Continuing Education Events and Courses

Speaker Series | Alleviating Suffering from Addiction and Incarceration

Oct. 5, 2024 at Emmanuel College Chapel (and online)

Buddhism in Prisons Canada, the Buddhism Psychology Student Union, the Buddhist Education Foundation of Canada and the Centre for Religion and Its Contexts are co-presenting Buddhist Healing in Prisons–A Day of Learning and Sharing on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. It will be a full-day, in-person event. Buddhism In Prisons Canada is an operating unit of the Toronto Centre for Applied Buddhism that focuses on delivering Buddhist chaplaincy service to prisons in Canada. Volunteers and others with experience in the correctional system will be invited to share their experiences in providing Buddhist chaplaincy service in a roundtable format, followed by a Q&A. There will be a workshop conducted by a chaplain who has experience delivering Buddhist chaplaincy service to inmates.

Register Now

Schedule

10–10:30 a.m.
Light refreshments

10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Buddhist Perspectives on Addiction & Addiction Recovery 

12:30–1:30 p.m.
Vegetarian lunch

1:30–3:30 p.m.
Tibetan Buddhist Meditation in Prisons

3:30–3:45 p.m.
Light refreshments

3:45–5 p.m.
Prison Chaplaincy – a Buddhist book study Correspondence Program

A Day of Learning and Sharing seeks to:

• Raise awareness of how Buddhist teachings can bring about healing for those incarcerated inside the correctional institutions in Canada
• Connect people working or volunteering in the sector so that they can support one another in their work
• Provide information to students and volunteers in Canada who are interested in being involved in helping inmates rehabilitate through a Buddhist spiritual journey

A Day of Learning and Sharing is for those interested in volunteering or considering a career in prison chaplaincy.

For more details, visit the Buddhism in Prisons website or contact them by email.

Drag & Spirituality Summit

Nov. 1-3 at Emmanuel College (and online)

The Drag & Spirituality Summit is in its third year and is the first-of-its-kind gathering at the intersections of drag and spirituality. Join drag performers and faith leaders from around the globe for a stunning and sacred three-day summit. Feed the spirit and celebrate the body with powerful panel discussions, inspiring practitioner presentations, and—of course—fierce and fabulous performances. The Centre for Religion and Its Contexts is the proud host and co-sponsor of this year’s Summit. Click the link below to register and/or to donate to the Emmanuel College Queer and Trans Student Scholarship.

Register Here

All spiritual experiences and drag expressions are invited and celebrated in person and virtually. Drag artists, spiritual care practitioners, lovers of drag, and folks wanting to learn more will congregate from around the globe with keynotes, panel discussions, workshops, spiritual drag shows, and a spiritual drag event for children of all ages and their families.

Included in the summit will be our evening Spiritual Drag Show on Saturday, Nov. 2 to raise funds for a new scholarship for queer students at Emmanuel College. Our College is an interfaith, interspiritual theological school that provides training for students who are Christian, Muslim, Buddhist and other traditions to become spiritual care providers, counsellors, psycho-spiritual therapists, chaplains, ordained ministers, musicians, academics, researchers and more. This scholarship will enable queer students to study at Emmanuel College by lessening the financial burden of continuing their education.

• To sponsor a portion of the summit, click here
• To apply to be a spiritual drag performer at the summit, click here
• To offer your services as a spiritual care practitioner, click here
• To support us through accessibility accommodations, billets or meal sponsorships, click here

Building Accessibility

All venues at Victoria University are fully accessible.

You can get to Victoria University from Museum Subway Station (TTC Line 1). This station is on the west side of our campus, but it doesn't have an elevator, and the escalators are out of order due to construction.

The closest accessible station is St. George (at St. George and Bloor, Bedford exit). It is 750 meters from Victoria University. For Wheel-Trans directions to the College, please email Shawn at ec.events@utoronto.ca.

Book Launch | Moments in Time: Sermons from The United Church of Canada 1910-2020

Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 5 p.m. at EC Chapel (and online)

Join us for the launch of Moments in Time, co-authored by Principal HyeRan Kim-Cragg and Don Schweitzer (St. Andrew’s College). The book captures snapshots of major events in history and showcases how key theological, social, local and international issues have been reflected and debated in the pulpit in United Church congregations from coast to coast over the past 100 years.

Register Here

Alway/Emmanuel Symposium – Bridges and Boundaries: Religious Diversities in the 21st Century Classroom

Jan. 12–14, Emmanuel College and the University of St. Michael's College

About the Symposium

Interreligious teaching and learning is happening both in classrooms (including in professional schools with a secular mission and in theological schools founded in a sectarian tradition), as well as outside of classroom contexts in social movements and activism circles. This conference investigates important questions that are related to interreligious teaching and learning both in and outside of classrooms. For example, what wise practices for bridging different identities and contexts have emerged in interreligious contexts? What boundaries remain important to observe and what boundaries can be redefined? How do we practice interreligious teaching and learning in ways that promote social justice?

Keynote Speaker

Marianne Moyaert – Nostra Aetate: What Has It Taught and Mistaught Us about Interreligious Dialogue?

Marianne Moyaert specializes in the (comparative) theology of religions, interreligious hermeneutics, research into the religio-racial constellation and Jewish-Christian relations. She has a particular interest in the ritual and material dimensions of interreligious encounters.

Call for Papers

We invite proposals that discuss teaching amid religious diversities on topics including:

1. Defining interreligious, multireligious, or interfaith pedagogy
2. Trauma-informed approaches
3. Race and socialization
4. Decolonizing interfaith pedagogies
5. Secular-religious dynamics
6. Categories such as “religion,” “theology,” “culture,” and “vocation”
7. Intersectional identities and encounters
8. Power and privilege
9. Tradition-specific perspectives on interfaith teaching

We welcome papers that present case studies, qualitative research and/or literature-based research. We also welcome collaborative work, particularly between professors/staff and students, in a variety of formats. We also welcome presentations by educators in other settings.

In your proposal, please identify the format you are proposing: 

• a traditional (20-minute) paper by either a single scholar or a pair of scholars;
• a collaborative session (90 minutes) proposed by a group of three or four scholars, such as a workshop, artistic presentation, or other praxis-based engagement with the theme; collaborative sessions should model collaborative inquiries and pedagogies;
• a poster presenting emerging research, research in progress, or current practices and programs.

Please also indicate whether you would be willing to be considered for another format if space does not permit your preferred format. Your proposal should include a 250-word abstract and a 100-word bio for each presenter.

This symposium is jointly sponsored by Emmanuel College and by the Alway Symposium at the University of St. Michael’s College. This sponsorship includes a limited number of stipends to be awarded to teams that include students. These will be awarded when proposals are accepted.

Please submit proposals through the online submission form no later than Sept. 30.

Submit Proposal

Questions? Email Wendy Cranston.