2017 Implicit Religion Conference: Materiality and Immateriality

The 40th annual conference in Implicit Religion (formerly known as the Denton Conference) will focus on the coupling, tension and interaction between ‘materiality’ and ‘immateriality’.

Studies of religion often focus on separating these two terms in relation to methodologies, focus of research and legitimacy, and even place them in opposition at times. Increasingly, scholars of religion in fields such as sociology, anthropology, digital humanities, film studies and religious studies have explored the question of embodiment, the materiality of thought, and the notion of affects. New studies of art have reopened the problem of materiality through the conceptualisation of sound, matter, practice and nature. And in its relation to politics, religion has recovered the notion of materiality, placing it at the core of a number of concepts, such as labour, emancipation, and resistance.

The Edward Bailey Lecture will be delivered by Brent Plate, Associate Professor at Hamilton College in New York State. His area of specialism is Material Religion with a particular emphasis on how ways of seeing affect ways of being religious.

For further details on the conference and to book your place visit the Implicit Religion Conference website. The conference is £170 which includes accommodation, all meals and refreshments.