IU Religious Studies Graduate Symposium: Religion, Nature and Innovation

February 25th-26th 2010


Thursday, February 25th

5:00 PM Room: Welcome and Check-in - Ballantine 304

5:15 PM – 6:45 PM
Keynote Address - Ballantine 304
Professor Sarah McFarland Taylor, Religious Studies, Northwestern University,
"Green Religion, Green Culture: Old/New Practices in American Burial"

7:00 PM: Dinner - Woodburn House

Friday, February 26th - All Events Ballantine 347
9:00 AM Breakfast

9:30 AM – 11:00 AM
Evangelical Environmentalism
Sarah Dees, Religious Studies, Indiana University – Bloomington,
“Biblical Bases for Conservative Christian Environmentalism: A Profile of the Evangelical Environmental Network”
Kate Netzler, Religious Studies, Indiana University – Bloomington,
“Green Faith: Richard Cizik and Evangelical Environmental Rhetoric”
Respondent: Professor Sarah McFarland Taylor

11:15 AM – 12:45 PM
The Struggle to Adapt: Debates About Theories of Human Progress
Bharat Ranganathan, Religious Studies, Indiana University – Bloomington,
“Two Views on Genetic Intervention, Enhancement, and Therapy
Erik Hammerström, Religious Studies, Indiana University – Bloomington,
“Are All Worldly Things Evolving or Regressing?: Use of Evolution Among Chinese
Buddhists in the 1920s”
Joshua Held, English, Indiana University – Bloomington, “The Struggle against Nature in Tess of the D’Urbervilles: Hardy’s Refraction of Darwin”
Respondent: Professor Lisa Sideris

12:45 PM – 1:45 PM Lunch

1:45 PM – 3:00 PM
Challenging Nature
Geoffrey Goble, Religious Studies, Indiana University – Bloomington,
“Seeing Stars: The Chinese Sky and its Ritual Manipulation”
Marie Chantale Mofin Noussi, Foreign Languages and Literature, University of New Mexico,
“Nature, Place, and Globalization in Zakes MDA’s The Heart of Redness and The Whale Caller”
Respondent: Professor David L. Haberman

3:15 PM – 4:30 PM
Rethinking Creation and Death
Bill Graves, Indiana University – Kokomo, “Vico’s Fifth Stage:
Are Science and Religion Mutually Exclusive?”
Kiley Compton, Anthropology, University of Tennessee – Knoxville, “(Re)Conceptualizing Death: Examining Attitudes Toward Death at the Anthropological Research Facility”
Respondent: Professor Richard Nance