About this Event
Programme:
9:00am Opening Remarks – André Gagné
9:15am Session 1
Zackari Bourgeois
On the Role of Religious Experience in American Christian Nationalism – A Case Study Using Independent Charismaticism
Christopher Dagher
Maundy Body: How the Christian heritage of the theology of the body can renew the teleological quest of our contemporaries
Milda Graham
Discipline and Devotion: Exploring the History and Frontier of Gymnastics and Yoga as Muscular Spiritualities
Q & A Period
10:30am Break
10:45am Session 2
Ridge Shukrun
Theology as Spiritual Practice
Audrey Rhéaume
Practical Ecological Conversion with St. Hildegard of Bingen
Gabriel Casola
Artistotle’s Influence on Thomas of Aquinas
Q and A Period
12:00pm Lunch
1:00pm Contemplative Reading with the Multifaith and Spirituality Centre
2:00pm Session 3
Arockia Rayappan
The Aggrandization of the influence of the Media and Crony Capitalism leads to the aggravation of the Hindi Nationalistic Demagoguery and eventually the throttling of the Fundamental Human Rights and the shrinking of the Democratic Space in India
Jason Piché
Communism as a “Political Religion”?: An Analysis of the Khmer Rouge and Its Status as a Political Religion
Matthew Shanahan
Ignatian Pedagogy: An Example in Deprivatized Religion
Q and A Period
3:15pm Break
3:30pm Keynote Address – Dr. Hyejung Yum
Abstracts:
Zackari Bourgeois
PhD student in the Individualized Program, Concordia University
On the Role of Religious Experience in American Christian Nationalism – A Case Study Using Independent Charismaticism
This presentation explores how religious experience functions as a central mechanism in constructing and legitimizing Christian nationalist discourse, particularly within the Independent Charismatic movement in the United States. Drawing from a thematic analysis of sermons and prophetic utterances by Apostle-Prophet Dutch Sheets, this study argues that Christian nationalism, in this context, is not merely an ideology or cultural framework, as it is commonly understood in leasing works on the subject; it contains within it an embodied and lived religious experience that shapes political ontology and practice. Through visions, dreams, and direct divine encounters, Sheets presents a metaphysical narrative in which America is in covenant with God but currently under siege by demonic powers, especially the spirit of Baal. Sheets’ prophetic claims do not merely interpret political events but produce an ontological map of good and evil, sacred and profane, and ultimately, a vision of the nation that must be reclaimed through revival. Central to this project is the role of youth, the ekklesia (God’s governing remnant), and the revival experience as a divine force that will transform the nation not through pure Christian statism and legislation but through spiritual reformation.
This presentation emphasizes how religious experience both authorizes and sustains the Christian nationalist project — constructing political enemies as ontologically evil, legitimizing divine sovereignty over secular institutions, and positioning Charismatic Christians as essential agents of national restoration. It also reflects on the limitations of current Christian nationalism scholarship, which often overlooks the affective, embodied, and experiential dimensions of such movements. In doing so, this presentation offers a more nuanced lens for understanding how theology, experience, and politics intersect in contemporary American religious life, and how revivalist forms of Christianity reimagine the nature of the state, political legitimacy, and the nation's moral boundaries.
Christopher Dagher
PhD Student, Université de Montreal
Maundy Body: How the Christian heritage of the theology of the body can renew the teleological quest of our contemporaries
On Maundy Thursday, Jesus Christ described the ingredients laid before his apostles as representations of his own body parts, the bread as his flesh or body and the wine as his blood. Here, one can link this pivotal event to the theology of the body prominently taught in Christian communities. This theology became a monumental teaching to understand the ethics, sacrality, and purpose carried by the person’s body. An interpreter may understand the eschatological and soteriological significance of this teaching because of the revelatory nature of the Eucharist (communion). It is eschatological because it foreshadows the ultimate destiny for the world to be united with God in one final wedding feast reserved for Christ and his bride, the church, after the final judgment described in scripture. It is soteriological because it grants the bread and wine a salvific purpose beyond the implied bodily imagery. To commemorate Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, the purpose is the person’s sanctification thereby bringing them into the glory of the awaited beatific vision of God. Two Pauline epistles are worth highlighting here: 1 Corinthians 15 (resurrection of bodies) and Ephesians 3 (beatific vision).
