Eric Voegelin Society Meeting 2008

Boston, MA , Aug. 28-31, 2008

24^th EVS Annual International Meeting

Organizer: Ellis Sandoz, Louisiana State University

Program Summary

Panel 1. America as Vindicator or Exemplar: The Soul of American Statecraft

Panel 2. Voegelin and the Liberal Political Order

Panel 3. Politics Unto Creativity: Eric Voegelin Applied

Panel 4. Mysticism and Philosophy in Voegelin’s Work

Panel 5 Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God: Religion and Revolution Revisited

Panel 6. Three Poets and a Novelist: Voegelinian Readings of Literature

Panel 7. Eric Voegelin and Modern European Continental Thought

Panel 8. Reason and Revelation in Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin

Panel 9. China and Contemporary Political Thought

Panel 10. Political Theory in East Asian Context: Ancient and Modern Perspectives

PROGRAM DETAIL – 10 panels

Panel 1. America as Vindicator or Exemplar: The Soul of American Statecraft

Chair: Greg Russell, University of Oklahoma

Papers:

The Surprising M. Tocqueville– Professor David Clinton, Baylor University

The Bush Doctrine: The Foreign Policy of Republican Empire – Mackubin Owens, Naval War College

Strands of Dissent in America’s Rise to Power – David Mayers, Boston University

Theodore Roosevelt, The Gospel of Strenuosity, and Duties at Home and Abroad – Greg Russell, University of Oklahoma

Disc.:

Christopher Layne, Texas A&M University

Daniel G. Lang, LynchburgCollege

Panel 2. Voegelin and the Liberal Political Order

Chair: David Walsh, Catholic University of America

Papers:

Peace and Public Truth: Voegelin and Hobbes – Philip J. Harold, Robert Morris University

Voegelin, Locke, and the Anglo-Saxon Tradition – Joanne Tetlow, J.D., Ph.D., Independent Scholar, Annapolis, Maryland

Voegelin and the Czech Debate on the Liberal Political Order – Martin Palouš, Czech Ambassador to the United Nations

Liberty, Liberalism, and Political Representation: The Canadian Experience – Matthew Connell, Louisiana State University

Disc:

David Walsh, The Catholic Universityof America

Steven J. Brust, The Catholic Universityof America

Horst Mewes, University of Colorado–Boulder

Panel. 3. Politics Unto Creativity: Eric Voegelin Applied

Chair: Tilo Schabert, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

Papers:

Toward a “Presidential” European Commission? Creativity of Power & Political Leadership in the Barroso Commission – Detlev Clemens, European Commission, Brussels

Between Wisdom and Knowledge: The Politics of Creativity in a Post-Communist World – Andras Lanczi, Corvinus University of Budapest

Using the Backstairs: Dissimulation and Effective Government – Athanasios Moulakis, The American University of Afghanistan

Theory and Political Practice in Voegelin and His Critics – Horst Mewes, University of Colorado — Boulder

Disc:

Steven F. McGuire, Catholic University of America

Matthew Connell, LouisianaStateUniversity

Michael Franz, Loyola College of Maryland

Panel 4. Mysticism and Philosophy in Voegelin’s Work

Chair: Ellis Sandoz, Louisiana State University

Papers:

Is War Natural to the Human Condition? Voegelinian and Platonic Reflections on Violence, Virtue and Wrongdoing – Henrik Syse, Peace Research Institute Oslo [PRIO]

Meister Eckhart and Voegelin’s Mystic Philosophy:The Importance of Mystical Theology to Social Order– Macon Boczek, Kent State University

The Relationship between Mysticism and Science in Voegelin’s work – William Petropulos, Eric Voegelin Archiv–Munich

God the Creative Ground of Existence in Voegelin, Etty Hillesum & Martin Buber: A Response to Dawkins’ The God Delusion -Meins Coetsier, Ghent University EHOC

Disc:

Glenn Hughes, St. Mary’s University–San Antonio;

Marie Baird, Duquesne University

Thomas A. Hollweck, University of Colorado–Boulder

Brendan Purcell, University College Dublin

Panel 5. Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God–Religion & Revolution Revisited

