Call for papers for the symposium
Transcendence in the Small Gestures of Life
Attention and Care for Nature and Humans in Religious Traditions
Fondazione Giorgio Cini, 2-3 October 2025
Deadline: 15 May 2025
The symposium aims to explore spiritual states within religious traditions that promote attentiveness and care for the world, humanity, and creation, with a particular focus on the ecological crisis. The seminar concentrates on “passive” modes of relationship such as contemplation, silence, and the pursuit of peace, which are considered pathways to transcendental experiences within religions.
Transcendence in the Small Gestures of Life examines how believers cultivate an awareness of transcendence through the small daily gestures, exploring how the extraordinary can emerge from everyday life, beyond religious rituals. In contrast to social theories that emphasise autonomy and individual action, the symposium seeks to explore acts of surrender to God or nature as responses to contemporary crises, reflecting on the significance of sensory aspects in connecting with the world and analysing how these experiences might influence research and lead to new methodological implications.
The conference is organised by the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities (Fondazione Giorgio Cini) in collaboration with the Muslim Worlds Network of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA).
