The 2015 Graduate Colloquium in Scripture, Interpretation, and Practice (SIP) welcomes submissions of original research from graduate students on the topic “Weaponizing Scripture?” This conference will explore cases, both historical and contemporary, in which scripture serves as a resource for/against the communities that are formed by it, as well as how it is instrumentalized for formational, popular, political, and/or polemical agendas. It further seeks to uncover ways that scripture transforms the character of the debates and purposes for which it is deployed. Accordingly, papers could examine such cases intra-traditionally, ecumenically, inter-religiously, or between religious and secular spheres.

The plenary speaker will be Dr. Sohail Nakhooda, a scholar of both Islamic and Christian traditions. He is co­-leader of the Islamic Analytic Theology project at Kalam Research & Media (KRM) in the UAE, in association with the John Templeton Foundation. He was chosen to speak because he provides a unique window into the role of scripture both within religious tradition and in the political and even military spheres.

The second annual Graduate Student Colloquium in Scripture, Interpretation and Practice will be held on March 22nd and 23rd, 2015, at the University of Virginia. Proposals in the form of a 250-word abstract should be emailed to kwfr@virginia.edu by January 23rd, 2015. Acceptance notifications will be sent out by February 5th, 2015. Final papers, not to exceed 2000 words, must be submitted by March 14th, 2015.

For more information, including a list of suggested topics and further description of the conference and Dr. Nakhooda, click here.