Draft call for papers for
Marshall McLuhan and Religious Thought: A Symposium
University of Saint Michael’s College
September 28-29, 2012
We (Domenico Pietropaolo, Principal of St. Mike’s, Jenna Sunkenberg, St. Mike’s Professor, and Robert K. Logan, St. Mike’s Fellow ) are planning a two symposium to discuss the work of Marshall McLuhan vis-à-vis religious thought. Marshall McLuhan was catholic in the two senses of the term. It is well known that he was a devoted Roman Catholic who was deeply religious. It is also the case that he was catholic in the universal sense of the word in that he embraced and studied the thought of the many diverse cultures and religions of the Global Village. We hope through this symposium to explore what we can learn about religious thought and practice from the thinking of Marshall McLuhan. We are interested in all aspects of religious and spiritual thought.
The idea for this symposium, which came from the President of St. Michael’s Sister Anderson and Principal Domenico Pietropaolo, arose from a panel discussion on religious thought organized by the McLuhan Legacy Network along with a memorial mass at St. Bail’s that was held to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Marshall McLuhan during the week of celebrations July 18 to 24, 2011. The President and the Principal as a result of those events felt that a more extended discussion of the themes touched on during the panel discussion was in order and hence proposed this symposium.
We are honoured to have Dr. Eric McLuhan, the holder of an honorary Doctorate of Sacred Letters from St. Mikes and a participant of the original panel last July as one of our keynote speakers. Eric is a well-known and prolific author who is also the editor of a collection of his father’s essays entitled The Medium and the Light: Reflections on Religion. Those planning to participate in this symposium might wish to read this excellent collection of essays. In addition to Eric we are equally honoured to have as our other keynote speaker, Prof. Elena Lamberti of the University of Bologna and author of the recently released book Marshall McLuhan’s Mosaic: Probing the Literary Origins of Media Studies.
We are soliciting in this call for papers contributions for presentations of 20 to 30 minutes (depending on the number of accepted presentations) that will be presented in plenary sessions to be held between Prof. Lamberti’s opening keynote on the 25th and Dr. Eric McLuhan’s closing key note on the 26th. A selection of the papers presented at the symposium will be collected, edited and published by St. Michael’s College through an associated publisher. We ask that you email your abstract of not more than 300 words and a short bio also of not more than 300 words to me atlogan@physics.utoronto.ca.
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