NCSR 2008 - Urban Diversity and Religious Traditions
13-15 August 2008, Åbo Akademi University

Keynote Speakers

Professor Linda Woodhead

Professor Linda Woodhead (Lancaster University, UK) is specialised in the changing face of Christianity in the 20th and 21st centuries, and in the rise of alternative forms of spirituality, particulary the holistic spirituality that has flourished since the late 1980s. Her publications include The Spiritual Revolution (2005 with Paul Heelas) and Congregational Studies in the UK (2004 co-editor with Mathew Guest and Karin Tusting).

Conference abstract: Locality Studies of Religion: Methods and Approaches

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Professor R. Stephen Warner

Professor R. Stephen Warner (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA) is specialised in religion and immigration, and the religious involvement of Christian, Muslim, and Hindu youth in the U.S.A.. His publications include A Church of Our Own: Disestablishment and Diversity in American Religion (2005) and Gatherings in Diaspora: Religious Communitites and the New Immigration (1998, co-editor with Judith Wittner).

Conference abstract: Parameters of Paradigms

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Professor Inger Furseth

Professor Inger Furseth (Centre for Church Research, Norway) is specialised in religion and social theory, including issues related to religious diversity and gender. Her publications include From Quest for Truth to Being Oneself. Religious Change in Life Stories (2006) and An Introduction to the Sociology of Religion. Classical and Contemporary Perspectives (2006, with Pål Repstad).

Conference abstract: Social capital and immigrant religions

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Doctor Pasi Mäenpää

Doctor Pasi Mäenpää (University of Helsinki, Finland) is specialised in urban sociology and sociology of consumption, including questions of urban public space, spaces of consumption, cell phone user cultures, and emerging mobile internet, as well as urban politics and urban planning. His publications include Narkissos kaupungissa. Tutkimus kuluttaja-kaupunkilaisesta ja julkisesta tilasta (2005, "Narcissus in the City: a study of a consumer-urbanite and urban public space) and Nitting the Jackpot. Lives of Lottery Millionaries (1999, Pasi Falk).

Conference abstract: Spirituality of Homo ludens urbanus

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