Archives

  • From Indigenous Religions to Indigenous Values
    Vol. 5 No. 2 (2024)

    The second issue of volume five of the Journal of the Council for Research on Religion (JCREOR) is a special issue,  From Indigenous ‘Religions’ to Indigenous Values. Planned and realized in collaboration with Philip P. Arnold (Syracuse University), the Indigenous Values Initiative (IVI), and the American Indian Law Alliance (AILA), this volume offers a collection of responses and articles that speak to the themes and tensions noted in the Report on Indigenous Religious Freedom or Belief, presented by the United Nation’s Office of the External Special Rapporteur on Religious Freedom or Belief, which we have gained special permission to republish here in full. This issue provides input on the report but also examines the restrictions and limitations imposed by the categories of religion and/or belief when working with Indigenous nations and communities.

  • Religious Tensions & Religious Cohesions
    Vol. 5 No. 1 (2024)

    The first issue of volume five of the Journal of the Council for Research on Religion (JCREOR) is a call by the editors to examine and understand social cohesions and conflicts, with particular interest in what role religion or religious traditions play within communities of diverse peoples. We sought first to understand how tension points arise within communities, and second, to examine the role played by religion in creating or appeasing these tension points. This issue is thus dedicated to probing, not only the tensions that arise within religiously diverse communities, but the solutions that are developed in response to criticism or conflict.

  • Who is My Neighbour? Interfaith Dialogue and Theological Education in the Global Village
    Vol. 4 No. 2 (2023)

    The second issue of volume four of the Journal of the Council for Research on Religion (JCREOR) came out of a colloquium entitled “Who is My Neighbour? Interfaith Dialogue and Theological Education in the Global Village of the 21st Century.”

    The event was held at the McGill School of Religious Studies on October 19–20, 2022. Each day included two keynote addresses with their respective panel responses. On October 19, 2022, Amy-Jill Levine and Ingrid Mattson offered two keynote papers on different topics related to Interfaith Dialogue. On October 20, 2022, Robert Hill and Chukwuemeka Anthony Atansi offered two keynote papers on different topics related to Theological Formation in the twenty-first century.

    The School of Religious Studies was awarded a grant by the Lilly Endowment, which was initially designated during the Covid 19 epidemic in 2020–2021. However, the School was granted an extension to use the funds in 2022–2023 for in-person symposiums and a preliminary study of student needs in the university’s theological programs.

  • 75 Years of the United Nations: Reflections on the Promotion of Equity and Human Rights
    Vol. 4 No. 1 (2022)

    The first issue of volume four of the Journal of the Council for Research on Religion (JCREOR) is inspired by the United Nations’ 75th anniversary celebrations, which took place from 2020–2021. With the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN ushered in a new era – for the first time a truly global consciousness developed around the idea that all people are entitled to a set of fundamental rights, simply because of their humanity. Although the UN maintains that these rights are inalienable, human rights violations and other forms of intolerance and discrimination have continued to proliferate over the past 75 years. This issue is dedicated to probing such transgressions upon human dignity and critically examining the measures put forth by individuals and groups to mitigate discrimination and intolerance.

    The studies address issues such as the Catholic response to Indigenous residential schools, the United Nations development interventions at Lumbini (the birthplace of the Buddha) and the use of Basic Ecclesial Communities (BEC) in India to foster interfaith dialogue. Each paper traces the role played by religion in the development of conflict resolution, as well as how communities respond to religious diversity.

  • Communities Dealing with Crises & Global Responses
    Vol. 3 No. 2 (2022)

    The second issue of volume three of the Journal of the Council for Research on Religion (JCREOR) is dedicated to critical reflection on global crises and the global responses of religious communities. As the world begins to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, new crises have emerged, and old crises have resurfaced to take center stage in what has now become a constant cycle of images and information about the world in crisis.

    Presented in this issue are a selection of papers which address a variety of crises and discuss how various communities are responding to them. The studies address the impact of refugee status on Uyghur children living in Turkey, the role of the Orthodox Church in the Ukraine war, the influence of evangelical rhetoric in Canadian politics, and Marian devotion and its relation to socio-political issues like gender in Latin America. Each paper traces the role played by religion in the development of these crises, as well as its role in community response efforts.

