The Institute for Critical Social Theory has released its Call for Papers for the 2026 conference at Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey. The theme of this year’s conference is “Critical Social Theory in an Age of Global Uncertainty.” We, the organizers, would love to see you all there. Send us an abstract! For more details, see the full Call for Papers below:
Critical Perspectives, the journal of the Institute for Critical Social Theory, has just released Vol. 1, no. 2. It was published in December by Ekpyrosis Press. In it I have an article entitled, “Ali Shariati and the Foundations of Islamic Socialism: Muhammad, Capitalism, and the Post-Metaphysical Socialist Alternative.” I also wrote a book review of Jack El-Hai’s The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Herman Göring, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal meeting of Minds at the End of the WWII.
You can purchase a physical copy for $20 here: Critical Perspectives Vol. 1, no. 2.
Or, a free download can be found here:
Just before the internet was shut off in Iran during the nationwide protests, I gave a short address on the Iranian philosopher, Gholamhossein Ebrahimi Dinani, at the Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studied in Tehran. Dinani is a towering figure in Iranian philosophy, yet is not well known in the West, which is a crime. The address was in conjunction with the publication of Dinani’s book, “The I and the Non-I: Beyond Subjectivism and Nihilism,” published by Ekpyrosis Press. The book was translated from Farsi to English by Seyed Javad Miri, and I wrote the foreword. The article below is about my talk and there is an audio link below through which you can listen to my talk.
Dinani’s Work Reminds us the Philosophy is not a Dead Discipline.
On Wednesday, January 21st, I had the distinct pleasure to be a speaker at the 2nd annual Hiram Archer Student Success Academy (HASSA) at The University of Olivet. I spoke on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s conception of Justice, and why it is needed in the world today, as we, like Dr. King, live in a time of despair, a time of troubles, and a time wherein faith in our ability to govern ourselves with justice for all is disintegrating. I joined President Dr. Steven Corey, Author and Speaker DeAndre Carter, Oakland University’s Dr. Tonya Bailey and her amazing husband Lee Bailey, as well as the unconquerable recording artist, LaQuisha Burries-Finn. We also had the pleasure of listening to the UO Gospel Choir and the violinist, Rodney Page. This was a tremendous event, one wherein the spirit of Dr. King emanated through all the speakers and performers.
The end of the year 2025 has seen the release of two paperback versions of the books I recently co-edited and published with Brill. The first is, “Sigmund Freud as a Critical Social Theorist: Psychoanalysis and the Neurotic in Contemporary Society,” co-edited with Seyed Javad Miri. The Second is, “The Many Faces of Populism: Perspectives from Critical Theory and Beyond,” co-edited with Mlado Ivanovic and Jeremiah Morelock. The paperbacks were published by Haymarket Books in Chicago, as part of the Studies in Critical Social Sciences series, edited by David Fasenfest.
On Thursday, September 25th, 2025, I had the great opportunity to give a lecture entitled, “Courage is the Basis of all Virtues,” for the Courageous Leadership Colloquium at the University of Olivet. Give it a listen:
On September 3rd, 2025, I had the opportunity to present my work on the ethical problems of AI in warfare at the “Catholic Social Teachings and AI” conference at St. Mary’s University-Twickenham-London, Edinburgh campus. Stephen Dolan was the genius who organized the conference and I’m especially grateful that he invited me to address the attendees. My presentation discussed the ethical issues regarding the use of Artificial Intelligence in warfare, with Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza as a particular egregious case. While I’m no expert on the technical side of AI, the ethics of its use for military means seems deeply problematic, especially as it relates to the 7-point Just War Theory.
The book, The Many Faces of Christianism: The ‘Russian World in Europe, edited by Mariëtta van der Tol, Sophia R.C. Johnson, Petr Kratochvíl, and Zoran Grazdanov, has just been published by DeGruyter-Brill, in their Political and Public Theologies series. In this book, I have a chapter entitled, “From St. Paul and Carl Schmitt to Alexander Dugin: The Katechon as a Political Category in Empire building,” wherein I trace the development of the notion of the “Katechon” (The Restrainer of the Apocalypse) through St. Paul’s theology, Schmitt’s political theology, and Dugin’s political philosophy. This book chapter came out of a paper I presented at a 2023 conference, Political Theologies after Christendom, at the University of Oxford, New College. The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has written the forward. I’d like to send a big thanks to all those who contributed to the book, and to all those who edited the book; it is a work of sheer genius!
An email response from a colleague: “Having just read your excellent article “The Russian Restrainer of the Apocalypse: The Katechon in St. Paul, Carl Schmitt, and Alexander Dugin,” I would like to express my admiration and hope that your astute analysis will be widely read.” ~ Dr. Michael Hagemeister (Ruhr University Bochum Germany, Department of East European History).
If you’d like to read my chapter, you can download it below:
To purchase a copy of the book, see Brill: The Many Faces of Christianism, or see Amazon: The Many Faces of Christianism
Or, as the book is open access, download the whole book for free here:
On July 17-19, the Institute for Critical Social Theory hosted their inaugural conference at the University of Bristol, UK. I was a great honor to welcome so many scholars to the ICST event. We had thirteen presentations, two plenary addresses, and a round table discussion about critical theory during times of war (See the schedule below). We are looking forward to our next conference in 2026, with Istanbul being the agreed upon destination. Keep an eye out for that Call for Papers.
If you’d like to listen to my plenary address, wherein I discuss what it means to be critical in an age of social disintegration, you can find it on YouTube:
For more information on the Institute for Critical Social Theory, please visit our website: ICST
dustinjbyrd
Dustin J. Byrd, Ph.D. 