In 2010, the Centre collaborated with the Centre for Subjectivity Research ([CSR] University of Copenhagen) on the topic ‘Phenomenology of the Religious Life’. This involved a jointly convened seminar and workshop, conference events and exchange visits for both teaching and research.
The title ‘Phenomenology of Religious Life’ (taken from the young Heidegger’s lecture courses on philosophy of religion) is here meant to indicate a philosophical approach that does not seek to reduce religion to philosophy. Rather, in focusing on how humans understand the life they live in and through religion, a phenomenology of religious life both addresses the question what religion is about (what matters to humans who understand their lives in an through religion) and deals with philosophical issues at play in understanding religion as a human concern (for example, issues in philosophical anthropology and in theories of emotions). Within this framework the collaboration aimed to contribute in significant ways to reformulating philosophical approaches to religion, especially with regard to contemporary debates about the role and legitimacy of religious belief in common life.
First steps in this collaboration included:
- In Hilary term 2010 the Modern Theology Seminar was themed on the topic of ‘Phenomenology and Theology’, and Dr Claudia Welz from CSR spoke on Monday 8th March.
- Profs Flood and Pattison contributed to the CSR course on ‘Phenomenology and Religious Studies’ (see the CFS calendar http://cfs.ku.dk/calendar-main/calendar2010).
