Online Program Book

This is the preliminary program for the 2024 in-person Annual Meeting, hosted with the Society for Biblical Literature in San Diego, CA - November 23-26. Pre-conference workshops and many committee meetings will be held November 22. If you have questions about the program, contact annualmeeting@aarweb.org. All times are listed in local/Pacific Time.


	A23-204 Bonhoeffer: Theology and Social Analysis Unit Theme: Bonhoeffer and Politics Saturday, 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM Karen V. Guth, College of the Holy Cross, Presiding The papers in this session engage Bonhoeffer's thought in relation to politics and various political theology discourses, including secularism and Christian nationalism; queer theory; global and racial capitalism; whiteness, fascism, anti-racism, and anti-Semitism; and retributive justice and violence. Janel Kragt Bakker, Memphis Theological Seminary “We Are Otherworldly or We Are Secularists:” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Josh Hawley, and the Politics of the Kingdom of God Abstract Focusing on competing understandings of the kingdom of God, this paper contrasts the political theologies of German pastor/theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer and American senator Josh Hawley. The paper traces the connections between Bonhoeffer and Hawley’s visions of the kingdom of God and their political choices. While Bonhoeffer’s interpretation of God’s kingdom informed his costly repudiation of Christian nationalism in his context, Hawley’s interpretation bolstered his unwavering support for Christian nationalism in his context. Michael Mawson, University of Auckland The Theological Art of Failure Reading Bonhoeffer’s Late Writings with Jack Halberstam Abstract Despite their very different contexts and styles, there are some striking resonances between Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s late theology and Jack Halberstam’s The Queer Art of Failure (2011). On the one hand, Bonhoeffer proposes a “view from below”, claiming that “suffering is a more useful key, a more fruitful principle than happiness for exploring the meaning of the world in contemplation and action.” On the other hand, Halberstam develops queer theory as “knowledge from below”, which can assist with countering “the logics of success that have emerged from the triumphs of global capitalism.” In this paper, I bring Bonhoeffer’s reflections on suffering and weakness into conversation with Halberstam’s insights into failure. Specifically, I explore how Halberstam’s work might help to supplement and radicalise some of Bonhoeffer’s reflections in his late theology. Benjamin Burkholder, Does Divine Retribution Generate Human Violence?—Bonhoeffer, Guilt, and Resistance Abstract In contemporary soteriological discourse, several voices have raised the concern that atonement theologies that assume divine justice has a retributive element end up justifying violence. Though this may be the case in some instances, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theology and ethics present a more complicated picture. While Bonhoeffer presumed retributive justice was operative in God’s saving work in Christ, this never resulted in an outright justification of his work in the resistance. J. Kameron Carter, University of California, Irvine Judeo-Christianity (and Palestine); or, Late Modernity's Whiteness Project Abstract This talk addresses the religio-racial transformation of “the whiteness project” through the machinery of antiracism and anti-antisemitism. It turns to the mid-twentieth martyr-theologian and ethicist Dietrich Bonhoeffer, glimpsing this machinery in his late writings to imagine a postfascist Western future. That future entailed subjecting Jewishness to whitening, thereby figuring Jews no longer as targets (traditional supersession) but now agents (a new supersessionism) of Christian (post)colonial empire. This is Bonhoeffer’s unwitting renewal of “the religion of whiteness” (W. E. B. Du Bois), where in its distinction from and yet relation to “white people” whiteness is a locution for planet-wide racial capitalism. Imagined now as racially “plastic,” Jews are hailed into the West’s civilizational project while Jewishness becomes a site for Western post-Holocaust self-renewal. With the term “Judeo-Christianity,” I sketch how this maneuver works in Bonhoeffer’s Ethics to illuminate the religio-racial terms of the present, including the current crisis in Palestine.
