Events Believing and Thinking in the Age of Pluralism: The Search for New Modes of Expression

February 27th, 2026. 10:00 ~ February 28th, 2026. 18:00 JST

NIRC 1F Meeting Room, online

Day 1 (27 February)

Special Session 10:00–12:40 A Time for Expressing Gratitude
▪ 10:00–10:30 Greetings and Ceremony (Nanzan University President Robert Kisala and Dean of Institutes Watanabe Shinya 渡部森哉)

▪ 10:30–11:50 Past, Present, and Future of NIRC ( James W. Heisig and Paul L. Swanson)

▪ 12:00–12:30 A Roche Chair Lecture (Noriko Kawahashi 川橋範子)

Lunch Break (RSVP required)

Session One 14:30–17:30 Interreligious Dialogue and Expression
▪ 14:30–15:20 How do all Religions Lead to God? (Joseph O’Leary)

▪ 15:30–16:20 Hidden Altars, Living Rituals: Embodied Faith among Kakure Kirishitan Practitioners (Roger Munsi)

▪ 16:30–17:10 The Question of Religious Peace in the Later Thought of Paul Ricoeur (Tomoaki Yamada)

▪ 17:20–18:00 Discussion 

Fiftieth Anniversary Reception (RSVP required)

Day 2 (28 February)

Session Two 10:00–12:30 Intercultural Encounter
▪ 10:00–10:50 The Secret of the “Moss” in the “Rock Garden”: An Intercultural Phenomenological Observation (Ryōsuke Ōhashi 大橋良介)

▪ 11:00–11:50 「西洋独占主義的な哲学観ーードイツから日本へのメタ哲学的な物語」(Bret Davis)

▪ 11:50–12:30 Discussion

Lunch Break (RSVP required)

Session Three 14:00–17:00 Translation and the Study of Religion
14:00–14:45 Reflections on Instrumentalism in Translating Buddhist Texts (Alexander O’Neill)
 
▪ 14:50–15:35 Making Shinto Legible for Audiences at the Margins (Christopher Mayo)

▪ 15:40–15:50 break
 
▪ 15:50-16:35 Putting the Untranslatable into Words (Yōko Arisaka 有坂陽子)

16:35–17:00 Comments on Translation at the NIRC (Matthew D. McMullen)

17:00–17:10 break

17:10–18:00 General Discussion and Closing Remarks

To participate online, please register in advance.