Workshop with Carl Raschke: "Western Society, Globalization, and the Crisis of Representation", July 26th, 2016
The department of Fundamental Theology and the research platform Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society were pleased to welcome Carl Raschke for a workshop under the title “Western Society, Globalization, and the Crisis of Representation” at Melk Abbey on July 26th, 2016. Raschke is an internationally renowned philosopher and theologian and teaches Religious Studies at the University of Denver. Raschke's main research areas are the threshold between postmodern Philosophy and Theology, political Theology and Theory of Religion as well as popular religious phenomena. One of his larger publications that also formed the prelude to the discussion is Force of God: Political Theology and the Crisis of Liberal Democracy (New York: Columbia University Press 2015). The starting point of the reflection is that the traditional political, religious and symbolic systems of representation considering that the economic (rampant capitalism), demographic (global migration) and political developments (increasing erosion of the traditional forms of government) have lost their efficacy. The question is whether there still can be narratives and institutionalisations that display new forms of representation.
In the context of the workshop at Melk Abbey that was hosted by the research platform RaT in collaboration with the department of Fundamental Theology at the Faculty of Catholic Theology different topics linked to this issue could be discussed.
Many graduating and doctoral students of the department accepted the invitation to the workshop. What was most intensely discussed was the significance of the virtualisation of values in the context of the prevailing crisis.
