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.


	A24-128 Religion, Colonialism, and Postcolonialism Unit Theme: Legacies of Spanish Colonialism Sunday, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM Hilton Bayfront-Sapphire 400B (Fourth Level) Larisa Reznik, University of Chicago, Presiding This panel considers the legacies of Spanish colonialism. The speakers will discuss theories of flesh in the context of Philippine political life, the hybridized figure of the Chinese Mestizo in Filipino society in the time of Spanish colonialism, the political underground movement in the Philippines known as the Christians for National Liberation (CNL), and ideas of nature, divinity, and history in late sixteenth-century colonial New Spain. Eliaquim (Ken) Reyes, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Aswang Sense-making: Theorizing Flesh and Contemporary Violence in the Philippines Abstract In recent years, flesh has emerged as a rich and significant analytic for thinking about corporeality, especially concerning race, violence, and politics. It also becomes useful for illuminating the social and political consequences of violence in postcolonial states like the Philippines — the main focus of this paper. First, I delineate what I found helpful and compelling from various interpretations of flesh in black feminist thought. Then I examine how flesh emerges in Filipino peoples’ sense-making through the aswang concept in Philippine folklore. Lastly, I theorize how the aswang as flesh both furthers and complicates our understanding of state terror in the Philippines. By converging these points into a conversation about violence and its agentic role in Philippine political life, I contend for a postcolonial theory of flesh that invites new sense-makings of material, affective, and discursive encodings of violence and makes room for new iterations of politics to emerge. Emmanuel De Leon, Chinese Mestizos in the Spanish Colonial Era: Problematizing Nationalistic Conceptions of Filipino Identity Abstract Diasporic Filipino Americans, dwelling at the heart of the American settler colonial project, have gravitated toward constructions of identity that have used cultural nationalism as its primary resource. As a result, contemporary notions of Filipino cultural identity have tended toward myths of pure and essentialist self-understandings resulting in exclusionary, often depoliticized discourses due to an infatuation with what Gayatri Spivak terms a “nostalgia for origins.” This presentation attempts to recover consciousness of the hybridized figure of the Chinese Mestizo in Filipino society in the time of Spanish colonialism, and argues that this complex history which encompasses religious, economic, and racial processes, disrupts the allure of cultural nationalism for Filipino Americans today. Exploring notions of hybridity, migration, and diasporic subjectivity, this presentation explores theological critiques of nationalism that press Filipino American diasporic subjects to consider the limitations and possibilities of cultural nationalism in a settler colonial context. Ariel Siagan, University of Toronto The Formation of Christian Political Subjects and Decolonial Violence Abstract My paper will show that in the situation of evolving and extended colonialism, the capacity to dispense and use violence is part of the process of recovering political subjectivity. The capacity, desire, and inspiration to inflict disruption to the quotidian processes can be ascribe to as political subjectivity. This is my paper’s claim following a constructivist grounded theory approach to the work of the politically underground movement in the Philippines called Christians for National Liberation (CNL). I will focus on CNL’s sources and ways on drawing justification on the violence produced by the armed struggle they support. Violence, as a theological unit of analysis, took different shape when viewed from the discursive practices of decolonial movements experiencing the effects of evolving colonialism. From the ground, the CNL’s capacity to enact violence is an indication of their capacity to recover themselves as political subject that has the capacity to create a kind of future that they themselves imagined and will create. Timothy Vasko, Barnard College The Climate of History in Colonial New Spain: The Little Ice Age, Christian Millenarianism, and Indigenous Religious Transformations in the Central Mexican Valley, c. 1536-1640. Abstract This essay compares ideas of nature, divinity, and history in late sixteenth-century colonial New Spain. I reconstruct the ecological, religious, and political contexts of this period to compare the emergence of two related discourses: Christian Utopian and Apocalyptic institutions, as well as transformations in contemporaneous Nahua ecological, spiritual, and political thought. These developments occurred during a time of significant climate change known as the “Little Ice Age,” exacerbated by anthropogenic catastrophes wrought by colonization. The differences and occasional dialogues between Christian millenarianism and Nahua intellectual productions highlight how the former, ironically, understood human relationships to nature in relatively static and unchanging terms. Nahua texts, by contrast, demonstrated a critical sensitivity to the contingencies of climate change and catastrophe. These insights add critical dimension to recent studies of indigenous religious traditions in colonial Mexico. They also suggest that indigenous traditions themselves should be understood as context-specific, undergoing constant negotiation and adaptation.