	A23-315 Ethics Unit Theme: Tragedy and Religious Ethics Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Frederick Simmons, University of Cambridge, Presiding . Abraham Wu, University of Cambridge 'A people without history is not redeemed from time': Remorseful Recollection and the Ethics of Tragedy Abstract This paper explores the roles of remorse and recollection as ethical resources apropos tragedy, particularly in reckoning with what constitutes tragedy and what does not. Firstly, I suggest that tragedy has often been eclipsed in favour of fatalistic or deterministic accounts of catastrophe, with detrimental, 'silencing' effects on ethical reflection. Then, I explore how remorseful recollection might help us to recognize and reflect on tragedy historically—which is to consider tragedy within its authentic, truthful temporal conditions without being trapped in deterministic evasions. To further elucidate this, I explore how 'rememory' in Morrison's Beloved serves as a type of remoresful recollection vis-a-vis tragedy. Finally, in mournfully recalling the tragic past, I consider how such (re)narrations of shared, tragic loss might also serve as ethical resources for articulating and engaging in an alternative, liberative reality through protest, repentance and repair, and forgiveness. Virginia White, Being Undone, Becoming Responsible: Judith Butler, Paul Ricœur, and the Necessity of Tragic Theory for Ethics Abstract This paper comparatively considers Judith Butler’s and Paul Ricœur’s respective engagements with Greek tragedy to argue that conversion by tragedy is vital for ethics. Paying particular attention to structural evil, I ask what tragedy teaches about ethical living amid the ruins of racism, sexism, classism, militarism, and speciesism. Reading Sophocles and Aeschylus with Butler and Ricœur, I argue that by bringing attention to the overlooked contradictions that characterize human identity and which inevitably complicate action, and by inviting witness to unbearable suffering wrought by superindividual forces, tragedy engenders a re-theorizing of oneself and one’s world that is necessary to nourish ethical responsibility. It does so by fostering sensitivity to vulnerability – one’s own and others’ – through a narrative-performative mode, which refuses premature resolutions, and instead “undoes” witnesses into wider perspective. I conclude by pointing to tragic theorizing’s potential to productively approach structural evil without proliferating shame, nihilism, or moral absolutism. David Robinson, Regent College Ethics after Tragedy: Hegel and Bonhoeffer on Rival Social Orders Abstract How can ethics account for appeals to tragedy in public discourse, particularly when it comes to rivalry between social orders? This essay traces the enduring ethical significance of Greek tragic drama while engaging with its critical reception in German philosophy and theology. It begins by analyzing G.W.F. Hegel’s influential criticism of fate in Greek tragedy, particularly through his treatment of Sophocles’ Antigone. It then engages with Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s own response to Antigone, situated within his broader criticism of Hegel, which involves his disavowal of tragic self-reference for resistance politics. Although there are significant differences between Hegel’s and Bonhoeffer’s ethical projects, I demonstrate how they each seek reconciling forms of thought and life that overcome an ultimately tragic clash between social orders. In light of their works, I argue that although responsible action may incur guilt, it need not also bear a sense of the tragic.
	A23-415 Energy, Extraction, and Religion Seminar Theme: The fetish and other resource religious imaginaries Saturday, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM Judith Ellen Brunton, Harvard University, Presiding The term “fetish” originated in the 16th century when Portuguese merchants sought to describe the purported misvaluation of material goods by West African peoples they encountered on the Gold Coast. The fetish, then, has historically bound the religious with the economic, conjoining racialized ideas about value and sacrality with practices of exchange and ritual. Such religio-economic entanglements have often emerged in the context of colonial and imperial aims where justifications for resource extraction have produced and been produced by religious narratives. This panel features three papers that span geographic contexts, resource imaginaries, and extractive practices. However, they are joined in analyzing the imbrications of religious systems and colonial-imperial-economic power associated with energy and extractivism: a paper on the “colonial myth” of clean energy, one on commodity fetishism and petroleum extractivism, and another on the history of Buddhist imperial power and gemstone mining in Southeast Asia. Evan Berry, Arizona State University Commodity Fetishism, Industrial Religion, and Fossil Fuel Extractivism Abstract This paper theorizes contemporary discourse about fossil fuel extractivism, arguing that various enculturated ideas about the social power of petroleum are used to legitimate and maintain unjust systems of resource exploitation. The argument is constructed in three parts. First, I discuss ‘commodity fetishism’ and the relationship between colonial systems of resource extractivism and the development of racialized classifications of religion. Second, I consider “industrial religion” as an interpretive frame for contemporary discourses that attribute supernatural powers fossil fuels. Third, I conjoin these two strands of analysis and conclude by suggesting some of the implications for environmental humanities scholarship on extractivism. Alexandra Kaloyanides, University of North Carolina, Charlotte Burmese Gemstone Mining & Buddhist Exploitation Abstract This paper explores mining in Burma/Myanmar. With particular attention to the ruby and jade industries, this paper investigates the relationship between Burmese Buddhist imperialism and the exploitation of the environment and borderland communities. Myanmar has produced the world’s most valuable