Call for Papers (Abstracts/Proposals)

Reenchanting the World: Philosophy, Spirituality, Ecology, Arts
Oct. 16-18, 2025 | Toronto Metropolitan University

Keynote speakers: Richard Kearney, Mark I. Wallace
 

There appears to be a consensus, even amongst the nonreligious, that the processes of disenchantment have gone too far. Its wrecking ball has not only shattered superstition but also the fragile bonds connecting us to the world, leaving many people feeling isolated and lonely in a seemingly uncaring world. Calls for a reenchanted relationship with the living world have come from religious and non-religious thinkers, filmmakers, environmental activists, and others.

The philosophical concern with disenchantment originates primarily in the German Romantic reaction against Enlightenment rationalism, seeking to reclaim sacred, organic, and mysterious dimensions of experience. But the urge for reenchantment is felt well beyond philosophy. In explicitly religious discourses, innovative ideas have emerged that expand our understanding of what reenchantment could signify in today’s world, including new senses of spirituality and spiritual practices. Beyond the religious, the question of disenchantment and re-enchantment has profoundly shaped ecology and the arts. While reconciliation with Indigenous spirituality has been vital to the ecological movement, the arts have embraced a renewed desire to inspire wonder—particularly in recent cinema, where filmmakers evoke a striking sense of spiritual and natural beauty and wonder, at times using magic realism to re-enchant the everyday world.

This conference–co-sponsored by Toronto Metropolitan University, the Institute for Christian Studies, the Society for Continental Philosophy and Theology (SCPT), and the Society for the Phenomenology of Religious Experience (SoPheRE), in partnership with the Toronto International Film Festival–will provide the chance to cultivate and reflect more deeply on reenchantment. Keynote speakers Richard Kearney and Mark I. Wallace will guide us in examining how, by weaving together philosophical inquiry, artistic exploration, and spiritual practice, we can foster a deeper appreciation of the interconnectedness of all things and inspire meaningful action in the face of alienation.

In the spirit of this multifaceted turn to reenchantment, we invite abstracts and proposals appropriate for a 30-minute presentation or workshop that explore what actions, theories, motivations and approaches can help us reenchant the world. How can we think, feel, and experience the deepness of our connections to the world again?

Submission: Please email proposals or abstracts (approximately 250 words), prepared for blind review, to: reenchantmentconference@gmail.com. Please include your name and affiliation in the body of the email, and attach the proposal or abstract as a Word file or PDF.

Deadline: July 30, 2025

Possible Topics 

• Rethinking phenomenology in terms of disenchantment (e.g., Husserl, Heidegger, Patočka, Merleau-Ponty, etc.)

• Indigenous perspectives on (re-) enchantment (e.g., Ailton Krenak, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, etc.)

• Spiritualities of the natural world (animism, rewilding, deep ecology)

• The elemental in Irigaray: Reenchanting matter and materiality

• The relation between disenchantment and whiteness and/or misogyny

• Excarnation in contemporary phenomenology (Charles Taylor, Richard Kearney)

• The fractured lifeworld: Disenchantment, alienation, and the possibility of reenchantment (e.g. Harmut Rosa, Byung-Chul Han)

• Gloria Anzaldua’s nepantla spirituality as a mode of reenchantment

• Sociological/philosophical approaches to disenchantment and enchantment (e.g., Max Weber, Alfred Schutz, etc.)

• Eco-phenomenology

• Eco-theology

• Eco-feminism

• Cultivating a sense of wonder (e.g., William Desmond; spiritual practices)

• Charles Taylor on disenchantment and reenchantment

• Jean-Louis Chrétien and the enchantment of beauty

• Jean-Luc Marion, enchantment as a saturated phenomenon

• Michel Henry on Life as a form of enchantment lost in the “barbaristic” spirit of the contemporary world

• Reenchantment in film, the arts, music, etc.

• Process Theology as a mode of reenchantment (e.g., Catherine Keller, etc.)

• Reenchanting political theology

• Sacramental views of reenchantment (e.g., Hans Urs von Balthasar, Thomas Berry)

• Reenchantment in contemporary cinema (e.g., Terrence Malick, Alice Rohrwacher, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, etc.)

• Animating the sacred: Reenchantment, film, and the more-than-human World

• Spiritual practices that encourage reenchantment