  • The Uyghurs in Diaspora
    Vol. 3 No. 1 (2021)

    The first issue of volume three of the Journal of the Council for Research on Religion (JCREOR) came out of a colloquium entitled “The Uyghurs in the Diaspora,” which sought to study Uyghurs living in the diaspora in Canada.

    The event was held virtually on Microsoft Teams on May 31st, 2021, hosted by the McGill School of Religious Studies and JCREOR.

    The colloquium grew out of the Children in Sectarian Religions Project (http://www.spiritualchildhoods.ca/), which sought to find out how Uyghur parents intended to transmit their religion and unique culture (suppressed in China) to their children after arriving in Canada.

    The research team, prior to and during the pandemic, conducted interviews and collected data that was presented and discussed during the colloquium.

    The articles presented in this issue were generated from the interviews and data collected during the project's investigation of Uyghurs in the Diaspora.

  • Christian Theology After Christendom
    Vol. 2 No. 2 (2021)

    The second issue of volume two of the Journal of the Council for Research on Religion (JCREOR) came out of a colloquium in honour of Professor Emeritus Douglas John Hall, entitled “Christian Theology after Christendom: Engaging the Thought of Douglas John Hall.”  The event was held at McGill University in November 2019, hosted by the McGill School of Religious Studies and Emmanuel College in the University of Toronto.  We were delighted to welcome so many graduate students at the colloquium and to hear from them both through the papers they presented and the discussions they engaged.

    These articles were chosen for this issue because of their focus on themes central to the corpus of Douglas Hall’s work. While some engage his work directly, others raise interesting questions and concerns related to the theme. These articles should be considered as an accompaniment to the volume of papers published in 2021 by Lexington Books/Fortress Academic and entitled Christian Theology after Christendom: Engaging the Thought of Douglas John Hall, edited by Patricia G. Kirkpatrick and Pamela R. McCarroll.

    Professor Hall’s thought has influenced the thinking of generations and so it is inspiring to see how this generation of theologians is also engaging the theme of Christian Theology after Christendom, so central to his work.

    We are grateful that this volume was made possible by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

  • Religion and Climate Change
    Vol. 2 No. 1 (2020)

    The first issue of volume two of The Journal of the Council for Research on Religion (JCREOR) goes back to a colloquium hosted at the McGill School of Religious Studies in 2019 that focused on Religion and Climate Change. Special attention was given to both modern and ancient responses to climate change and how present-day climate change effects and/or influences political and economic action as well as religious interpretations.

    The colloquium took place while a crowd of 500,000 people marched in Montreal, inspired by the Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg, to protest against inadequate action on climate change. The current pandemic has demonstrated how intricately connected global societies are to one another and that if we all take conscious steps towards addressing climate issues, we can make a difference.

    A special thanks goes to the participants of the colloquium, contributing authors and all those involved in the publication of this issue.

  • 500 Years of the Reformation
    Vol. 1 No. 2 (2020)

    The second issue of volume one of The Journal of the Council for Research on Religion (JCREOR) goes back to a colloquium hosted at the McGill School of Religious Studies in 2018 that focused on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in light of the rich, many sided, and often conflict-laden relations between the Reformation and the world’s religions.

    Presented in this issue are a selection of papers from the Colloquium which address a variety of topics related to the history of the Reformation and its relationship to the Catholic Church, Judaism, Islam, Indigenous Peoples, and inter-religious dialogue. A central question in all papers concerns learning from the past: what can we learn from the past to make our present and future better, especially in the context of inter-religious complexity in Quebec and Canada and in light of the growing influence of religion and globalization.

    A special thanks goes to the Presbyterian College for a significant financial contribution towards both the Colloquium and this Issue.

  • Religion and Violence: Sources, History & Contemporary World
    Vol. 1 No. 1 (2019)

    The Journal of the Council for Research on Religion  (JCREOR) e-journal Volume 1, Issue 1 is dedicated to the theme of Religion and Violence. Scholars were encouraged to submit papers that reflect on the following questions and themes: How has the understanding of the relationship between violence and religion changed over time? How does methodology shape the scholarship on religion and violence? Is religious violence different than secular/non-religious violence? By drawing attention to religious violence how has political discourse overlooked the religious victims of religious or secular violence? Is there a place for discussions of religious conceptions of non-violence in the scholarship on religion and violence? How can policy makers use scriptural sources to promote peace and social cohesion? We welcome interdisciplinary submissions dealing with any tradition or time period.