	A24-129 Sacred Texts, Theory, and Theological Construction Unit Theme: Book Discussion on Shehnaz Haqqani's Feminism, Tradition and Change in Contemporary Islam: Negotiating Islamic Law and Gender Sunday, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM Hilton Bayfront-Indigo C (Second Level) Juliane Hammer, University of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, Presiding This panel brings leading scholars of Islam, Islamic law, and Islam and Gender into conversation with Shehnaz Haqqani’s forthcoming book (Oneworld Academic, October 2024), Feminism, Tradition and Change in Contemporary Islam: Negotiating Islamic Law and Gender. The book investigates Muslims’ relationship with change, gender, and the Islamic tradition, asking what lay Muslim Americans understand to be the criteria for changing seemingly established Islamic practices and teachings. The diverse panel – which consists of scholars of various generations and ranks, racial backgrounds, expertise, and genders – will highlight the book’s contributions to the study of Islam specifically and Religion more broadly. Among the points they will discuss are Haqqani’s treatment of how contemporary American Muslims engage in ethical and theological reasoning, the relationship between textual Islam and lived reality, scholars’ and practitioners’ roles in re-evaluating Islamic teachings and practices in new contexts, and the book’s contributions to under-studied areas in Islamic studies. Panelists Kecia Ali, Boston University Jason Smith, Mercer University Saadia Yacoob, Williams College Faiza Rahman, Dartmouth College Responding Shehnaz Haqqani, Mercer University
	A24-130 Sikh Studies Unit and South Asian Religions Unit Theme: Textures of caste, across religious communities, in Punjab, mid-18th to early 20th centuries Sunday, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM Convention Center-6D (Upper Level West) Robin Rinehart, Lafayette College, Presiding How and where did varnasrmadharma and caste manifest in texts in the early modern and colonial periods in Punjab, and what can this tell us about caste formations across this period? This question guides this panel, which brings together work from the mid-eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries to consider the articulation of caste, and the impact of caste identities, on the production and content of Punjabi texts – those produced by and/or about Punjabi peoples, in that region – across religious traditions and across the pre-colonial/colonial transition. As such, the panel embraces the AAR 2024 Presidential Theme “Violence, Nonviolence, and the Margin,” to consider the articulation of the structural violence of caste across religions and over time, as a historical process, and to interrogate both the construction of “the margin,” and the rejection of this construction. By working across religions and across the colonial transition, we hope to consider the ways continuities and ruptures on the one hand, and reimagining of caste on the other, emerged in the representation and impact of caste in the writing of texts in Punjab. Jvala Singh, University of British Columbia Caste in the Gurpratāp Sūraj Granth (1843) Abstract This paper explores issues surrounding caste mobility and perception during the early 19th century by examining Santokh Singh (1787-1843), a Sikh commentator, historian, and poet, notably a member of a marginalized caste, the chīmpā caste, who were cloth dyers. The paper discusses Santokh Singh’s background, thinking through what it meant for a Sikh of a marginalized caste to be enlisted as a student under an important scholar in Amritsar at that time. This examination into Santokh Singh’s background also will focus on his interaction with royal courts, particularly Patiala, and how he married outside of his caste, and what that tells us about caste formations at this time. While Bhai Vir Singh argues that Santokh Singh and his writings were influenced by Brahmins who were also patroned under the same king, this paper will explore the role of caste within his magnus opus, the Sūraj Prakāś (1843). Anne Murphy, University of British Columbia Configurations of caste identities in Waris Shah's Hir (mid-18th century) Abstract Caste is a vivid feature of Wāris Shāh’s Hīr, a Punjabi Sufi text attributed to the mid-18th century, which recounts the tragic love story of Hīr and her lover Rāṅjhā. Farina Mir has noted caste as a recurrent feature of later colonial-era versions of the romance of Hīr-Rāṅhā, where “zāt (caste or kinship group)... figures in these texts as the most salient category of social organization” (The Social Space of Language 2010, 123). This was a feature of Wāris Shāh’s earlier version as well. This paper will explore the multiple dimensions of the articulation of caste in Waris Shah’s Hīr – in relation to Jaţness as well as other community definitions – to understand the meanings of caste discourses at this time, in this text. Anshu Malhotra, University of California Santa Barbara Born Male and Khatri: Power and Privilege in Khatri Men’s Auto/biographies Abstract In the first-half of the twentieth century many upper-caste Punjabi Khatri men (or of cognate castes), most born in the second-half of the nineteenth century, wrote their auto/biographies reflecting on their life and achievements. They celebrated making it big from humble beginnings, noted successful professional careers or underscored contributions to public life. They addressed the significant changes they witnessed in their lifetimes, particularly the transmutations under colonial rule, and their often exhilarating experience of inhabiting colonial modernity. They started their life-writing by indexing their Khatri antecedents, some aware of the advantages it bestowed, others through invoking their ancestors’ lives. As an increasingly popular genre, the auto/biography became the medium through which these men inserted themselves in history-making and history-writing, insidiously becoming the inheritors of the nation-in-making. As historians of South Asia write of the subalterns outside the charmed circle of power, it is worth exploring how power and privilege buoyed others into dominance. Julie Vig, York University Imagining caste mobility and social order in early modern Sikh texts Abstract This paper examines how caste mobility and social order are imagined in Kuir Singh's Gurbilās Pātshāhī Das (1751), an early modern text in Punjabi-Brajbhasha about the lives of the Sikh Gurus. More specifically, it interrogates how Kuir Singh's positionality as a Kalal, a marginalised caste group, informs his discourse on caste and social order. While Murphy and Dhavan have discussed Kuir Singh's criticism of caste hegemony, there has not been much discussion on how Kuir Singh’s caste positionality informs his discourse on caste and social order of his imagined early Khalsa community. Through a close analysis of literary vignettes in Kuir Singh’s Gurbilās, my paper argues that Kuir Singh discourse on caste, and his choice of locating himself within an elite cultural field of courtly Brajbhasha literature contributed to creating a literary and social space to imagine upward social and caste mobility in early modern Punjab.