Chair: Glenn A. Moots, Northwood University

Papers:

Acquiescence or Resistance to Tyranny? A Question of Cosmological or Historical Forms of Order – Kim Ian Parker, Memorial University (Canada)

Cicero’s Republic and Christian Arguments for Rebellion against Tyrants – Greg Forster, Milton Friedman Foundation

Reformed Theology and the American Founding: The Case of Roger Sherman – Mark Hall, George Fox University (Oregon)

John Witherspoon, Resistance, and Revolution: “Rebellion to Tyrants [or George III] is Obedience to God” – Jeffry H. Morrison, Regent University

Disc.:

Glenn A. Moots, Northwood University

Barry Shain, Colgate University

Panel 6. Three Poets and a Novelist: Voegelinian Readings of Literature

Chair: Charles R. Embry, Texas A&M-Commerce

Papers:

Lawrence and the Strength of Love: A Voegelinian Reading – Rodney Kilcup, Independent Scholar

The Laboratory of Anamnesis: The Symbolist Poet Paul Valéry in Search of Consciousness – T. John Jamieson, Independent Scholar

The Refractory Universe of Elizabeth Bishop: Voegelin’s Theory of Consciousness and Poetic Vision – David Palmieri, SUNY at Plattsburgh

The Tension of the Metaxy in Emily Dickinson’s Poetry – Glenn Hughes St. Mary’s University – San Antonio

Disc:

Paul Corey, McMaster University

Timothy Hoye, Texas Woman’s University

Panel 7. Eric Voegelin and Modern European Continental Thought

Chair: Paul Caringella, Hoover Institution

Papers:

“Out of such crooked wood”: How Eric Voegelin Read Immanuel Kant – Thomas Heilke, University of Kansas

Voegelin and Schelling on Freedom and the Order of Existence – Steven F. McGuire, Catholic University of America

Derrida’s Escape from Language and Metaphysics – Lee Trepanier, Saginaw State University

Kierkegaard and Voegelin: Consciousness and History – Eugen L. Nagy, Catholic University of America

Disc:

Rouven J. Steeves, U. S. Air Force

Michael D. Henry, St. JohnsUniversity

Panel 8. Reason and Revelation in Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin

Chair: Timothy Fuller, Colorado College

Papers:

Reason and Revelation in the Work of Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin– Barry Cooper, University of Calgary

A Thomistic and Tocquevillean View of Strauss on Reason and Revelation – Paul Carrese, U.S. Air Force Academy

Leo Strauss’s and Eric Voegelin’s Philosophical Approach to the Bible – John Ranieri, Seton Hall University

Man the Questioner: Voegelin’s Idea of Religious Experience– Elizabeth Corey, Baylor University

Disc.:

Thomas McPartland, Kentucky State University

Angela Miceli, Louisiana State University

Panel 9. China and Contemporary Political Thought

Chair: Barret Dolph, Pegasus International Schools–Taipei

Papers:

Symbolic Forms, Political Ideas and the Encounter of Civilizations – Jürgen Gebhardt, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Emeritus)

Eric Voegelin’s Reception in China – Li Qiang, Peking University

China’s Pragmatic Nationalism and Its Foreign Policy Implications – Suisheng Zhao, University of Denver

Disc.:

Timothy Fuller, Colorado College

Klaus Vondung, University of Siegen

Panel 10. Political Theory in the East Asian Context: Ancient and Modern Perspectives

Chair: Timothy Hoye, Texas Woman’s University

Papers:

Politics and Theory in Postwar Japan: The Contributions of Masao Maruyama– Timothy Hoye, Texas Woman’s University

“The Political Thought of Asia: A Contextual Pedagogical Essay” – Timothy J. Lomperis, Saint Louis University

Confucianism and Democracy – Doh C. Shin, University of Missouri & Rollin F. Tusalem, University of Missouri

Eric Voegelin’s Thought on Civil Theology and Its Potential in Reinterpreting Some Aspects of Confucius’ Political Thought – Xu Zhiyue, Fudan University

Disc.:

Samah Elhajibrahim, Brookhaven College

Thomas D’Evelyn, Single Island Press