rubies, and Chinese courts have favored Burmese jade for centuries. These extraordinarily lucrative gemstones have ornamented powerful Burmese and Chinese ritual objects and enriched royal patrons of Buddhism. At the same time, mining practices have inflicted extreme harms on minoritized communities and non-human beings. This paper examines the ways that Buddhist authorities have justified mining violence in royal orders, public inscriptions, and ritual artifacts from the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. It argues that these sources reveal a pattern of situating violence as a small demerit that is justified by a larger agenda of establishing Burma as the earth’s last remaining realm that protects the “pure” Buddhism (sasana). Melissa Bendt, University of New Mexico The Colonial Myth of Clean Energy Abstract Pushes for “clean” energy have raised the price of uranium to a point where the energy industry is looking to reopen mines across the American west. Historically the same corporations that mine uranium also extract fossil fuels, making this one industry, not two separate entities, relying on fetishized science and technological solutions. I consider how “clean” energy operates to perpetuate colonialism, obfuscating that all energy is extracted from somewhere, and offering a promise of salvation from the impending existential catastrophe of global warming. To do this I examine popular culture representations of scientists in the show Manhattan which paints scientists as atheist gods (obfuscating that most religious institutions in Los Alamos were founded by the scientific community), contemporary news reports on climate change, and social media memes about “believing in science.” I argue that the concept of “clean” energy, understood as a fetish offering salvation, erases continued energy colonialism. Responding J. Kameron Carter, University of California, Irvine Business Meeting Terra Schwerin Rowe, University of North Texas, Presiding
	A24-202 Bonhoeffer: Theology and Social Analysis Unit and Martin Luther and Global Lutheran Traditions Unit Theme: Injury, Justice, Love, and Fate: Bonhoeffer’s Theo-Ethical Legacies Sunday, 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM Dianne Rayson, Pacific Theological College, Presiding This co-sponsored session examines various dimensions of the legacy of Bonhoeffer’s political theology and ethics. Bonhoeffer’s theology emerges in dialogue with contemporary theory, Bonhoeffer’s own Lutheran contemporaries, or the work of Martin Luther himself. Papers in this session offer new perspectives on Bonhoeffer through the lenses of Moral Injury, dialogues with the Black Pentecostal Tradition, earthly love poetry in the Song of Songs, and Martin Buber’s personalism. Jacob Cook, Eastern Mennonite Seminary “Everyone Who Acts Responsibly Becomes Guilty”: Reading Bonhoeffer’s Free Responsible Action, Relative Sinlessness, and Participation in Conspiracy through the Lens of Moral Injury Abstract In “Moral Injury and Human Relationship,” Michael Yandell explores the many layers and scales of responsibility in the waging and fighting of war. After locating himself as a US veteran and reviewing core literature in the study of moral injury, which is yet only in its nascence, he draws on Bonhoeffer’s account of conscience and shame to offer substantive theological engagement with more clinical definitions. Against the backdrop of the growing understanding of moral injury and Yandell’s theological response that draws upon Bonhoeffer’s theology, this paper will reverse the hermeneutical flow to explore how moral injury might be a helpful category for understanding Bonhoeffer’s theological moves most nearly associated with his decision to join a conspiracy. These include the claim that “everyone who acts responsibly becomes guilty,” his preference for concreteness over abstract principles, and his notions of “free, responsible action” with hope for only a “relative sinlessness” in Christ. Christopher Whyte, University of St. Andrews Deliver Us From Evil: A Constructive Account of Prayer and Justice in Conversation with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ernst Käsemann, and the Black Pentecostal Tradition Abstract In this paper, I analyze the underlying logics of Bonhoeffer's view, found in Letters and Papers from Prison and Ethics, that the church can enjoy a clean break from injustice through prayer and confessional practices. I do so first by engaging the work of Ernst Käsemann, who offers a post-war critique of clean break thinking in light of the German Church’s ongoing entanglement with white supremacy. I then turn to the the Black Pentecostal Tradition, and its own confrontation of white supremacy through tongues speech, to develop an account, in conversation with Bonhoeffer and Käsemann, of the type of prayer that might confront white supremacy in our day and accomplish Bonhoeffer’s desire for the church to one day regain the authority to speak liberative and redemptive words evoking those spoken by Jesus. Michelle CAO, Institute of Sino-Christian Studies Song of Songs as an Earthly Love Poem: Exploring on Bonhoeffer’s Christological Interpretative Logic Abstract Though a student of Harnack, Bonhoeffer did not shy away from figural exegesis since his early period. He approached Genesis 1-3 from a theological perspective and interpreted the Psalms as Christ's own prayers. However, during his time in prison, he began to affirm earthly love by turning to the Song of Songs, a book traditionally interpreted through the lens of the love between Christ and the Church or believers. In a later letter, he even told Bethge that reading the this book as an earthly love poem was ‘probably the best “Christological” interpretation’.