	M24-108 Social Ethics Energizing Democracy (SEED) and Baylor University Press Theme: What Remains: Gary Dorrien's Christian-Intellectual Life, Democratic Socialism, and Liberation Theology Sunday, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM Hilton Bayfront-Aqua Salon AB (Third Level) Aaron Stauffer, Union Theological Seminary, Presiding Gary Dorrien's recently published memoir "Over from Union Road" is a rich personal recounting of a generation's struggles to transform the structures of society in the direction of social justice. Through deep loss, heartbreak, and triumph, Dorrien's story makes possible a conversation about the endurance of love, faith, and hope in social justice movements and the academic study of Christian theology amidst today's precarious democratic future. This panel will explore the great contributions of Gary Dorrien's career to the fields of social ethics, liberal theology, Black liberation theology, the Social Gospel, and economic democracy, while also reflecting more broadly on the state of theological and higher education today and how it responds to organizing movements for racial and economic justice. Panelists Serene Jones, Union Theological Seminary Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary Andrea C. White, Union Theological Seminary Demian Wheeler, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities
	A24-131 Space, Place, and Religion Unit and Tibetan and Himalayan Religions Unit Theme: Marginal Spaces, Violence, and Buddhism in Tibet and the Himalayas Sunday, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM Hilton Bayfront-Sapphire 400A (Fourth Level) Brandon Dotson, Georgetown University, Presiding Tibet has long conceived of itself as a frontier or a borderland of unruly human and non-human beings in need of taming, mostly by Buddhism. Now absent from most maps, and facing the erasure of even the name "Tibet," per PRC mandate, Tibet, its language, and culture are increasingly marginalized. This panel explores this space of the margin - and its dynamics of violence and non-violence – through five case studies spanning Tibet and the Himalayas. These include Bhutanese Buddhists who build stupas in Lhop territory to convert the Lhop and turn them away from animal sacrifice, monasteries built by Tibetan nomads to lay claim to contested territory in Qinghai, a newly built peace park for Nepal-China friendship adjacent to Boudha stupa in a Tamang and Tibetan enclave of Kathmandu, ‘invisible villages’ inhabited by non-human beings in Gyalthang in Yunnan, and the cultural politics of negotiating “sacred landscapes” in contemporary Sikkim. Lewis Doney, University of Bonn A New Sacred Site on the Periphery of Boudhanath Stupa, and Kathmandu as an Historic and Modern Centre and Border Abstract Tibetan Buddhist historiography tends towards a “borderland complex” that fueled fascination with, and pilgrimage to, holy sites in South Asia. Yet, focusing on central Nepal—as both a destination for devotees and a periphery from the perspective of the major sites of the Buddha’s life—problematises applying such discourse to modern times. Kathmandu’s Boudhanath Stūpa has on its own periphery a newly created “Ghyoi Lisang Peace Park” expressing Tibetan, Newar, Tamang and other Himalayan identities as part of its architecture, iconography and used by pilgrims, tourists and locals; but is also a leisure destination run by municipal administrators. This presentation analyses its ecology in relation to older dynamics of pilgrims creating and reading space, identifying the “sacred” and negotiating holy sites. Further, it sheds light on how religio-economic power between China and India manifests here, in not only in mundane bricks-and-mortar business but also online through Instagram and Google reviews. Cameron Foltz, Columbia University To Make a Monastery: Tibetan Settlement and Place-making on the Amdo Grasslands Abstract In the nineteenth century, Tibetan nomadic pastoralists in Amdo defied the Qing Dynasty (1636-1911), conquered the Qinghai Mongols, and settled the grasslands surrounding Lake Tsongön (Tib. Mtsho sngon; Mong. Kökenuur; Ch.: Qinghai hu). After decades of conflict, Qing officials acquiesced and recognized their right to live in these grasslands. The communities then built their own permanent monasteries, established relationships with territorial deities, and affiliated their monasteries with larger monasteries in farming regions in the east. I argue that these processes constituted a form of Buddhist place-making. The monasteries they built and the regions they settled often took on the communities’ names. Through affiliating their monasteries with large monasteries in farming regions, they established religious teaching networks, pilgrimage circuits, trade networks, and political alliances with eastern Amdo monasteries. By establishing different pastoralist communities as patrons (Tib. lha sde) of the same monastery, they facilitated ties between communities. Eric D. Mortensen, Guilford College Invisibility, Transgression, & Revelation in Tibet: The Relationship between Invisible Villages and sbas yul (Hidden Valleys) Abstract What is the relationship between Buddhist beyul (Tib: sbas yul) revealed valley refuges and oral folktales about invisible, inhabited villages that are sometimes revealed through tragedy or error? Drawing on oral storytelling traditions in the Tibetan region of Gyalthang and literature about beyul, this paper scrutinizes the tensions between revelation through transgression and revelation through realized vision. Accounts abound in Gyalthang of hidden villages, locally pronounced zi göh, and their revelation through acts of transgression, inversion, or mischief. Both beyul and zi göh are