In this presentation, I will explore the theological connexions between the body, eschatology and soteriology by explaining how every person is on an inner teleological quest towards fulfillment in their body. I will also anchor this theological matter into the contemporary context, by reminding the audience of the long-forgotten sacrality of the body’s sexuality. Philosophically, understanding the body’s biological and theological natures will help counter the flesh’s overwhelming propensity toward hedonistic self-gratification. Thereby, my study will pertain mostly to North America in the 21st century because its individualistic lifestyle often leads to chasing ephemeral pleasures.
Milda Graham, RD
MA student, McGill School of Religious Studies
Discipline and Devotion: Exploring the History and Frontier of Gymnastics and Yoga as Muscular Spiritualities
This thesis investigates the hybridized relationship of two currently distinct physical cultures –gymnastics and yoga. According to Mark Singleton they have an entwined history. He examined the systemization within Hinduism of modern postural yoga in the 1930s at the Mysore Palace, finding it influenced by international gymnastics texts. I identify gymnastics as both template and foil in yoga’s development. I now ask: is there evidence of this hybridization in 21st century Montreal community settings?
Muscular Christian gymnastics in North America was a pre-existing base for yoga practice’s transcultural integration, with male teachers from South Asia conveying spiritual authority to local female instructors (Anya Foxen 2020). I support these findings with archival evidence from the Montreal YMCA’s introduction of yoga in 1969. I examine a contemporary Montreal women’s gymnastics community by ethnographic methods and analyse it through the distinctive yogic paradigms of asceticism and spirituality. Interviews elicit yogic values of isvara pranidhana/bhakti (devotion), tapas (discipline), satya/svadhyaya (truth and self-discernment) and others. I position this subculture as a contemporary example of the hybridization of gymnastics and yoga. I place both gymnastics and yoga as contemporary householder ascetic practices building female community, authority, and spirituality.
Ridge Shukrun
MA Theological Studies, Concordia University
Theology as a Spiritual Practice
In this paper, I introduce contemporary theology as something based in theory and doctrine, often in a way that is disconnected from the lived experience of the theologian. I give two examples, Socrates (through Socratic-Platonic dialogue) and Origen of Alexandria (lectio divina/discernment), for whom practicing these disciplines inherently implicated the practitioners. Finally, I look at examples of the foundation of theology as lived religious experience and theology in the work of Bernard Lonergan and theology as a spiritual practice in William Desmond.
Audrey Rhéaume
MA student in Theological Studies, Concordia University
Practical Ecological Conversion with St. Hildegard of Bingen
The words of Psalm 104, among other Scriptures which highlight the beauty of nature, honor God as our creator, through his creation. And yet, matters of ecological responsibility seem to be placed aside for many Christians, or designated as an affair which belongs to those on another end of the political spectrum. Perhaps we mistake our unique role as stewards of the created order for a tyrannical and utilitarian form of God-given dominion over the earth, right from the beginning. Does belief in a coming apocalypse to destroy the earth as we know it, or the hope of resurrection to wash away every tear justify our apathy towards the climate crisis we face?
Medieval visionary Saint Hildegard of Bingen promoted a spirituality which often centered around what she called viriditas, most closely translated from latin into “greenness”, or “greening”, referring both to physical and spiritual vitality. Might Hildegard’s ecological theology be a bridge for Christians to arrive at a version of environmental awareness which does not compromise the orthodoxy of their beliefs and even encourages it as a practical reality? I will be drawing on Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si to suggest that the radical shift in concern towards environmental responsibility which he calls for might be best understood as the “other-wordly falling in love” of religious conversion described by his fellow Jesuit Bernard Lonergan. I will argue that Hildegard of Bingen’s fiery love of God as made manifest in creation through viriditas might just be the spiritual catalyst for a turn towards ecological concern that Christendom needs.
