"COMMON GRACE AND 'A COMMON WORD'"
A conference devoted to exploring the resources of Neo-Calvinism
for inter-faith dialogue and understanding
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
April 15-16, 2010
"Common grace" is a key concept in the thought of Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck. It signals a conceptual space in which the grace of God is to be found at work in people, spheres and institutions outside the Church and beyond the extended circle of Christian believers. Between 1905 and 1907 Kuyper made a grand tour around the
Mediterranean
as a result of which he wrote a long essay on the significance of Islam. The purpose of this conference is to explore the concept of common grace with a view to uncovering the theological role it might have in furthering the aspirations of A Common Word Between Us and You, a 2007 document affirming the common ground that exists between Christianity and Islam.
The conference will open with a lecture by the winner of the 2010 Kuyper Prize, Lord Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth.
PAPER PROPOSALS are invited in the disciplines of theology, religious studies, history, philosophy and the social sciences on any aspect of the conference theme. Papers that aim to extend the dialogue to include Judaism in all its varieties are especially welcome. Papers selected for inclusion will run concurrently. Proposals from graduate students are encouraged, and financial support is available. Each block of concurrent sessions will include a session reserved for a graduate student paper.
Proposals should take the form of an abstract of not more than 300 words and be submitted as an e-mail attachment to kuyper.center@ptsem.edu by December 1st, 2009. Decisions will be notified by mid-January, 2010.
Details of plenary speakers, costs and registration will be available by October 2009.