about relocation, discovery, rendering the invisible visible, and the idea that there was an amazing place that we could not see until something wondrous happened. I argue that the older concept of zi göh deeply informed and rendered intelligible the Buddhist dynamic of beyul revelation. How might we assess a hypothesized morphological relationship between seemingly contradictory tales of paradise lost and of paradise found? Mareike Wulff, University of Sydney Spreading Peace, Banning Animal Sacrifice: The Propagation of Buddhism Among Non-Buddhist Minority Groups in Present-Day Bhutan Abstract This paper discusses non-Buddhist animal sacrifice practices carried out by the Lhop and Monpa communities in Bhutan, and the attempts of Buddhist practitioners to ban these based on the Buddhist principle to not take life. Drawing on ethnographic research, the paper looks at the ongoing efforts to prohibit animal sacrifice in the Lhop community, and the abandoning of these practices with the Monpa in the past. It lays out the arguments, the progress of events, and the power relations between the minority groups and members of the mainstream Buddhist culture within the nation state of Bhutan. Understanding animal sacrifice as a key practice to connect to their protective deities, the paper considers the effects of this interruption of human-deity relationships and asks if the banning of animal sacrifice might be the stimulus event for full conversion to Buddhism. Kikee Doma Bhutia, University of Tartu Insights into the sacred landscape of Sikkim: Transformation and changing meaning of indigenous beliefs Abstract In a context of landslides, rampant and unplanned urbanization, and unreliable roads, different communities in Sikkim have turned to their local divinities, narratives, and repertoires of “sacred landscapes” to take protective measures. Using competing narratives, collected from multiple informants from different communities, this paper examines stories, conflict reports, and the display of religious symbols, objects, and materials at various sites that serve to negotiate 'sacredness.' It asks question such as Whose landscape is it? Who has the authority to form a sacred site? By doing so, the paper illustrates how local communities merge, transform, and make sacred landscapes by negotiating beliefs and performing rituals.
	A24-132 Special Session Theme: Roundtable on the 2024 U.S. Election Sunday, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM Hilton Bayfront-Sapphire AEI (Fourth Level) Jeremy Posadas, Stetson University, Presiding The 2024 US election has the potential to fundamentally alter domestic and global politics, regardless of who wins. This session gathers an intersectionally and methodologically diverse set of scholars to analyze the key forces shaping the election and its consequences. (Each co-sponsoring unit designated one panelist for this session. Panelists will be divided among the session's several segments to allow for many voices to be in conversation.) Panelists Daniel Bannoura, University of Notre Dame Scott Culpepper, Dordt University Stacey Floyd-Thomas, Vanderbilt University Ángel Gallardo, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary Zareena Grewal, Yale University Stewart M. Hoover, University of Colorado, Boulder Amir Hussain, Loyola Marymount University Khyati Joshi, Fairleigh Dickinson University Boyung Lee, Iliff School of Theology David Newheiser, Australian Catholic University Minjung Noh, Lehigh University Christophe D. Ringer, Chicago Theological Seminary Santiago H. Slabodsky, Hofstra University Chris Tirres, DePaul University Candace M. Laughinghouse, Chicago Theological Seminary Soong-Chan Rah, North Park Theological Seminary
	A24-133 Study of Islam Unit Theme: Grad student session Sunday, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM Convention Center-29D (Upper Level East) Kristian Petersen, Old Dominion University, Presiding Islamic studies grad students will present and respond to each other's dissertation research. Lillian McCabe, Yale University Objects of Enchantment: The Life and Afterlife of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s (d. 606/1210) Hidden Secret Abstract My dissertation, “Objects of Enchantment: The Life and Afterlife of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s (d. 606/1210) Hidden Secret,” centers on an Arabic manual of ritual magic written by famed theologian and philosopher Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī. The first half of the dissertation provides the first close analysis of Rāzī’s sources, showing how he imagines the pre-Islamic ancient past as a repository of enchanted knowledge and enfolds this knowledge into an Islamic cosmology. The second half of the dissertation traces the circulation of this text, its translation into Persian, and its reception in a variety of contexts, including the Delhi Sultanate and early Ottoman courts, early modern Cairo, and in colonial manuscript libraries. In illustrating the vast popularity of this text, the dissertation both demonstrates the centrality of this genre to Islamic intellectual and political history and also theorizes the meaning of enchantment and disenchantment in a premodern context. Atiyeh Taghiei, University of California, Los Angeles Sacred Space, Saints, and Salutations: Ziyāra across Sectarian Boundary Lines (13th-14th Centuries) Abstract Through a close examination of unstudied Sunnī ziyāra liturgies like those found in Ibn Farhūn’s (d. 1397) Kitāb Irshād al-Sālik, my dissertation challenges the prevailing notion that ziyāra as scripted liturgy was restricted to Shīʿī sources. In my dissertation, I explore the disjunction between premodern and modern Sunnī ziyāra practices and answer: In what contexts did ziyāra liturgies emerge and develop? How did pilgrims engage with ziyāra liturgies? How can we compare ziyāra across sectarian lines? How did ziyāra liturgy communicate certain norms and ideals to spiritual participants? This project highlights several understudied aspects of ziyāra such as the study of female saints and women’s ziyāra to shed light on broader questions of sectarian identity development. My research draws on methods from ritual, material, and gender studies and illustrates that reading ziyāra literature across sectarian divides grants key insight into an understanding of intra-religious relations and sectarianism in the Middle East. Fizza Joffrey, University of Oxford Shiʿa Ritual in Karachi: Religious Life in an Urban City Abstract Thousands of Shiʿas gather annually for the Ashura procession in the megacity of Karachi, putting a multitude of languages, practices, and communities on public display whilst signaling power through unity. Karachi’s Ashura procession reflects the complicated entanglements of urbanization, violence, religious and ethnic identities, as well as constantly-changing spatial dynamics in the city. Claiming public space, asserting identity, and operating within a complicated politics of visibility are tied with a major act of religious devotion. The yearly tensions around Karachi’s Ashura procession distill a broader set of contemporary issues about public space, urban religion, and the place of religious minorities in this majority-Sunni postcolonial nation. My dissertation considers the question of minority religion practices in public space amidst a complex context. Centering the Muharram procession as a key element of the city’s urbanization process, I argue that Karachi’s Shiʿas negotiate the relationship between public presence (visibility) and silence (invisibility) as a means to understand and negotiate their positioning in the city and within a larger discussion of what constitutes a “Pakistani Muslim.” Adam Tyson, University of California, Riverside The Debate over Mystical Monism in the 17th Century: the ‘Unity of Existence’ and Non-Muslims in the Ottoman and Mughal Empires Abstract This paper explores the Sufi philosophy known as the “Unity of Being”(waḥdat al-wujūd) in the early modern Ottoman and Mughal Empires. In the 17th century, debates surrounding this system of thought can tell us much about Sufism as well as the history of empire, changing religious demographics, and contests over political and religious authority. This study examines adherents to the doctrine of waḥdat al-wujūd like Şeyh Bedreddin (d.1421 c.e.), Mughal prince Dārā Shikūh (d. 1659 c.e.), and ‘Abd al-Ghanī Nābulusī (d.1731 c.e.) against Aḥmad Sirhindī’s (d. 1624 c.e.) intervention rejecting this doctrine. By exploring these case studies it becomes apparent that anxieties over the demarcation between Islam and non-Muslim religions are at the crux of what makes this philosophy so controversial, and that its defenders attempt to navigate a course between the particulars of Islam and the universalizing worldview of mystical monism. Michael Lessman, Yale University Answering the Skeptics: Abū l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī’s Epistemology and its Implications for his Philosophy of Mind Abstract My research analyzes the al-Kitāb al-Muʿtabar of Abū l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī, a key figure in the later development of Avicennism in the Islamic world. I explore how his theory of perception (idrāk) give us an alternative epistemology than Avicennan rationalism and the skepticism that is used to attack it. I look to Abū l-Barakāt’s criticism of Avicenna’s theory of intellect, where al-Baghdādī claims that knowledge consists not in intellectual grasping of forms via the Active Intellect, but in direct perception of the world, the scroll of existence (ṣaḥīfat al-wujūd). I explore whether and how Abū l-Barakāt’s epistemology therefore rejects the traditional contrast between immediate (badīhī) and acquired (iktisāb) knowledge, and so sets up a form of empiricism that does away with the epistemic paradigms of certainty put forward by al-Fārābī, kalām, and Avicennism. Umar Shareef, Georgetown University Restricting Polygyny in Modern Egypt Abstract Taqyīd al-mubāḥ (restricting the permissible) refers to the ability of Muslim rulers to restrict acts that the sharīʿa permits in order to prevent a social harm and secure a public benefit. Since the late nineteenth century, this concept has been used to justify the state’s restriction of legally permissible acts such as slavery, child marriage, and verbal divorce. My paper identifies the nineteenth-century Egyptian discussions on polygyny as an instance in which scholars also debated taqyīd al-mubāḥ. This debate reflected the evolving role of the state. Early in the century, scholars didn’t advocate state intervention due to limited power. By the late century, as state control over courts increased, some scholars saw an opportunity to restrict polygyny for the public good, while others argued for limited state intervention and the privacy of marriage. This highlights the tension between the legal tradition and social change, showcasing the strategic use of Islamic legal principles to navigate these challenges. Business Meeting Zaid Adhami, Williams College, Presiding Elliott Bazzano, Le Moyne College, Presiding
