Dear all,

 

I do hope you and yours are staying well. We are now entering the last month of 2020 and what a year it has been! I enjoy hearing from many of you after the newsletter is sent out on how you are doing and what news pieces you would like me to share with the community. I would very much enjoy hearing your thoughts and reflections on the year, and what you are looking forward to in the upcoming one.

 

Below you will find our latest items for this month’s newsletter:

 

ISSR Related

  • This is a final reminder that ISSR Fellowship nominations are due on 15 We are especially encouraging nominations this year from non-Christian traditions. Nominations for Fellowship of ISSR may only be made by existing Fellows and are made based on four categories of achievement. When considering a potential nomination, please do so using these categories:
    • Major contribution (e.g. books) to the field of science/religion;
    • Excellent standing in one of the relevant areas (science, religion, philosophy) together with a sustained interest in or support of the science/religion debate;
    • Demonstration of significant organizational and entrepreneurial skills within the science/religion field, especially in geographical regions or religious traditions in which science-religion studies are not yet well-developed;
    • Early career scholars whose publications in the science-religion field indicate outstanding promise.

If you would like to submit a name for nomination, please send me an email that includes the nominee’s name, a link to their academic profile or website, and their CV. (Please note: If we cannot find their CV easily on-line, we will ask you to source a copy to send to us.)

 

  • ISSR is pleased to announce that we are now beginning our first interest group on psychology and theology, which will begin meeting later this week. If you are interested in joining this group, please email Fraser Watts (execsec@issr.org.uk). We would also remind you that we are still taking suggestions for special interest groups on science and religion. If you have an idea for a different interest group, such as contemporary historical/social science approaches to science and religion, interfaith dialogues, environment and ecology, science and religion and media, etc., please email me (admin@issr.org.uk) at your earliest convenience.

 

 

  • ISSR will be hosting two events at AAR 2020 this year. If you have registered, we would welcome your attendance. Our events will be held Tuesday 01 Dec, 17:00-18:30EST, and Wednesday 02 Dec, 11:00-12:30EST. However, if you are unable to attend, we will be recording these sessions and will be making them available for viewing at a later date. For more information on AAR this year, please click here.

 

  • ISSR is proud to be the home of the annual Boyle Lecture. This year’s global pandemic has changed the format of this year’s lecture, and it will be broadcast on YouTube at 18:00GMT on Wednesday 3rd February 2021. This will be then followed by a live online panel discussion of the lecture from 19:15 to 20:00. Due to this online format, we are hoping for even greater “attendance” than we could allow in physical space. More information will be made available soon, so please watch out for it.

 

  • I would like to remind all members, both Fellows and Associates, that membership fees are to be paid each year. For your convenience, payments can be set to automatically renew through our website. If you have not paid, please do so here. If you are unsure of your payment status, please me email me at admin@issr.org.uk.

 

 

  • This is a reminder to all ISSR paid members that your membership includes access to discounted rates for journal subscriptions for paying members. Discounted journals are the following: Philosophy, Theology and the Sciences; Science & Christian Belief; Theology and Science; and Zygon: Journal of Science and Religion. You can access these discounts by logging into your account and going to this link.

 

New Publications and Media

 

 

  • Efthymios Nicolaidis is happy to announce and share with you that the documentary film from the funded project, Science and Orthodoxy around the World (funded by TWCF, and implemented by the National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, Greece), on the science-religion relationship in the Orthodox Christian world is now openly available on its YouTube channel, which you can view here.

 

Open Calls

 

  • The Sixth International Congress on Religious Studies is planning a conference in Kraków on “Belief – Imagination – Knowledge: New Paths of Religious Studies in the 21st Century” from 25-30 May 2021, and is now accepting abstracts. Due to the date of our newsletter, the Congress is offering ISSR members a special extension to 07 December, so please reference your ISSR membership if you do submit. To view the flyer which includes the four main themes and further details, including how to submit, please click here.

 

 

  • The Centre for Theological Inquiry has opened a call for applications for research workshops on religion and the natural environment being held in Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 in a hybrid global/local model due to COVID-19. Applications will begin in January 2021 on their website. For more information please see their flyer here.

 

As always, ISSR’s newsletter is supplied primarily by our members. If there is anything you come across that would be of benefit to our international community, please share it with me at admin@issr.org.uk.  Also, please remember that our blog is put out around the 15th of each month and is written by our Fellows. If you have a blog idea (about a new book, research, reflections, etc.) you may contact me for that as well.

 

Good luck, stay safe, and do let me know if you need anything or have any questions.

 

All best,

 

Anthony K Nairn

www.anthonynairn.com

ISSR Administrator

www.issr.org.uk