Religion and the Democratic Prospect
Project Overview
Those committed to democracy have abiding reason to seek clarity about the perils and possibilities that, in a given time and place, define the future of government by the people. They may also have special reason to do so at this beginning of a new millennium, in a nation and world marked by unprecedented interdependence and forms of vulnerability. The Martin Marty Center, with leadership from Professor Franklin I. Gamwell, has launched a sustained common inquiry into such contemporary perils and possibilities, with special attention to their religious significance.
The centerpiece of this venture will be a working group or seminar of
scholars from the Divinity School, the University, and the wider Chicago
academic community, whose principal common activity will be the critical
discussion of papers drafted by participants and addressed to some aspect
of the inclusive concern for religion and the democratic future. These
papers will be submitted as a series to the Divinity School's Journal
of Religion 
, with the aim of advancing a wider scholarly discussion.
In addition, the papers will form the basis for a variety of consultations
and essays engaging the larger public, especially religious communities.
Conferences
Book Discussions
February 10–11, 2005
Jeffrey Stout, Democracy and Tradition (Princeton University
Press, 2004).
February 12–13, 2004
W.A.R. Shadid, ed., Religious Freedom and the Neutrality of the State:
The Position of Islam in the European Union (Peeters, 2002).
