Westminster College junior religion and philosophy major John Allison earned second place for his paper at the fifth North American Undergraduate Conference on Religion and Philosophy (NAUCORP) March 25-26 at St. Francis University in Loretto.

"Translation or Ontotheology? A Study in Lila and the Play of Being" centers on the concept of dialogue and translation between religious traditions and what it would mean to dialogue in terms of silence rather than competing truth claims.

The paper presupposes the distinction between the cataphatic (familiar, positive way of speaking about the Sacred, e.g. ‘God is X, Y, or Z') and apophatic (less familiar, speaking negatively or in terms of naysaying, e.g. the mysterious God of 1Timothy 6:16 who dwells in ‘unapproachable light') theological language.  Basic to this second position is that the Sacred is beyond conceptuality and language: unknowable.  Allison argues that the apophatic way of thinking about the Sacred is more helpful for dialoguing between traditions than the cataphatic, which is the usual comparative method of religious dialogue.

"My experience at the conference was great," Allison said.  "I was able to interact with peers in my field of interest from some well-respected schools.  The chance to talk with active scholars in the field is always exciting."

Allison is a son of Dale and Kristine Allison of Pittsburgh and a graduate of homeschooling.

Allison attended the conference with Dr. Bryan Rennie, professor and chair of Westminster's Department of Religion, History, Philosophy and Classics and Allison's academic adviser, who will organize NAUCORP next year at Westminster.

Contact Rennie at (724) 946-7151 or email brennie@westminster.edu for additional information.

John Allison