Hospitality is one of the primordial values of the civilized world. The human community and awareness were born when the stranger or/and the enemy was first received as guest by another man. As a consequence of this, the Greek-Roman culture developed three dimensions of hospitality: a material, a human and a religious one. Thus, being hospitable means to attend to the basic material needs of the guests, to treat them as true human beings, even as a sort of divine messengers. At its highest level, hospitality was seen as a source of happiness and blessing, as it was commonly believed that the guest could assume an intercession role between his host and the invisible divinity. Therefore, the religions, cultures and philosophies of the world constitute the foundation of our civilization, as one of the earliest institutions was the law or value of hospitality.

The aim of this conference is to analyse the value and place of hospitality within the human and religious consciousness of mankind, mainly by re-visiting fundamental texts and traditions belonging to the Greek-Roman, Hebrew, Christian and Muslim civilizations. The participation of specialists in other humanistic and religious traditions is not excluded; on the contrary, their participation is welcomed as an opportunity of enrichment.

We seek answers to the numerous questions which hospitality poses nowadays. From among these we could mention: within the present day civilized world, facing complex phenomena such as migration, poverty, violence and terrorism, how can hospitality be seen – limited or unlimited? Which should be the spirit of hospitality? Which values form the basis of hospitality? How can hospitality be lived in urban areas? Which is the place of hospitality in a social context marked by aggressive marketing and technocracy? Do public services retain anything from the religious spirit of hospitality? Could religion and faith motivate and strengthen attitudes of solidarity among people? The answers cannot be found in only one humanist field. This conference implies several thematic directions: religious anthropology, the history of religions, the phenomenology of religions, the sociology of religions, the history of monastic orders, the philosophy of culture, spiritual theology, pastoral theology, political theology, and social theology.

The conference is organized by the Faculty of Roman-Catholic Theology at the University of Bucharest in partnership with the Roman-Catholic Theological Institute in Bucharest and the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy.

Abstract

Please send 300 words and a brief C.V. to Professor Wilhelm Dancă [wilhelm.danca@gmail.com] and[cua-rvp@cua.edu] until January 15, 2016. Presentation of accepted papers will be 20 minutes in length followed by 20 minutes discussion. Full papers (for which in order to promote in-depth investigation there is no upper page limit) will be published by the RVP.

Wilhelm Dancă