[Presencial] Questions of Translation: Philosophy and Theology in the (ongoing) creation of Religious Studies.

In light of my several decades as student, teacher, and researcher in the field; and using examples both from my own work in modern European philosophy and the history of Christian thought and from the work of close mentors and interlocutors (such as Mark C. Taylor and Jean-Luc Marion), I will aim in this seminar-style talk to develop and discuss with participants a model of religious studies as a field of study that is distinct from but still deeply engaged with theology (which appears not merely as object but as interlocutor); that remains attuned to the existential (and not only political) significance of such study; that approaches "religion" not as a set category but as an open question; and that attends to the religious dimensions and dynamics not only of traditional faith communities but also of life in seemingly secular or atheistic cultures. The role of "translation" within such an approach to the field, I will suggest, makes of religious studies not only a critical but also a constructive enterprise.