Concept Note:

“Towards a New Christian Humanistic Ethos” is the theme for the first International Research Conference on ‘Christian Studies’ at the University of Jaffna organized by the Department of Christian Civilization in collaboration with the Centre for Performing Arts. The theme is a ‘humanist manifesto’ which is a need of the time for us and the wide world which is inundated with inhuman trends.

The role played by Christianity to create a new humanistic ethos cannot be neglected. The world history bears witness to the fact that wherever Christianity stretched it roots, it toiled hard to eliminate the social evils of slavery, discrimination, superstitions and other inhuman practices and has ventured in creating a new human culture through its education and social commitments. Its contribution to bring out a decisive notion of the new humanism opened up new frontiers to the dignity of human race with its values and originality.

In this milieu, this Research Conference focuses on the contributions of Christians in order to assert once more the need to construct the contemporary societies on human values. In the midst of individualist, consumerist and pragmatist trends of the present globalized world, such affirmation is vital in order to safeguard the value and dignity of each individual and to initiate a better society.

Christianity proclaimed its humanistic ethos based on the teachings of Jesus Christ; however, the declaration of the new humanism is beyond any religious character or motives. It is universal and it is applicable to everybody without any differences of religious, ethnic or nationality.

Revisiting the roots of the humanistic ethos promoted by Christianity is a need of the time because the degradation of human values has greatly affected human life and society.

The theme also ventures further into other areas of human concerns. The deviation from the human values has affected the natural and environmental patterns and the whole human life situations. It has affected the family life, social life, cultural values, gender perspectives, religious convictions and educational systems; above all the whole pattern of human history has been affected.

Encouraging researches on the above theme is an academic exercise where awareness will be created in the intellectual level on the need of a new humanism for the contemporary world. An academic can stimulate intellectually the practical life of human society. The research papers on the above topic will serve as documentations of the efforts of Christians to contribute to a new human culture and at the same time would bring out the ideas, opinions and valuable thoughts to step forward in an effective way to fulfill its social responsibility of creating a new humanism amidst the present world order with full of conflicts, violence, injustice, discrimination, anti-life concepts and practices, individualism, evil effects of globalization and pervasive environmental challenges.