	A24-134 Womanist Approaches to Religion and Society Unit Theme: Weary Throats & New Songs: 20th Anniversary Commemoration of Teresa Fry Brown’s Publication and Contemporary Challenges for Black Preaching Women Sunday, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM Convention Center-29B (Upper Level East) Melanie Jones Quarles, Union Presbyterian Seminary, Presiding Integrating women’s voices in proclamation, exhortation, and rhetorical methods, including “the work of exegeting lies.” This session seeks to highlight the power of women’s voices in recognition of Fry Brown's publication and the national gaze on the milestone of sermonic delivery of Rev. Dr. Gina Stewart, pastor of Christ Missionary Baptist Church as the first invited female preacher in the 129-year existence of the National Baptist Convention and the ramifications of the responses heard globally. Panelists Dominique A. Robinson, Seminary of the Southwest Melva L. Sampson, Wake Forest University Courtney Buggs, Gina Stewart, Christ Missionary Baptist Church Responding Teresa L. Fry Brown, Emory University
	A24-143 World Christianity Unit Theme: Power, Violence, and World Christianity Sunday, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM Hilton Bayfront-Cobalt 502A (Fifth Level) Janice McLean-Farrell, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, Presiding This panel explores the topics of power and violence in relation to Christianity in the Global South. The first paper reimagines Hong Kong Christian identity and vocation in diaspora in light of the city’s social and political transformation. The second draws on Indian judicial reports to emphasize the ways in which religious persecution has become a reality for religious minorities in India today. The third offers a nuanced picture of Christian-Muslim relations in Indonesia, demonstrating how Indonesian Christians cultivate different modes of subsisting that allow them to negotiate their identity and societal roles. The fourth explores how the Taiping Rebellion developed a demonology to dehumanize its targets. The fifth makes the methodological case that World Christianity as a field ought to restore its subversive power by collaborating with the field of Ethnic Studies. The sixth upholds the contributions of Afua Kuma in translating Christianity through tradition, art, and religious imagination. Easten Law, Princeton Theological Seminary 靈根自植 , 守護真相 (Cultivating Spiritual Roots & Guarding the Truth): Theological Action Research with the Hong Kong Christian Diaspora Abstract Over the course of the last decade, Hong Kong has experienced a social and political transformation. The city’s frayed ends have been pulled in every direction by a cacophony of competing global interests, unraveled by the strong arm of China’s central government, and set aflame by one of the world’s most restrictive COVID policies. For many who have called Hong Kong home, these changes constitute a watershed crisis that have necessitated critical reflection and hard choices on the nature of the Hong Kong church in diaspora amidst a home that is disappearing. This study reports on a multi-phase theoogical action research project that is reimagining Hong Kong Christian identity and vocation in diaspora, a collaborative process of discerning lived theology, ecclesiology, and missiology among overseas Hong Kong scholars who are studying for advanced degrees in history, Christian ethics, systematic theology, and homiletics. Abhishek Prabhakar John, Boston University Judicial Reports and Narratives of Religious Conversion in India: An Analysis of the Judicial Reports of the Somasekhara and Saldanha Commissions on the 2008 Anti-Christian Violence in Mangalore, India Abstract Religious persecution has become a reality for religious minorities in India today, particularly Christians. Two major incidents of large-scale persecution acted as springboards to making this reality pervasive – persecution of Christians in Odisha (August 2008) and Mangalore (September 2008). This paper will focus on the latter and analyze two reports - Judicial Reports of the Somasekhara and Saldanha Commissions on the religious violence in Mangalore - as lenses to understand narratives of religious persecution and violence against religious minorities in Mangalore and in the broader theme of religious violence and World Christianity. This paper will analyze how Justice Somasekhara’s report strives to “other” Christianity as a "foreign-funded" and "foreign" religion. Secondly, it will survey the change in the geographical landscape of Hindutva's presence. Thirdly, it will analyze the two reports and their portrayal of vandalism of religious symbols. Fourthly, it will sieve through the terminologies employed by the two reports. Hans Harmakaputra, Augustana University The Phenomenon of Church Closing in Indonesia: Violence, Resistance, and Resilience in the “GKI Yasmin” Case Abstract The fall of President Suharto from his long authoritarian regime in 1998 marks the beginning of the Reformation period that ushers in the “conservative turn” among Indonesian Muslims in politics, social, economic, and cultural realms. One of the most visible manifestations of it is the significant increase in church closing cases. Church closings refer to various phenomena, including various activities, from individual objections and demonstrations to physical attacks. This paper focuses on one case that has gained national and international attention in Bogor, West Java: The “Gereja Kristen Indonesia (Indonesian Christian Church) Yasmin” case. In April 2023, after more than a decade of struggle, the church was opened at a different location. The paper aims to analyze strategies employed by the congregation, ranging from public rituals as a form of resistance to cooperation with Muslim stakeholders and local government apparatus. The goal is to obtain a more nuanced picture of Christian-Muslim relations after the conservative turn in contemporary Indonesia. Far from passive and submissive, Indonesian Christians cultivate different modes of subsisting that