(DBWE 8, 410.)This affirmation of earthly love from the standpoint of holy scriptures and Christology is uncommon in Christian theology. So why could reading the Song of Songs as an earthly love poem be considered a Christological interpretation, and even the best one? This paper aims to explore Bonhoeffer’s exegetical logic behind this fragmented reflection. David Robinson, Regent College Resistance and Submission: Confronting Fate in Bonhoeffer’s Prison Letters Abstract Although the German title of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s prison letters—Resistance and Submission [Widerstand und Ergebung]—suggests a direct reference to political activity, it actually comes from his reflection on two ways to confront one’s “fate.” “I’ve often wondered,” he writes in a 1944 letter to Eberhard Bethge, “where we are to draw the line between necessary resistance to ‘fate’ and equally necessary submission.” This essay situates Bonhoeffer’s remark within the frequent references to “fate” [Schicksal] among German theologians working between 1919-45, including Emanuel Hirsch and Werner Elert. It then shows how Bonhoeffer creatively engages with the question of fate by retrieving Martin Luther’s concept of social realities as “masks” of God, an insight that leads him to adapt his personalist philosophy. Finally, I demonstrate how Bonhoeffer’s treatment of fate is related to his disavowal of tragedy, both in his Ethics and in an unpublished note from the archive.
	A25-107 Bioethics and Religion Unit and Science, Technology and Religion Unit Theme: Neurotechnologies, Bioethics, and Religion Monday, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM Hajung Lee, University of Puget Sound, Presiding This panel explores how religion intersects with brain-machine interfaces, neuroenhancement, and related technologies. Analyzing advancements in AI technologies, embodied cognition, and psychology, panelists will delve deeply into questions about bioethics, identity, agency, and moral responsibility raised by these technological prospects. Neil Messer, Baylor University Identity, Agency, and Responsibility in the Context of Emerging Neurotechnologies: A Protestant Christian Perspective Abstract Emerging neurotechnologies combine neuroscience with AI to collect and interpret human brain data, connect brains to machines or other brains, and modify neural functions. This paper explores questions about human and individual identity, agency, and moral responsibility raised by these technological prospects. From a Protestant Christian standpoint, these questions are addressed in light of two biblical and theological themes: the image of God and the body of Christ. The imago Dei is understood “performatively”: not so concerned with defining humanity as with “actively seeking humanity” (Alistair McFadyen) where the humanity of some is placed in doubt. In dialog with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I argue that a faithful performance of the imago will enact the vision of human sociality offered by the metaphor of the body of Christ: one of mutual interconnectedness without loss of identity, in which agency and responsibility can be shared and mutually supported without being lost or obscured. Braden Molhoek, Graduate Theological Union Affective Computer Brain Interfaces and Moral Enhancement: Issues of Control and Acquired vs Infused Virtue Abstract In this paper I will explore the use of computer brain interfaces (CBIs) for moral enhancement. One of the types of enhancement that will be discussed is a reduction of violence. However, this raises questions about control and free will, so while there may be solid philosophical reasons to prohibit requiring this kind of moral enhancement, there may be compelling theological reasons why people might choose voluntarily to do so. The concluding section will focus on the relationship between moral enhancement and virtue. While there is not universal consensus, there does seem to be some agreement amongst scholars that using gene editing for moral enhancement cannot engineer virtue. The question posed here is whether CBIs and their use can bring about virtue, or if they simply allow people to act more morally. My tentative answer is that this is more complicated of an answer than with gene editing. Melanie Dzugan, Fuller Theological Seminary Brain-Machine Interfacing for Just Peacemaking: examining embodied cognition and transformative communication Abstract The ability to connect and exchange information facilitates the work of God. For many liberal theological traditions, this is the primary way God works in the world, through people and their relationships. The love of God is communicated through speech-acts among created beings. Consequently, in the postmodern conext of the Network Society and Information Age, theological interaction with technologies like brain-machine interfaces tends toward an affirmation of enhanced communication. Anything that may enhance our ability to connect honors our created nature as relational beings and the work of God in the world. Theologians generally recognize the importance of embodiment and the importance of embodied autonomy. Jeanine Thweatt, for example, suggests a contextual, compassionate somatic ethic that asks, “what can this body do? And what does this body need?”[1] Theologians affirm embodiment, but particularly in light of brain-machine interfacing, what matters about the particularities of embodied information and its flow? Daniel Crouch, Baylor University Direct Communication and the Torment of Separateness Abstract This paper is concerned primarily with brain-computer interfaces (BCI) and the potential for harm when we seek more intimate communication and relationships through this emerging technology. Specifically, the theological insight of Thomas Aquinas and the philosophical work of Stanley Cavell are taken up to help us better understand our desire for community, the limitations of that desire, and the psychological violence that follows our crashing up against these limitations. It is argued that a goal of BCI technology for unadulterated communication and relationship is not only likely to fail but even be a source for psychological torment. The closer we as humans come to the inner life of others, the more we are faced with our perpetual separateness—a separateness that leads to violence both internally and, in extreme cases, externally. Such violence not only informs the current development of BCI in relation to disability but broader hopes for enhancement.
