CRPL Seminar Series

The CRPL has a fortnightly seminar series where speakers from inside and outside the University of Leeds present current research on any aspect of religion that, in one way or another, intersects with public life locally, nationally or internationally. The seminars are open to all with an academic interest in the study of religion and public life.

Seminars in the academic year 2022-23 will take place in person, in the Botany House seminar room (1.03). Those unable to attend in person are welcome to join online via MS Teams. The year theme for 2022-23 is “Religious Creativity in Changing Worlds”.

Seminars in Semester 2 (2022-23)

2 February, 11:30-13:00: Prof. Andrew Thorpe (Leeds, History): “Methodism and the British Labour movement, 1890-1939”

16 February, 11:30-13:00: Cancelled due to UCU strikes

2 March, 11:30-13:00: Prof. Adriaan van Klinken (Leeds): “Religious Leaders as Agents of LGBTIQ Inclusion in East Africa”.

16 March, 11:30-13:00: Cancelled due to UCU strikes

30 March, 11:30-13:00: Dr Aled Thomas (Leeds, PRHS): “Squirreling is today destructive of a workable system”: Innovative and ‘heretical’ Scientology in the Free Zone.

11 May, 11:30-13:00: Dr Stefan Skrimshire (Leeds, PRHS): "Liturgies of lament in contemporary religious eco-activism".

Seminars in Semester 1 (2022-23)

6 October, 11:30-13:00h: Prof. Alana Vincent (University of Chester / Umeå University), “Crisis and Ritual Creativity: Three Theses”.

20 October, 11:30-13:00h: Katherine Gwyther (Leeds), “The Hebrew Bible and the Utopian Imagination”.

Extra seminar (jointly with LUCAS, hosted online): 27 October 16:30-17:30h: Prof. Olukoya Ogen (LUCAS/LAHRI fellow, University of Leeds): “The Post-colonial Resurgence of Yoruba Traditional Religious Practices”.

3 November, 11:30-13:00h: Prof. Gurharpal Singh (SOAS, University of London): “Rethinking the Sikh Diaspora in the Twenty-first Century: Tradition, Change and Creativity”.

17 November, 11:30-13:00h: Dr Naomi Richman (University of Cambridge): “Theologies of Gender, Relationality and Power in a Nigerian Pentecostal Church”.

1 December, 11:30-13:00h: Dr Mikel Burley (Leeds): “Conceptual Decolonization and Conceptual Justice: Critically Examining Proposals from Kwasi Wiredu and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o”.

15 December, 11:30-13:00h: Dr Gillian Chu (research fellow, University of Leeds): “#Deltaδmovement: Hong Kong Christians’ Digital Communities”.