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Thinking about Nothing 


Annual Conference

This year's annual conference is taking place on 3rd-5th July 2020 in Liverpool Hope University, UK,

The theme is:
Thinking about Nothing
: Negation, Philosophy and the Mystical

The conference is jointed organised with The Association for Continental Philosophy

Liverpool Hope invites abstracts for Thinking about Nothing, the annual conference of the Mystical Theology Network. The conference seeks to engage scholars and creative practitioners in a multi-disciplinary examination of 'nothingness', 'negativity' and the mystical.

How and why is 'nothing' such a central concern for the mystical? What meaning, if any, derives from negation, un-knowing, un-saying; or from evoking the Absolute in terms of absence, silence, darkness, void, abyss, desert, and no-thing-ness? Why do mystics across different religious traditions return continually to images and ideas of negativity? And how might these interfaces between ‘nothingness’ and ‘the mystical’ illuminate our contemporary concerns with these two elusive notions?

Confirmed Speakers:

Professor Melissa Raphael, University of Gloucestershire
Professor George Pattison, Glasgow University
Dr Kate Kirkpatrick, King's College, London
Dr Rik Van-Nieuwenhove, Durham University

This interdisciplinary conference brings together theologians, philosophers, historians, literary scholars, linguists, psychologists, artists, art historians, poets, musicians, and contemplative practitioners to examine interfaces between themes of 'nothingness', 'negativity', and the mystical. We also welcome proposals for creative responses from visual arts, performance, music and sound, poetry and literature.


All proposals should include:

     1. Full name
     2. E-mail
     3. Current institution and/or academic affiliation
     4. Title of the paper of Proejct
     5. Any technical equipment needed
     6. Proposal (up to 350 words)
 

•    Paper proposal — A proposal for presenting a short (20 minute) original paper
•    Session proposal — A proposal for a session or roundtable where different papers are
       presented on a common theme and emphasis is placed on shared discourse. Session
       proposals should include abstract, name of presider, list of panelists or respondents.
•    Project proposal — A proposal for a presentation, event, exhibition, performance or 
       screening. Project proposals should include description of media and
       venue/technology requirements

Deadline:  November 30th 2019

Please send proposals and enquiries to:
Simon Podmore (podmors@hope.ac.uk),
Duane Williams (williad3@hope.ac.uk),
Deborah Casewell (casewed@hope.ac.uk)




Further Information will be available on the conference website (available shortly)

You can also follow us on Twitter for the latest updates @MysticTheology