African Figures and Birds, Walter Battiss (Source: Wikiart.org)

EVENTS

The CIRRCE will co-host a conference from November 4–7, 2026 together with the Department of Philosophy and Classics. The conference will be open to a limited amount of registered participants, as it aims to be a high-level engagement on the conference theme.

“Ecologies of the Afterlife: Perspectives from Philosophy and Theology”

There remains a significant lacuna in contemporary afterlife studies. Academic discussions of “the beyond” are too often constrained by scientism and physicalism, leaving little space for other ways of knowing and imagining. It is time for the humanities and theology – with their distinct methods, histories, and ecological sensibilities – to loosen this paradigm and engage more fully with questions of the afterlife, finitude, and the more-than-human world.

This call to broaden the conversation is not intended to oppose scientific inquiry; indeed, all renewed attention to the afterlife and to life’s limits is to be welcomed. Rather, the aim is to move beyond the conceptual blinkers imposed by narrowly materialist frameworks, and to open the field to a plurality of perspectives. The study of the beyond – understood cosmologically, theologically, or ecologically – is not the property of any single discipline. Multiple approaches can and should coexist, intersect, and enrich one another.

This conference, therefore, brings together philosophers, theologians, and religious studies scholars to re-appropriate and reimagine the afterlife and the beyond as vital sites for philosophical, theological, and eco-critical reflection. Contributions will explore the intersections of theology, ecology, and the more-than-human world as well as consider how notions of life, death, and renewal might be understood within broader cosmic, cultural, or spiritual contexts.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

Prof Kristof K P Vanhoutte (Rome)

Prof Nicolas de Warren (Penn State)

Dr Daniel Came (Lincoln, UK)

Dr Marika Rose (Dublin)

Dr Ullrich Kleinhempel (UFS)

Dr Helen-Mary Cawood (UFS)

For registration please email:

Dr Calvin Ullrich: ullrichcd@ufs.ac.za