Call for Papers or Presentations

Over the course of 400 – 500 years, Western civilization has moved from a culture where it was virtually impossible to not believe in God, to a culture where many find the idea of believing in God difficult to fully embrace. As Charles Taylor describes in his work, A Secular Age, the decline in religious participation by larger numbers of non-believers is not the defining marker of our ‘secular’ age. Rather, Taylor argues that our current age is defined by a fundamental shift in the plausibility structures and social imaginaries that support belief. Whereas sixteenth-century imaginaries understood the world as both immanent and transcendent with a porous boundary, the contemporary world operates from a closed immanent frame leaving individuals with un-situated lingering notions of the transcendent. The fundamental result is that individuals are now simultaneously pressured by belief and unbelief. Those who are disconnected from religious faith are ‘haunted’ by the transcendent, fearing something may have been lost, and those who have faith often believe while doubting.

The 2022 CBU Architecture symposia explores the role of architecture in responding to our ‘secular age’ as described by Taylor. Papers or presentations may include, but are not limited to, architectural, urbanistic, interior, theological, missiological, liturgical, sociological, and community development considerations of:

The Role of Beauty in a Secular Age
Architectural Witness and Faith
Transcendence in the Ordinary
Architecture and Imagination
Transcendence in Sacred Architecture
Architecture’ Role in Social Imaginaries
Emerging Trajectories in Church Architecture
Architecture Within an Immanent Frame

Proposals are welcomed from scholars, working professionals, and students. Student engagement is encouraged from undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral levels from all relevant disciplines.

 

Submission Information

Interested individuals are invited to submit abstracts of a maximum of 500 words with a title, following the Chicago Manual of Style. Multiple abstracts may be submitted by an author or authorial team. Professional presentation proposals are included in the abstract review.

Abstracts will follow a blind peer-review process with at least two scholars considering each submission. The individual recommendations will be sent and studied by the conference conveners who will make the final determination regarding accepting or rejecting a proposal. Symposium abstracts will be electronically published prior to the meeting.

 

Format and Place of Submission

Abstracts should define focus and summarize its positioned approach or argument. All proposals should demonstrate engagement with the symposium’s theme, though related subjects will be considered.

Proposals should include the following:

Name, Title, and Organization of individual(s) submitting
Title of paper or presentation
Identification of Proposed Paper or Presentation Session Topic
500 word abstract
Any necessary footnote / bibliographic information
Five keywords

Please submit proposals at: https://calbaptist.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_08Qcb12te0oO2Kq
Please direct questions to Professor Jacob Slagill (jslagill@calbaptist.edu).

 

Timeline

Submission Deadline: September 23, 2022
Notification of Acceptance: No later than September 30, 2022
Post-Conference Paper Submission: November 22, 2022

 

Steering Committee

Professor Keelan Kaiser, FAIA
Rev. Dr. Matthew Niermann, AIA
Dr. Karim Youssef
Professor Jacob Slagill, AIA

Symposium Schedule

OCTOBER 21 – OCTOBER 22, 2022

Friday October 21, 2022

9:00am            Opening and Welcome

9:05am            Kelly Foster– Associate Professor of Art, Gordon College
The Value and Limits of Designing Toward Social Imaginaries in Architecture

10:00am          Brandon R. Ro, AIA,NCARB,ICAA – Assistant Professor, Utah Valley University
Beauty and Transcendence in Architecture: Four Ideals for the Secular Age

11:00am          W. Jerry Murray, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP – Executive Director, Msaada Architects, Inc.
Building 2 Glory: Creating Sacred Space in a Secular World

12-2pm            Faculty and Guest luncheon hosted in room ARCH 218

2:00pm           Stephane Gaulin-Brown – Stephane Gaulin-Brown Design
Architectural Cosmology: Senses of being and seeing in the chapel of St. Andre

3:00pm           Isabel Potworowski – PhD Candidate, Carleton University
Mediator of Transcendence: The Kolumba Museum in Cologne

4:00pm           Jacob Slagill, AIA, NCARB – Assistant Professor, California Baptist University
Faith Boxed In: Proactive Priming in Church Design

4:30pm           Matthew Niermann, Ph.D., AIA – Associate Professor, California Baptist University
Architectural Virtues Gone Mad

5:00pm           Karim Youssef, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor, California Baptist University
Transcendent Design for Human Becoming

5-6pm             Opening: Student Imagination Drawings of Italy and Spain 2022       

 

Saturday October 22, 2022

8:00am            Prayer Breakfast in Support of Local Firms

9:00am            Keiren Wright– Graduate Student, California Baptist University
The fullness of Ornament

9:20am            Chrystian Combs– Graduate Student, California Baptist University
A restorative Architecture

9:40am            Andriani Soine, M.Arch- Designer, SOM / Alumni, California Baptist University
Transcendent Immanence       

10:00am          Gary Siebein, FASA, FAIA, Professor, University of Florida
The Soundscape of Worship

11:00am          David M. Ogoli, Ph.D., Professor, California Baptist University
Evidence Based Design in a Secular Age

11:30am          Keelan Kaiser, FAIA, LEED bd+c – Professor, California Baptist University
Cosmology and the Secular Age: Challenges and Possible Trajectories

12:00pm         Adedoyin Teriba, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor, Dartmouth College
Ornament and Blessedness: The Possibility of Architecture as Potential in the 21st Century

1:00pm           Symposium Concludes

Symposium Attendance

Contact Leslie Valazquez at lvelazquez@calbaptist.edu to register intent to attend.

Travel & Lodging

Symposium will take place on the California Baptist University Campus in Riverside, CA.

Participants are asked to arrange their own lodging if needed.  Suggested local hotels are below:

Mission Inn
3649 Mission Inn Ave.
Riverside, CA  92501
reservations@missioninn.com
951-784-0300

Hyatt Place – Riverside
3500 Market Street
Riverside, CA  92501
951-321-3500

Marriott Riverside at the Convention Center
3400 Market Street
Riverside, CA
951-784-8000