The Globalization of the Culture Wars? Religion, Gender, and Politics in the Public Square

The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to remove women’s constitutional right to abortion in the United States has stirred up controversy across the globe. On both sides of the Atlantic, politicians and pundits have attributed this decision to the rising influence of the religious right which is mobilizing in many countries around issues of religion and reproduction in a globalized culture war. But what is this religious right? How does what it says about gender impact national and international politics? And how could and should theology respond to the public and political agenda it has set? 

Hosted by the Centre for Theology and Public Issues at University of Edinburgh, this colloquium engages questions like these by bringing together leading scholars who work at the intersection of religion, gender, and politics to analyse and assess the role of public theology in the current gender- and geopolitical moment.

Speakers

  • Siobhán Garrigan, Loyola Chair of Theology (Trinity College Dublin)
  • Ulrike Auga, Professor of Global Christianity, Intercultural Theology, and Religious Studies (University of Hamburg)

In conversation with panelists

  • Alysa Ghose (University of Edinburgh)
  • Rachel Muers (University of Edinburgh)
  • Shadaab Rahemtulla (University of Edinburgh)
  • Ulrich Schmiedel (University of Edinburgh)

Programme

3.45: Welcome (Rachel Muers and Ulrich Schmiedel)

4.00: 'Capitalist Christianity and the Paradox of Women’s Power' (Siobhán Garrigan)

4.40: 'Ethical and Bio-/Necropolitical Critique of Life and Abortion Discourses in Christianity' (Ulrike Auga)

5.30: Reception

5.45: Panel and Plenary discussion (Alysa Ghose, Rachel Muers, Shadaab Rahemtulla, Ulrich Schmiedel)

6.30: Goodbye

Links

Centre for Theology and Public Issues