	A25-134 Special Session Theme: Alternative Academic Expression Beyond the Tradition Conference Paper: Video Essays Monday, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM David Kline, University of Tennessee, Presiding This special session will explore the use of alternative modes of academic expression in the study and communication of religious, theological, and philosophical topics. Centered on the “video essay” format, the three-person panel will involve three short video presentations of scholarly work, followed by discussion on both the intellectual ideas and the efficacy of the video essay as a medium of academic expression. Panelists Peter Kline, Amiel Wayne, Drew Theological School David Kline, University of Tennessee
	A25-204 Bonhoeffer: Theology and Social Analysis Unit Theme: Bonhoeffer, Formation, and Education Monday, 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM Matthew Puffer, Valparaiso University, Presiding The papers in this session explore Bonhoeffer's theological legacy in relation to various aspects of theological education, including decolonial methods, theological formation, and pastoral care. Dianne Rayson, Pacific Theological College Teaching (With) Bonhoeffer: Decolonising and Contextualising Theologies from the Otherside Abstract This paper describes the experience of teaching Bonhoeffer in Oceania from the perspective of Pacific Theological College in Suva, Fiji, and in turn, the influence of Bonhoeffer on pedagogy and methodology. The paper uses this context to interrogate contemporary issues in contextual theology, dialoguing with Jione Havea’s important chapter, “The Cons of Contextuality…Kontextuality” (2011). It then describes some emerging Pasifika theologies that centre relationality with land and ocean, identifying some resonances with Bonhoeffer’s key notions of sociality, Christocentrism, and ethics of responsibility. Kyle Schiefelbein-Guerrero, Lutheran Theological Seminary Saskatoon Bonhoeffer, Lutheran Theological Formation, and Learning at the Margins Abstract Writing about the “changing landscape of theological education” is nothing new; in fact, it has constantly been changing through various stages over the past millennia. While his context was different, Dietrich Bonhoeffer also experienced a highly structured system on one side and rapid (and deadly) change on the other. His book Life Together details his experiment in intentional communal theological education, and his writings on theology and spiritual care demonstrate what is at stake for the Church in contemporary society, especially among those at the margins. This paper traces Bonhoeffer’s theological and pedagogical insights to offer proposals for the future of theological education, focusing on embracing innovation with humility, prioritizing relational pedagogy, engaging contextually and prophetically, and fostering lifelong learning and vocational discernment. Aaron Klink, Duke University Theology’s Primacy in the Care of Souls: Bonhoeffer on Formation for the Ministry of Pastoral Care Abstract Bonhoeffer's seminary at Finkenwalde has sometimes been referred to as an experiment in Protestant monasticism. His lectures on Pastoral Care, reconstructed from his outlines and surviving student notes make clear that he believes that Gospel-centered pastoral care requires both intellectual and spiritual formation to achieve its task. For Bonhoeffer, psychological distress comes from a human sin that prevents an individual from hearing the Gospel, and identifying this sin is the primary task of pastoral care. Bonhoeffer also attempts to differentiate pastoral care based on what seems to be a polemical portrait of psychoanalysis. This paper explores the usefulness and limitations of Bonhoeffer's focus on theology and how it might be enriched by greater dialouge with psychological sciences and medicine.

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