Biennial Boston College Conference on the History of Religion

March 19-20, 2010 “Global Religious Exchanges”

The Department of History at Boston College is pleased to announce the Third Biennial Boston College Conference on the History of Religion to be held on March 19-20, 2010. This year’s theme is “Global Religious Exchanges.” Over the past two decades scholars have increasingly turned their attention to an examination of global or world history in the classroom and in their scholarship. They have traversed the boundaries of the nation state to examine historical themes and issues across time and space within the context of a global or world experience. The experience of diaspora, forced and willing migration, and the space in between borders has become just as important to analyzing individual and communal experiences. The same can be increasingly said of religious belief and practice and religious institutions. This conference will foster discussion and conversation among established scholars and graduate students on the transnational or global nature of religious belief, practices, and institutions; the development and formation of specific religions in regional contexts; and the impact of globalization on the growth and transformation of religion within a variety of geographic contexts including Korea, India, the United States, Indonesia, Israel, and Russia.

The keynote address will be delivered by Liam Brockey, author of Journey to the East: The Jesuit Mission to China, 1579-1724 (Belknap/Harvard, 2007) and Associate Professor of History at Michigan State University.

We encourage both graduate students and established scholars to attend what will be two days of stimulating intellectual discussion and conversation.

For further conference details including a schedule, registration form and travel information go to: http://www.bc.edu/schools/cas/history/about/religion_conference.html or contact Sarah K. Nytroe at nytroe@bc.edu