussion within the broader context of the Conference theme, Faith, Freedom and the Public Square.
The Roundtable will consist of scholars from various fields who will meet together on Friday, July 8th as part of the pre-conference tracks. Each participant will read his or her paper to the Roundtable for discussion and feedback during the sessions of the Roundtable. All papers, limited to a 20-minute presentation time, shall be scholarly in nature, with the author’s unique thesis clearly set within the context of existing scholarship on the subject matter.
After each presentation there will be a brief time of discussion (10 min.) prompted by the other members of the Roundtable. Each member of the Roundtable is expected to participate in each session of the Roundtable group and to fully engage the rest of the Conference beginning the evening of July 8th. Depending upon the number of participants in the Academic Roundtable more than one group will be formed to meet during the session times. Each particular Roundtable group will be limited to twelve scholars.
As the title suggests, the Conference will explore the particularly challenging question of the interrelationship of faith convictions, freedom of both practice and speech, the role of government and the general public conversation known as the public square. Critical to this discussion is the role the full discussion of subjects, including those viewpoints that spring out of deeply held religious conviction, can and should have in the context of higher education in America. These issues have become particularly contentious in recent years.
The theme is broad and can easily include contributions from any area of academic study. Questions can engage aspects of policy, political theory and governance issues, the insight one can gain from a wide variety of texts throughout history, relationship between faith and freedom, the nature of research methods, the power of ideology and presuppositions to either encourage or discourage the free-flow of ideas, and, of course, any insights the writings of the Inklings might have on these and related topics.
Each participant must submit a 300 word abstract of their proposal by April 6, 2016. After a peer review of the abstracts, acceptance notices will be given no later than May 6, 2016. Arrangements necessary for attendance at the Summer Conference can be made by visiting www.cslewis.org/programs/conference.
Contact: Scott B. Key, Ph.D., Dir. Academic Roundtable, C.S. Lewis Foundation, selmore@cslewis.org
Faculty Luncheon
On Saturday, July 9th, from 12 noon to 2 p.m we will be holding an optional Faculty Forum Luncheon during the main lunchtime. There will be a special speaker for the luncheon, Dr. Mary Poplin, on a topic focused on higher education. There is a $15 charge for the catered meal.