International Symposium in Lund

We are happy to bring together scholars of theology, philosophy, history, and political theory to explore the intricate relationships between time and redemption in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim thought. Pondering the prophetic, apocalyptic, and messianic strands within each tradition, the symposium aims to examine how time is conceptualized not merely as chronological progression but as a sacred horizon charged with divine justice and transformative hope. Redemption will be considered in its broadest sense – encompassing theological dimensions such as salvation and eschatology, as well as political and social movements towards liberation, emancipation, and revolution. The symposium is organized at Lund University in collaboration with the research program At the End of the World: A Transdisciplinary Approach to the Apocalyptic Imaginary in the Past and Present.

Venue: Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Helgonavägen 3 (Room B251)

Please note that this event requires preregistration due to limited seats.

Programme

Monday 25 May

13.30–14.30 Lunch & Welcome
14.45–15.00 Jayne Svenungsson & Ulrika Björk: Symposium Opening
15.00–15.30 Agata Bielik-Robson (Warsaw): Introduction: On Time and Redemption
15.30–17.00 Anoush Ganjipour (Paris): The Master of Time: On the Messianic Sovereignty in Islam
17.00–17.30 Coffee & Tea
17.30–19.00 Sarah Hammerschlag (Chicago): Resisting Redemption: Susan Taubes and the Imagination of No Future
19.00 Reception

Tuesday 26 May

9.30–11.00 Demaine Solomons (Stellenbosch): The Time of the Oppressed: Apocalyptic Hope and Black Redemption in South African Theology
11.00–11.30 Coffee & Tea
11.30–13.00 Zahiye Kundos (Berlin/Leipzig): On the Subtle Spatiotemporal Structure in Kanafani’s ‘Returning to Haifa’
13.00–14.30 Lunch
14.30–16.00 Benjamin Pollock (Jerusalem): ‘No Human Being shall be called King of the Children of Israel’: Martin Buber on Theocracy, Present and Future
16.00–16.30 Coffee & Tea
16.30–18.00 Christine Svinth-Værge Põder (Copenhagen): Post-apocalyptic Negotiations: Utopia, Ideology and Eschatology in Debates about the Religious-Social Movement after the First World War
19.30 Symposium Dinner

For presentations of the speakers please read more here.