Ways of Perfection and Devout Lives: Saintliness Across Traditions
World Religions World Church Conference
September 26–28, 2021
University of Notre Dame
Christian tradition knows saintliness as a spiritual quality shared by believers by virtue of their closeness to God, marked for Christians by baptism and their mystical bond with God through Christ. In a special way, Christians venerate those saints whose lives of heroic virtue—for some leading to martyrdom—establish them both as models and intercessors for all those who seek intimacy with the divine. At this conference, we will explore how notions of saintliness are expressed in Christianity and other traditions and cultures.
What might we learn from saintly people of various sorts about the journey toward holiness? How can the example of the saints encourage lives of friendship and virtue? These and other questions inspire this World Religions World Church conference at the University of Notre Dame.
This conference was organized by Rev. Paul Kollman, C.S.C., and Gabriel Said Reynolds from Notre Dame and Alison Fitchett-Climenhaga from Australian Catholic University. It builds on a series of 2020 virtual seminars on the same theme.
Registered participants will have the opportunity to pre-read the papers. A link will be circulated prior to the conference.
The event format will be hybrid. Please indicate on your registration whether you plan to participate in person or via Zoom.