"Thomas More and the Dream of a Better World" (to celebrate 500 years of the publication of Utopia).

The Centre of Philosophical Studies (CEFI) together with the Centre of Communicational and Cultural Studies (CECC), the Centre of Religious History Studies (CEHR) and the Centre for the Study of Religions and Cultures (CERC) of the Portuguese Catholic University, in collaboration with other academic and social institutions are promoting, from November 24th to 26th, 2016, the International Congress "Thomas More and the Dream of a Better World" to celebrate 500 years of the publication of Utopia.

Thomas More (London, February 7th, 1478 - London, July 6th, 1535) was one of the most remarkable humanists, statesmen and authors of the Renaissance period, occupying the office of Chancellor of England from 1529 a 1532.   His collaboration as Chancellor came to an abrupt end when he was imprisoned and later executed for voicing opinions contrary to that of King Henry VIII. Thomas More was canonized as a martyr by the Catholic Church on May 19th, 1935 and his Feast Day is on June 22nd.

Utopia is a cornerstone of the European humanism mainly due to its radical proposals concerning ownership, state, family, society, education, gender equality, war and peace. It is also the first manifest about the relationship between European nations and the rest of the world and accentuates the experience of the Portuguese Discoveries.

One of culture’s major masterpieces, Utopia paved the way to a new literary genre, starting with the Renaissance utopias, moving on to the Illuminist views on the perfect society, then on to the utopic socialisms of the XXth Century and, more recently, to the new utopias and dystopias of the XXth Century.

This congress, "Thomas More and the Dream of a Better World", anchored on well-founded exegesis, aims to demonstrate how the messages conveyed in Utopia are still present in the paths currently treaded in culture, society, politics and religion, and in today’s debates about work, health, new technologies and sustainability.

A reflection on Thomas More’s rich biography, simultaneously a Saint of the Catholic Church, pronounced Patron of the Statesmen and Politicians by Pope John Paul II, in 2000, and a herald of utopic socialism, whose name can be found engraved in an obelisk of the founders of communism, in Moscow, will   also be a keynote to the narratives of a better world.