AIS International Conference on climate change, titled “The Specter of Climate Chaos: Religion, Science, Politics” will be held in the summer of 2020 in New Jersey, USA. 

What is the place of spirituality today in the face of climatic and environmental instability? In the light of contemporary science and public policy, is the function of religion to ameliorate, or exacerbate, the current crisis of climate disruption? How might scholarly fields such as climate science, religious studies, and political theory contribute to a new understanding of the positive role various faith communities might play in the current climate debate – as well as the negative role such communities might play in their resistance to climate science and political action based on the strictures of their ancient traditions? In sum, this conference will ask: What new forms of social and political action might be possible by faith communities’ efforts to address constructively catastrophic climate disorder, both within their own communities and across other communities?

Current academic and popular discussions of climate change often envision humankind as a homogenous economic group of producers and consumers who see the Earth as a commodified object rather than a living communion of interrelated subjects. Along with future projections of what will happen to Earth’s environment, and thereby to humanity, we often hear about what humans ought to do to prevent environmental collapse. Yet many questions remain about our present situation. Could it be that humankind and otherkind alike are common members of the same natural order, and that all members of this order deserve equal treatment? If this is the case, then we will ask, (1) Which human activities have had the most historical impacts, for good or ill, and (2) Which activities ought to be continued in the future (see, for instance, the discussion on a shift from the “Anthropocene to Capitalocene” eras, in Grusin, 2017) and which activities should be discontinued?

In this call for papers, we hope to stimulate research and conversation about these two questions. We seek papers that will analyze how the human community has reacted to global environmental changes in the past and the present (e.g., denial, cooperation, competition, etc.) in the light of political, economic, social, and religious differences.

In particular, the organizers encourage proposals on questions that integrate rigorous scientific analysis with equally rigorous interrogations of religious discourses and communities.