Professor Pauline Kollontai
Deputy Dean Faculty of Education and Theology
T: 01904 876573
E: p.kollontai@yorksj.ac.uk
My research focuses on religion in social contexts, and
especially on the dynamics of religion in contributing to peace and
reconciliation. My work has become known across a range of
educational institutions and voluntary sector bodies, nationally
and internationally. As a result particularly of my research on
religion, community and identity I was invited in 2008 by Meiji
University, Tokyo to be a Visiting Professor. Other international
work includes working in an advisory capacity, in
Bosnia-Herzegovina looking at projects to promote further dialogue
between religio-ethnic communities in the current post-conflict
situation and also as an International Observer for a four day
symposium bringing together key community and religious leaders. I
have also had the opportunity during the autumn of 2009 to spend
two weeks at the Presbyterian College and Theological Seminary
(PCTS) in Seoul, South Korea, where I was asked to speak about my
research on religion and peace. In July 2010, interest in my
research resulted in me being invited to join the Editorial
Advisory Committee of the Religious Education Journal of
Australia.
Recognition of my research is also seen
through my involvement in the organisation of the International
Conference on Peace and Reconciliation (ICPR), a series of
conferences initiated by Professor Sebastian Kim and funded by
Youngnak, one of the largest Presbyterian Churches in South
Korea. Following the first conference, I was one of the
co-editors of a book which came out of the conference and also
author of one of the chapters. The book, Peace and
Reconciliation In Search of Shared Identity, was published by
Ashgate in 2008. I was invited to take the academic lead for
the organisation of the 2010 conference, co-ordinating and leading
two teams: one from YSJU and the other based in Seoul at Youngnak.
The 2010 ICPR conference focused on building communities of peace
and took place from 31st October – 4th
November. Two hundred delegates, theologians and prominent church
leaders, from over fifty countries attended the conference. A
three-volume edited collection of the conference papers is planned
for publication in 2012.
Further details about my recent publications are listed below:
Publications since 2008
Kollontai, P (forthcoming 2012) ‘Moving
Forward Together: Religion and Cosmopolitanism in
Bosnia-Herzegovina’ in Rovisco, M & Kim S.C.H.
Cosmopolitanism, Religion and the Public Sphere.
Kollontai, P (forthcoming, 2011) ‘Teaching
Peace and Reconciliation through Sacred Art’, in Gibson, S and
Moyle, S Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Representation
of Peace and War, Palgrave.
Kollontai, P (2010) ‘Healing the Heart in
Bosnia-Herzegovina: Arts, Children and Peace-making’,
International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 15:3, pp
261-271.
Kollontai, P (2009) ‘Women as Leaders:
Contemporary Perspectives on the Roles of Women in Messianic
Judaism’, Women in Judaism: A Multi-disciplinary Journal,
6:1, pp 1-19.
Kollontai, P (2008) Theoretical
Perspectives on Religion as a Tool for Waging Peace in
Society, Centre for International Programmes, Guest Lecture
Series Papers, Meiji University, Tokyo.
Kollontai, P (2008) Integrating Ethics into
Public Administration, Centre for International Programmes, Guest
Lecture Series Papers, Meiji University, Tokyo.
Kollontai, P (2008) ‘Religion as a Tool for
Waging Peace: Theoretical Perspectives in the Context of
Bosnia-Herzegovina’, Kim, S C H, Kollontai, P and Hoyland, G (eds)
Peace and Reconciliation: In Search of Shared Identity,
Ashgate, Aldershot, pp 61-80.
Selected Research Presentations
Kollontai, P ‘Using Art in the Philosophy
of Religion to Challenge Evil and Suffering’, University of Iowa,
USA, April 2010.
Kollontai, P ‘The Dynamics of Religion in
Peace-Building’, Chevening Conflict Resolution Programme, Centre
for Post-Conflict Development, University of York, January
2009.
Kollontai, P ‘Religious-Based Organisations
in Educating about Each Other’, Mali Koraci Association, Sarajevo,
Bosnia, June 2009.
Kollontai, P ‘The Dynamics of Religion in
Peace Building’, paper given as Visiting Professor at Presbyterian
College and Theological Seminary, Seoul, South Korea, October
2009.
Kollontai, P ‘Religion and the Constructing
of Community and Identity’, paper given as Visiting Professor,
Meiji University, Tokyo January 2008.