Program for the Ph.D. course at Sandbjerg Kursuscenter Thursday the 18th – Saturday the 20th of May 2006
The course consists of papers given by doctoral students and graduate students which deal with cognitive theory in the study of religion. The emphasis is on dialogue and mutual encouragement and criticism as well as discussions of important theories and figures in the cognitive science of religion and other relevant issues.
Thursday May 18th | |
15.00-16.00 | Arrival and coffee |
16.00-16.15 | Words of welcome by Jeppe Sinding Jensen and Armin W. Geertz |
16.15-16.45 | Gretchen Koch “Whose Shoes Are We In?: Empathy as Imaginative Projection, the Soul, and Moral Judgment” Material: Abstract and an article by Jonathan Haidt entitled “The Emotional Dog and Its Rational Tail” |
16.45-17.00 | Discussion |
17.00-17.30 | Markus Davidsen “The Cybernetics of the Holy: Roy Rappaport’s System Theoretic Approach to Religion and Society” Material: Abstract |
17.30-17.45 | Discussion |
17.45-18.15 | Andreas Lieberoth “Imagining God: Imagination in Relation to Religious Representations” Material: Abstract and an article by Andreas entitled “Drawing on the Canvas of Imagination” |
18.15-18.30 | Discussion |
18.30-19.30 | Dinner |
Free evening | |
Friday May 19 th | |
8.00-9.00 | Breakfast |
9.00-9.30 | Ewa Weiling Feldthusen “Dualist Heresies and the Russian Orthodox Church, 988-1299” Material: Project description and an article by J. P. Rushton entitled “Ethnic Nationalism, Evolutionary Psychology and Genetic Similarity Theory” |
9.30-9.45 | Discussion |
9.45-10.15 | Anders Nielsen “Icons and Agency in the Georgian Orthodox Church” Material: Abstract and figures |
10.15-10.30 | Discussion |
10.30-11.00 | Coffee break |
11.00-11.30 | Marie Gregers Verdoner “Superhuman Agency in the Church History of Eusebius” Material: Chapter from Ph.D. thesis |
11.30-11.45 | Discussion |
11.45-12.15 | Laura Feldt “Fantasy and Religious Narrativity” Material: Project description and article by Laura entitled “Signs of Wonder – Traces of Doubt: The Fantastic in the Exodus Narrative” |
12.15-12.30 | Discussion |
12.30-13.15 | Lunch |
13.15-13.45 | Rune Nyord “A Cognitive Linguistic Approach to Ancient Egyptian Sarcophagus Texts Exemplified by the Concept heka , ‘magic’” Material: Abstract, project description and an article by Rune entitled “The Body in the Hymns to the Coffin Sides” |
13.45-14.00 | Discussion |
14.00-14.30 | Jesper Østergaard “Tibetan Pilgrimage from the Perspective of Cognitive and Semiotic Theories” Material: Abstract and article by Edwin Hutchins, “Material Anchors for Conceptual Blends” |
14.30-14.45 | Discussion |
14.45-15.15 | Thore Bjørnvig “Gnosticism in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Cosmic Information and the Revolutionizing Effect of the Extraterrestrial Perspective” Material: Abstract, excerpts from M.A. thesis |
15.15-15.30 | Discussion |
15.30-16.00 | Coffee break |
16.00-16.45 | Mads Jessen and Niels Nørkjær Johannsen “On the materiality of religious abstractions” Material: Abstract and article by Matthew Day entitled “Religion, Off-Line Cognition and the Extended Mind” |
16.45-17.30 | Discussion |
18.30 | Festive dinner |
Saturday May 20th | |
8.00-9.00 | Breakfast |
9.00-9.30 | Mads Aamand Hansen “Religion and Violence: An Evolutionary Link?” Material: Project description |
9.30-9.45 | Discussion |
9.45-10.15 | Panagiotis Mitkidis “The Symbolism of Body in Rituals and in Society (from a Cultural Perspective)” Material: Abstract |
10.15-10.30 | Discussion |
10.30-11.00 | Coffee break |
11.00-11.30 | Uffe Schjødt “Neurofunctional Correlates to Doctrinary and Imagistic Prayer: Testing Whitehouse’s hypothesis” Material: Abstract, project description and an article by Azari et al. entitled “Neural Correlates of Religious Experience” |
11.30-11.45 | Discussion |
11.45-12.15 | Evaluation |
12.15-13.00 | Lunch and departure |
Jeppe Sinding Jensen
Armin W. Geertz
