Description

The term ‘post-Christian’ is increasingly appearing in philosophical and cultural discourse, employed to describe various phenomena that supposedly follow on after Christianity. Most often, the term is used to describe a contemporary world in which Christianity either is no longer the dominant religion or is not recognised as such in the way that it was until recently. At the same time, although there is a post-Christian world, the Christian world has not ended. The problem of the ‘post-Christian picture of reality’ therefore provokes discussion amongst both supporters and opponents of Christianity – especially because what is ‘post-Christian’ cannot be understood in isolation from Christianity itself.

In a globalised world, we are witnessing a clash between Christian and post-Christian images of the world. While some recognise the permanence and validity of the picture of reality founded on the Christian religion, others are convinced that this has, for various reasons, been deformed or destroyed and belongs to an irreversible past, both in terms of cognition and at the level of social practice.

While within Western civilisation broadly construed a post-Christian worldview founded on ecological, gender-based or technological naturalism would seem to be dominating, in other parts of the globe the Christian worldview is only just gaining ground.

The situation in which Christian and post-Christian worldviews clash within culture and social life poses a serious challenge for philosophy. Christianity-inspired philosophy must define its place in relation to not only worldviews, but also phenomena, trends and concepts with anti-Christian overtones. At the same time, the post-Christian worldview raises many questions that need to be addressed.

Proposals

We invite proposals that address the problems of Christian and post-Christian worldviews. Our interests lie especially in the following topics and questions, but are not limited to them:

Selected Problems

• What are the main historical and systematic problems of the Christian worldview?
• Is an evolution of the Christian worldview possible, or even necessary?
• What is the difference between post-Christian worldviews and non-Christian or post-religious worldviews?
• What are the main aspects and characteristics of the relationship between Christian and post-Christian worldviews?
• Is the transition between Christianity and post-Christianity itself an irreversible phenomenon?
• In what way is post-Christianity influencing debates in ethics and/or politics?
• Does the post-Christian worldview lead to a dissolution of our deep need for religious truths or values?
• Why is the post-Christian worldview mostly dominated by materialistic and relativistic perspectives that reject God as a person and the spiritual values of Christianity?
• What kind of personal identity and individual existence is being presented within the post-Christian worldview?
• Why is it that, in the post-Christian world, religion is becoming a tool of political mobilisation and/or manipulation?
• What is the function of religion within the Christian and post-Christian worldviews?
• Is the very meaning of Christianity dissolved in the post-Christian worldview into a set of broad ideals about human behaviour and society?
• What is the position of the Christian and post-Christian worldviews on the truth-falsehood opposition?

Submissions

Proposal Submission: Please submit a 500-word abstract of your paper (in PDF format) by March 31, 2026, via EasyChair.

Language: only proposals in English will be accepted for consideration.

We will be delighted to encounter all participants in person here at Ignatianum University in Cracow. However, the organisers plan to conduct this conference in hybrid mode, combining both online and on-site elements. Each conference participant will receive a certificate indicating also the mode of participation.

Keynote speakers

We are pleased to announce that the following individuals have agreed to give a lecture or participate in a panel discussion during the conference:

• Jeffrey Bloechl – Boston College, USA
• Chantal Delsol – University of Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, France
• Piotr Gutowski – John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland
• John Milbank – University of Nottingham, UK
• Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski – University of Oklahoma, USA

Fees

The conference is open to the public (also via social media). Presenting participants will be charged a fee to help cover costs (materials, dinner, coffee breaks, etc.). For the exact amount of the conference fee, see below. Early submission (up to December 31, 2025) will attract a reduced fee (so-called ‘Early Bird registration’).

Regular participants: 60/80/100 EUR (Early Birds/PhD Students/Regular Participants)

Online participants: 30/40/50 EUR (Early Birds/PhD Students/Regular Participants)

Publication

We plan to record all presentations and then publish them on conference YouTube chanel and on the conference Facebook fanpage. After the conference we plan to publish a special issue in a philosophical journal, containing articles based on the conference presentations. With this in mind, speakers are encouraged to prepare a paper (up to 10,000 words) and submit it by December 31, 2026. Each article will be subject to a process of double-blind peer review. Forum Philosophicum, an international journal for philosophy (listed in SCOPUS), has already agreed to publish a special issue in 2026 including materials from the conference. However, we are also open to collaboration with other journals.

Deadlines

• Submission of Proposals (Early Birds): December 31, 2025
• Submission of Proposals: March 31, 2026
• Notification of Acceptance: April 30, 2026
• Registration Deadline and Payment: June 30, 2026
• Conference Dates: September 22–23, 2026
• Paper Submission Deadline: December 31, 2026

Pervious editions

For video materials documenting previous editions of our conference, go to:

“Christian Philosophy: Its Past, Present, and Future”, September 22–23, 2020: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2RdbxAZiEAmJWEvkKKt60Kj_ET8sE03s

“Christian Philosophy and its Challenges”, September 20–22, 2022: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2RdbxAZiEAn5Dj9XIZBE7LYYGiVqmL96

“Christian Philosophy facing Naturalism”, September 24–25, 2024: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2RdbxAZiEAlyPFTTeKfUAtN_7Sb5Jgwy

Contact

More information can be found on our website: https://christianphilosophy.ignatianum.edu.pl

...or on our Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/christianphilosophyconference/

If you have questions, please contact the Conference Secretary at: christianphilosophy2026@ignatianum.edu.pl