World Christianity Unit

At the annual meeting in November 2025, the World Christianity Unit plans to feature two sessions solely within our unit, as well as one session co-sponsored with the Ecclesiological Investigations Unit and the Religious Conversions Unit. We are hoping that all our sessions will speak in some way to the AAR presidential theme of “freedom.”

Keeping the theme of freedom in mind, we are seeking papers for our first session that will touch on the relationship between Christianity and nationalism. Given the current proliferation of nationalisms, there are many opportunities to explore Christianity’s historical relationship to freedom, including through various approaches to mysticism and other forms of spirituality; democracy and independence; a hermeneutic of freedom in the context of Christianity; and the dilemma that arises when Christianity is found on both sides of a national or international conflict, whether violent or non-violent. Potential topics include, but are of course not limited to, the intrareligious dynamics of the Orthodox Churches in Ukraine and Russia; competing forms of nationalism in India, including Hindutva and Northeast Indian Christian nationalism; Christian nationalism African; and the age of independence in Latin America.

In light of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in 2025, we intend for our second session to historically examine Nicaea through the lens of World Christianity. We are particularly interested in papers addressing questions of orthodoxy, transgression, and power regarding the Nicene Creed, eventually expanded at Constantinople with an added emphasis on the Holy Spirit. We would like to receive papers that think critically about potentially problematic aspects of Nicaea, especially as the defining moment of Christendom. In what ways do contemporary Christian leaders still long for Christendom and the power associated with it? This topic relates to questions of who holds the power to decide what happens for Christian congregations internally, as well as for larger denominational structures. On the other hand, in what ways might Nicaea be celebrated for its ability to bring about unity within Christianity? Does Christian unity require a strongman in the process of establishing and maintaining ecumenism? What does it mean to be united in the context of Christianity?  

The World Christianity, Religious Conversions, and Ecclesiological Investigations units invite papers for a joint session exploring the nature of deconversion interpreted as both turning away and turning towards (i.e. deeper conversion) as an exercise of agency. One important feature of ‘deconversion’ may be a decision to leave or pull back from active association with a religious institution or a traditional faith community. How does disaffiliation function to critique or challenge religious organizations? What role does the abuse and exercise of power, especially institutional power, play in the process of deconversion? How might one consider the distinction between rejecting an institution and relinquishing a religious identity altogether?

Likewise, alternative sources of community, solidarity, and spiritual meaning may be significant pull factors that facilitate religious change. Where are people going and why are they drawn there? Following deconversion, in what ways, if any, do religious traditions still shape an individual's idea of "authentic community”? This panel seeks papers that advance our understanding of what changes and what remains the same, or even intensifies, when people find the freedom to redefine their religious belonging and turn to spiritual practices they experience as more lifegiving?