AAR Annual Meeting 2014

The American Academy of Religion held its 2014 Annual Meeting in November 22-25 at San Diego, California. I traveled to the congress via London in the excellent company of Minna Hietamäki, Ritva Palmén, Joona Salminen and Olli-Pekka Vainio.

Charles Taylor

Having recently focused on some of the central literature on recognition, the main philosophical attraction for me was Charles Taylor. He has, among a multitude of other things, written the seminal 1992 paper on "The Politics of Recognition". During the congress, Taylor spoke on several occasions, and he also received the 2014 Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion.

Heading towards Pasadena

On Friday the 21st, before the official start of the congress, we visited the Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. On this trip, we were joined by Timo R. Stewart who works in political history. Our host at Fuller was Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, who holds a Professorship of Systematic Theology at the Seminary. We took part in his seminar session where Minna Hietamäki presented our Centre of Excellence, Olli-Pekka Vainio gave a talk, and the rest of us participated in the discussions.

Minna Hietamäki presenting our CoE

Olli-Pekka Vainio giving his talk

After the seminar, Professor Kärkkäinen kindly hosted a lunch at the University Club of Pasadena, and organized a guided tour for us of the campus area. We then drove back to San Diego via Hollywood and Downtown Los Angeles, getting some first-hand experience of the incredible traffic jams.

Lunch at the Pasadena Club

On Monday the 24th, President Jimmy Carter gave a talk on "The Role of Religion in Mediating Conflicts and Imagining Futures" and participated in a discussion panel that followed. He is clearly a gifted speaker, and he made some interesting connections between the topics of climate change and equality for women.

Jimmy Carter giving his talk

Overall, the congress had around 10.000 participants which were easily swallowed by the huge Convention Center. There were sessions of all sizes dealing with an incredible variety of topics. The Exhibit Hall also hosted a nice book exhibit with over 150 publishers and conference discount prices. In addition to the programme and discussions, it was good to enjoy the sun, and to be able to spend some quality time with the colleagues.

San Diego Convention Center