1st International Seminar RELIGION, KNOWLEDGE, SOCIETY (RKS)
Knowledge and Spirituality.
Religious Dimension of Man in the Horizon of Contemporary Challenges
4-6 June, 2016, Vatra-Dornei (Romania)
The purpose of this seminar was to provide a theological and philosophical approach on the topic of the knowledge of God and a reassessment of genuine spirituality for today’s man, assailed by secularization, desacralization, consumerism, agnosticism and atheism. This academic event allowed a dynamic interaction between professors and scholars from various cultural-philosophical milieus in Romania and abroad, as it was attended by 16 participants from 12 countries.
The academic debates led to the conclusion that the global society poses the risk of relativizing the religious values defining human identity. The religious dimension is a fundamental human trait, irrespective of the religious culture one belongs to. Spirituality means assuming faith in both its practical and contemplative aspects, in one’s relationship with God. The pursuit of the knowledge of God actually determines a particular way of being that is radically different from the secular ways of daily life. The academic contributions and debates were thus centered on the need to regain spiritual experience, and re-claim the religious grounds of human identity. Although the participants - professors of theology and philosophy - adhered to various religions and philosophical systems, they all agreed that in today’s desacralizing society, it is necessary to restore the religious dimension to its status as the normal human condition. Man is essentially a theo-logical being, and abolishing this dimension can only lead to a state of confusion and disarray, whereby the human condition is perverted and reduced to the most humiliating and aberrant forms of instrumentalization. Deprived of the perspective of the Transcendent, man becomes the product of a consumerist society, and becomes the victim and prisoner of an individualistic, materialistic and hedonistic perception of human existence.
Today’s man faces many challenges, of which secularization is maybe the greatest, as it ignores the religious dimension of human personality. This is why we need to redefine spirituality. The discussions occasioned by the presentations were not an abstract exchange of purely academic ideas, because the final goal of this meeting has been a more concrete understanding of the religious dimension of man.
Subthemes:
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Knowledge of God/Absolute - theological and philosophical perspectives;
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Spirituality as existential experience in Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism;
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Mysticism as experience of God in different religions;
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Rediscovering the value of human person in a desacralised society;
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Religion / Atheism / Agnosticism / Nihilism - critical remarks
Scientific committee
† Prof. Dr. Teodosie PETRESCU - Archbishop of Tomis (Romania)
Prof. Dr. Fr. Bogdan MOISE - Dean of Faculty of Theology, “Ovidius” University from Constanța (Romania)
Prof. Dr. Fr. Nicolae ACHIMESCU - University from Bucharest (Romania)
Prof. Dr. John FARINA - “George Mason” University (SUA)
Prof. Dr. Abdul RASHID - University of Karachi (Pakistan)
Prof. Dr. Jove Jim S. AGUAS - University of “Santo Thomas” (Filipine)
Prof. Dr. Mohamed Ahmed SULEYMAN - “Beni Suef” University, Cairo (Egypt)
Assoc. Prof. Dan-Gabriel SÎMBOTIN - Romanian Academy - Iași Branch (Romania)
Prof. Dr. Fr. Dănuț POPOVICI - “Ovidius” University from Constanța (Romania)
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bogdan CHIRILUȚĂ - “Ovidius” University from Constanța (Romania)
Lect. Dr. Ioan DURA - “Ovidius” University from Constanța (Romania)
Organizing Institution
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Faculty of Theology - “Ovidius” University from Constanța
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The “Gheorghe Zane” Institute for Economic and Social Research, Romanian Academy, Iasi Branch
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Center for Studies and Interreligious and Intercultural Dialog
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Archiepiscopate of Tomis
Programme & Photos