Gabriel Casola
MA Student Theological Studies, Concordia University
Aristotle’s Influence on Thomas of Aquinas
Aristotle’s influence on Thomas of Aquinas is what will be explored. The position that is argued including the specific point is that what Thomas learned came from Aristotle’s influence when he read about Aristotle’s philosophy. Without Aristotle and the historical record of his knowledge, Thomas’s theology would have been different. What will be explored includes Aristotle’s work which was preserved in Arabic and Greek sources and then translated into Latin in medieval times. That happened when Albertus Magnus reintroduced Aristotle and Thomas encountered the works of Aristotle when he studied in Naples. At first, Aristotle’s influence on medieval philosophy started in logic. Then, it progressively went into physics, biology, and astronomy. Later, Aristotle explained his knowledge of politics, ethics, psychology, and metaphysics. When Thomas was a teacher, Aristotle was a figure who was central to the scholastic debates. Thomas defended his reasoning of the world and God against Latin Averroism and Augustinianism. Those dominant and traditional trends were theological and essentially philosophical. Latin Averroism is based on Aristotle’s philosophy of asserting the unification of an intellect active to every human and disregarding immortality that is personal. Generally, Augustinianism is a system of theology and philosophy based on Augustine's doctrines. The unity of the substantial form was taught by Thomas. Teachings in Augustinianism accepted many ideas of form principles in humans. Thomas argued that knowledge started in the perception resulting from human senses. That involves what is known about God and spiritual information. However, according to Augustianianism what was independent of perception was the knowledge of anything spiritual. Thomas defended his ideas for the purpose of saving creation as a reality visible without it being devalued, annihilated, or reduced to misinterpretation.
Contemplative Reading with the Multifaith and Spirituality Centre
Contemplative Reading offers a gentle introduction to an ancient method of spiritual reading, encouraging participants to slow down and engage with texts in a meaningful way. Through this guided session, you’ll explore the steps of reading, reflecting, responding, and resting, fostering a deeper connection with the material and with yourself. While our workshop is inspired by the ancient method of Lectio Divina which typically engages with the Christian scriptures, our session will engage with secular texts. This activity will be done in small groups and is optional.
Arockia Rayappan
PhD Student, Concordia University
The Aggrandization of the influence of the Media and Crony Capitalism leads to the aggravation of the Hindi Nationalistic Demagoguery and eventually the throttling of the Fundamental Human Rights and the shrinking of the Democratic Space in India
India is a land of diverse cultures, religions, languages, and ethnicities. Also, it is a land of great economic and social disparity. It is a diverse and complex land with an ancient history and entrenched traditions. In India, the hardening of the boundaries of Hinduism – and the narrow interpretative frameworks that underlie this trend – can be traced back to the Hindutva movement, a movement which is vehemently propagated by Hindu nationalism. Religious intolerance and blatant polarization are a trend that has been compounded by this explicit Hindu nationalism. This ideology - with shades of religious and cultural majoritarianism, fascism, and totalitarianism - has effectively penetrated into the various spheres of life in India. It has gained currency through Hindutva-inspired cultural and socio-political organizations such as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its political wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This Hindu nationalist movement has led to xenophobia and threats to religious minorities, the Muslims and Christians, across India, and consequently, it has adversely impacted the internal Indian politics in many ways. This ideology/political movement continues to violate human rights in a pluralistic India. The BJP won three consecutive parliamentary elections: in 2014, 2019 and 2024. It continues to inflame public sentiments by sowing hatred towards their own nationals to garner votes during electoral campaigns. Hate speeches keep the political careers of the members of Hindu nationalism secure in India when they succeed in communalizing large sections of society. To succeed in electoral politics, they efficiently use the social media to spread hate messages and polarize the Hindus. These hate messages tend to alter the mindset of the Hindu majority community. Hate and prejudice against the religious minorities have become so common now. Right now, India is not only susceptible to politics of fear, hatred, exclusion, self-aggrandizement and arrogance, but also to a greater throttling of the fundamental rights of citizens and shrinking of the democratic space. Thus, Hindu nationalism based on hatred and prejudice has infiltrated the different layers of Indian society. As an ideology, it violates the rights of modern and diverse India. It is becoming extremely difficult to live as a minority in India which is otherwise known as a secular and pluralistic society.