allow them to negotiate their identity and roles in the larger society. Zihao He, The University of Edinburgh Eliminating Demons in China: Exploring the Demonology of the Taiping Rebellion and its Justification of Violence Abstract This paper explores how the Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864), a movement inspired by Protestantism, developed a demonology to dehumanize its targets of violence. Analyzing the Taiping documents, it examines three demon categories in Taiping theology: the Devil and his followers, humans deemed demons for violating Taiping rules, and the Manchu Qing government. Special attention is given to two key issues: perfect humanity and ethnicity within the Taiping theology. Regarding perfect humanity, the Taiping ideology made a dichotomous distinction between humans and demons, considering humans as children of God and inherently perfect. However, transgression against divine commands led to individuals being categorized as demons and subject to punishment. Ethnicity played a significant role in the demonization process, with the Taipings drawing a strict line between Han Chinese and the Manchus. Han Chinese deemed as demons were seen as potentially redeemable, while the Manchus were demonized from their very origins. Soojin Chung, Princeton Theological Seminary World Christianity and Ethnic Studies: Subversive Partners in Academia Abstract This article traces the history of the field of World Christianity, from the 1920s to the present. After examining two pivotal movements that shaped this discipline, the article argues that the initial Third World force subsequently lost its prominence. To restore its subversive power, it proposes possibilities for collaboration between World Christianity and Ethnic Studies, imagining new ways Ethnic Studies can invigorate the study of World Christianity. Kenneth Ofula, University of Oxford Indigenous Religions Dressed in Designer Clothes: Afua Kuma Redefining Theology in World Christianity Abstract Afua Kuma's prayers and analysis presents a "woman of deep faith" in God with unmatched indigenous conception of the Bible, and creative translation of the interdisciplinary nature of World Christianity. Surprisingly, she is hardly classified as a theologian, rather, as an 'illiterate Ghanaian woman' and her works regarded as, ‘not academic, but deeply theological.’ Thus, the question: what is theology? who is a theologian? What makes her prayers non-academic in comparison to other theological primary sources? What is the role of indigenous epistemologies in understanding World Christianity? This paper explores the development of indigenous epistemologies in world Christianity as depicted in contemporary Christian songs, spoken words and prayers in African Christianity. It argues that Afua Kuma, as an embodiment of conceptual decolonization of African theological epistemology, has successfully used her indigenous intelligence to translate Christianity through tradition, art and religious imagination.
	A24-101/S24-146 AAR's Religion and Popular Culture Unit and SBL's Reading, Theory and the Bible Theme: Review Session: Andrew Jacobs, Gospel Thrillers Sunday, 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM Hilton Bayfront-Aqua 310B (Third Level) Maia Kotrosits, Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School, Presiding . Panelists Andrew Jacobs, Blossom Stefaniw, MF vitenskapelig høyskole Rikki Liu, Hugo Mendez, University of North Carolina Jacqueline Hidalgo, Williams College James Bielo, Miami University, Ohio Donovan Schaefer, University of Pennsylvania
	A24-102/S24-121 AAR's Study of Judaism Unit and SBL's Social History of Formative Christianity and Judaism Theme: Review Panel for R. Rafe Neis, When a Human Gives Birth to a Raven (2023) Sunday, 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM Hilton Bayfront-Sapphire P (Fourth Level) Krista Dalton, Kenyon College, Presiding . Panelists Beth Berkowitz, Barnard College Sarah Pierce Taylor, University of Chicago Roland Betancourt, University of California, Irvine C. Michael Chin, University of California, Davis Andrea Dara Cooper, University of North Carolina Responding Rafael Neis, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
	P24-100 International Society for Chinese Philosophy Theme: Interfaith Encounters and Comparative Perspectives in East Asian and Chinese Thought Sunday, 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM Omni-Boardroom 1 (Sixth Floor) Panel 1: Interpretations of Classics and Interfaith Jea Sophia Oh Huili (Kathy) Stout Haoyue Yang Yaping LEE Panel 2: Confucian-Christian Dialogue and Modern Chinese Thought WANG Xinyu Yidi Wu Nalei Chen Yiting Tang Jea Sophia Oh, West Chester University Korean Women’s Jeong (情) in Buddhism and Confucianism: Korean Nuns’ Zen Practice as Ecodharma for Self-Cultivation Abstract . Huili Stout, University of Dayton Chin Kung’s Articulation of Buddhism as Multicultural Social Education Abstract . Haoyue Yang, Georgetown University Virtuoso and Virtue: Skill Stories in the Zhuangzi and Craft Metaphors in the Xunzi Abstract . Yaping Lee, Huzhou University From Consciousness to Conscience—the Ontological Transformation of Xiong Shili's Early thoughts Abstract . Xinyu Wang, Nanjing Normal University Heavenly Principle, Three Generations and The City of God: Zhu Xi's Philosophy of History and Christianity Abstract . Yidi Wu, Boston University How to Become Good: Moral Failure and Self-cultivation in Thomas Aquinas and Zhu Xi Abstract . Nalei Chen, New York University The Internal Approach to Spiritual Perfection—A Comparison of Wang Yangming and Martin Luther Abstract . Yiting Tang, University of Chicago Two Encounters with Nothingness: Lu Xun and Heidegger, 1927 Abstract .
