Cao Dai at the 30th Conference of the International Society...

Updated 2012-05-14 13:40:20

Cao Dai at the 30th Conference of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion in Spain.

 

The International Society for the Sociology of Religion (ISSR) will organize its 30th International Conference, which will be held in the city of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, during the week of 27 thru 31st July 2009.

 

The ISSR was founded in Leuven, Belgium in 1948 as the "Conférence Internationale de Sociologie Religieuse" (International Conference for Religious Sociology). Over the years, its focus has moved beyond church structure to the study of the role of religion in society at large, to advance lnowledge in the sociology of religion and in all the related fields of the social sciences. Its main objective is to fostering intellectual exchange between scholars from around the world, and for over 50 years, it has provided a congenial venue for scholars to meet and discuss their work. Every two years, the ISSR organizes a bilingual international conference (English and French) opened to the public. Since its creation, the ISSR has held 27 conferences, most recently in Budapest (1993), Quebec (1995), Toulouse (1997), Leuven (1999), Ixtapan de la Sal, Mexico (2001), Turin (2003), Zagreb (2005) and Leipzig (2007).

 

This year, the 30th Conference will focus on the theme: The Challenges of Religious Pluralism. Religious diversity is a constant feature of human societies. When the very existence and the understanding of this diversity become the subject of contestation, as has been the case in contemporary societies, we can speak of the challenges of religious pluralism. The 2009 conference of the ISSR seeks to contribute to the sociological analysis of religious pluralism and its common understandings. The conference will include a wide range of possible approaches and will pay particular attention to both the ways in which religion adapts to the context of religious pluralism and to the ways in which contemporary societies respond.

 

The Conference will be divided into 2 Plenary sessions, 84 Thematic Sessions, 4 Working Groups and 2 Forums for New Researchers.

Thematic Session 54 will focus on Viet Nam with the theme: Established religion, Popular Religion and Secularism in Vietnam. The subjects for presentation are (in French and English):

 

1- Le retour du spirituel traditionnel au Vietnam // The revival of spiritual traditions in Vietnam, presented by Prof. Nguyen Quoc Tuan (Institut des Recherches Religieuses, Vietnam)

 

2- Le Caodaïsme, réseaux et pluralité // Caodaism : networks and plurality, presented by Dr. Jeremy Jammes (Groupe Sociétés Religions Laïcités, Paris, France)

 

3- Les cultes « traditionnels », le protestantisme et l’Etat sur les hauts plateaux du centre du Vietnam // Traditional cults, Protestantism and the State on the Central Highlands of Vietnam, presented by Mathieu Bouquet (France)

 

4- Objet votif pour les vivants ou transformation spirituelle dans une société ouverte et laïcisée // Votive Offering for the Living: A Spiritual Transformation in a Secularized Open Society, presented by Nguyen Kim Hien (France)

 

5- Le thầy cúng dans la religion populaire vietnamienne // The thầy cúng in the Vietnamese popular religion, presented by Paul Sorrentino (Université Paris Descartes, France)

 

6- Religions populaires de Cochinchine au regard des autorités coloniales // View of the colonial authorities on Cochinchinese Popular Religion, presented by Dr. Pascal Bourdeaux (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, France)

 

7- The Superstitious and Suspicious Others: Modernization, Secularization, Nationalism and the Hmong in Vietnam // Les « autres » superstitieux et suspects: modernisation, sécularisation, nationalisme et les Hmong au Vietnam, presented by Ngo Thi Thanh Tam (Vrije University Amsterdam / Université Libre d’Amsterdam, Holland)

 

Caodaism is analyzed at this International Conference by Jérémy Jammes, who is considered as an expert on this new religion of Viet Nam. Dr. Jammes received his Social Anthropology Doctorat (Ph.D) degree in 2006 from the University Paris X (France) with his thesis: “Le Caodaïsme: rituels médiumniques, oracles et exégèses” (Caodaism : mediumnistic rituals, oracles and exegesis). His presentation at this conference would explore the past and current history of Caodaism, emphasizing the activities of its organizational structure, its networks and religious plurality in today Viet Nam.

 

Cao Dai Overseas Missionary is very glad to see that Caodaism has a place in such International Conference, which is a great opportunity for providing a better understanding of the history and the philosophy of the Caodai religion. In the same way, Cao Dai Overseas Missionary has attended many other international religious conferences, the purpose of which is to inform the world of this new religion created by God Himself thru spiritist messages - instead of assigning a Messenger (like Jesus Christ, Syakamuni Buddha, Mohammed, etc…) to carry out his Messages to humanity.

 

For more information on this ISSR Conference, please visit its website: http://soc.kuleuven.be/ceso/sisr/eng/index.htm