Jason Piché
MA Theological Studies, Concordia University
Communism as a “Political Religion”?: An Analysis of the Khmer Rouge and Its Status as a Political Religion
Links between communism and religion are often made by scholars and public intellectuals alike. Despite the explicit atheism of the Soviet Union and other communist governments, many scholars have come to argue that their totalitarian systems of government closely resemble modern religions in their ritualistic dispositions and have therefore dubbed their totalitarian systems “political religions”.
Though the topic is severely underexplored, scholars interested in the links between religion and communism should turn their attention to the Khmer Rouge, a communist rebel group that succeeded in displacing the US-backed dictatorship of Lon Nol and ruling the country with an iron fist from 1975 to 1979. The Khmer Rouge’s rule over what came to be called Democratic Kampuchea is notable for its extraordinarily Orwellian attempt to remodel the entirety of Cambodian society, and for causing the death of about a quarter of Cambodia’s 6 million people. By forcefully evacuating the entirety of the population of Phnom Phen to the countryside, regulating all aspects of Cambodian social life, rewriting the Khmer language and removing references to the individual, and ultimately subordinating everything to the interests of Angkar, the Khmer Rouge’s name for their government, the Khmer Rouge undertook one of the greatest social experiments in human history, and equally presided over one of humanity’s greatest catastrophes.
In analyzing the Khmer rouge’s rule, a few scholars have noted the ritualism inherent to their style of governance and the seemingly religious faithfulness with which Khmer operatives undertook their tasks. Though the connections made by scholars between political religion and the Khmer Rouge are intellectually interesting, this presentation will argue against the connection, arguing that the lack of a clear definition of the concept of religion, and therefore of political religion, necessarily means that it cannot be faithfully applied to totalitarian regimes like the Khmer Rouge. Though from the outside the rigidity of Khmer Rouge ideology and central planning seem quintessentially scientific and at times, religious, a closer analysis of the movement’s history and its most important figures show that far from being exact, the movement’s actions were frequently characterized by disorganization, racism against the Vietnamese, and a reactionary disposition. The Khmer Rouge’s loyalty to Marxism, which many scholars have characterized as religious, only went so far as the ability of Marxist thought to elevate the movement to power. The Khmer Rouge and the communism it propounded should therefore not be viewed through the prism of political religion despite attempts to apply the label to the movement.
This presentation will thus be concerned with developing a clear definition of religion, developing the concept of political religion, and analyzing the Khmer Rouge through the lens of political religion to see whether the label can be faithfully applied to the movement, or whether the concept itself is in need of refinement.
Matthew Shanahan
MA Theological Studies, Concordia University
Ignatian Pedagogy: An Example in Deprivatized Religion
Ignatian pedagogy’s foundational belief is to educate the whole human person. Ignatian pedagogy has consistently been applied to a broad diversity of students, recognizing that all people of goodwill can benefit holistically from the resources of tradition in caring for the whole human person in dialogue with modern development in critical pedagogy. Ignatian pedagogy is considered methodologically, in dialogue with my own personal self-study that has ultimately helped in putting Ignatian pedagogy to practice, while responding to some of the ideological criticisms that may be skeptical of the benefits that this pedagogy might have for a large diversity of students. Developed from Ignatius’ text on the Spiritual Exercises, Ignatian Pedagogy focuses on the interconnected relationship between context, experience, reflection, action and evaluation.
The Ignatian way helps to counter the narrowness embodied within many western cultural assumptions about religion. This stems from the Enlightenment period in which the pursuit of scientific endeavors often wrongly stripped the subjective significance that permeated a variety of religious traditions into merely a set of perceived objective and often dogmatic propositions. This has created a variety of conventional representations of religion among believers and non-believers alike that “ignore the fundamentally personal nature of religious belief in relation to accumulated tradition.”
At its core, the Jesuit way aims to care for the whole person and recognizes the subjective context of each individual, while being rooted in the belief that each person is equally loved by God. Ignatian Pedagogy is one legitimate option among many. Furthermore, to restrict a Catholic school (or any other religiously-affiliated school) from showcasing their own methods in educational formation is a fundamental loss for humanity. Both religious and secular pedagogies can work together for the common good, providing an antidote to the divisive myth of marginalization of religion from the public sphere.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
2065 Rue Sherbrooke O, 2065 Rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montréal, Canada
CAD 0.00