	P24-104 North American Association for the Study of Religion Theme: NAASR Working Group Meeting: American Examples Sunday, 9:00 AM - 11:50 AM Grand Hyatt-Balboa A-C (Second Level - Seaport Tower) This working group meeting is for existing members of the American Examples research workshop, as well as those interested possibly interested in participating in the future.
	P24-105 Colloquium on Violence and Religion Theme: Exploring Mimetic Theory: Theological and Political Dimensions Sunday, 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM Hilton Bayfront-Sapphire 402 (Fourth Level) Chelsea King, Sacred Heart University, Presiding The first paper revisits the concept of monotheism through Schelling’s philosophical lens, enriched by Girard's insights into the nature of divine and human imitation. It presents an intriguing dialogue between biblical narratives and philosophical thought, shedding light on the evolution of religious consciousness. The second paper expands the conversation into the realms of theology and social justice, exploring how the Cross shapes historical and contemporary political realities. By placing Girard and Lonergan in dialogue with Ellacuría's political theology, it offers a pathway to a political praxis rooted in love and informed by a deep understanding of human tendencies towards victimization. Chris Morrissey, Trinity Western University Monotheism, Intolerance, and the Path to Pluralistic Politics: A Schellingian Review Abstract This paper provides a response to Christopher Haw’s book Monotheism, Intolerance, and the Path to Pluralistic Politics by evaluating it within the understanding of monotheism developed by F.W.J. Schelling in his philosophy of mythology and his philosophy of revelation. First, Schelling’s conceptions of natural theism, relative monotheism, successive polytheism, and absolute monotheism are interpreted from the standpoint of René Girard’s mimetic theory. Examples from the book of Genesis are used to illustrate Schelling’s ideas. Second, these ideas are compared with Haw’s discussion of Girard’s understanding of monotheism as a “refusal to divinize victims.” Schelling’s philosophy is shown to be illuminated by mimetic theory and Haw’s treatment of it. Regarding Genesis, the evolution of a conscious awareness of God is discernible in the five cycles of Genesis and in some parallel mythologems in Hesiod’s Greek mythology. Five points in particular are discussed by using mimetic theory together with some Schellingian interpretations. Matthew Cuff, Boston College The Politics of the Cross: Insights from Girard, Ellacuría, and Lonergan Abstract René Girard and Bernard Lonergan both offer theologies of the Cross that recognize God as having definitively marked history through the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus. For Girard, the Cross reveals God as fundamentally the God of the innocent victim, as well as own tendency to scapegoat and create victims. Lonergan notes that the Cross and the redemption that emerges from it has resulted in a “change for the better” in history. Despite the claims of Girard and Lonergan, the scandal of social sin on a grand scale persists. How can this be? And what does this failure to see mean for politics - our shared social life - today? This paper offers tentative insights into this problematic by placing Girard and Lonergan in dialogue with Ignacio Ellacuría and his political theology of the "crucified people." Taken together, these authors offer important principles for a Christian political praxis rooted in love.
	P24-102 Religious Education Association Theme: Navigating Differences When Teaching Religion Sunday, 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM Omni-Boardroom 2 (Sixth Floor) Students come to the study of religion with a variety of perspectives. Some are people of faith with a strong interest in affirming and defending their beliefs. Others may be curious about both familiar and unfamiliar religious traditions or looking to critically engage childhood religious experiences. Still others question the social value of religions, particularly when religious rhetoric sparks violence and sociopolitical divisions. In this open roundtable discussion, we will explore how religious diversity and even hostility within or toward religious traditions creates challenges and opportunities for teaching and learning in religious education and religious studies classrooms. Participants will be invited to share strategies for acknowledging differences, fostering respectful conversations, and wrestling with intractable conflicts. (Bring your own lunch.)
	M24-112 University of Divinity Theme: Figuring the Maternal in Political Theology: a round table with Richard Boothby Sunday, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM Hilton Bayfront-Aqua 309 (Third Level) Richard Boothby is a leading Lacanian theorist, who has recently published Embracing the Void: Rethinking the Origin of the Sacred (Northwestern University Press, 2022). This session will provide an opportunity to hear Prof. Boothby speak about this work and its relation to the question of the figure of the mother in the production of political order, a conversation adjunct to his “Notes on the Most Radical Possible Theology” in Embracing the Void.
	A24-135 American Academy of Religion Theme: Plenary II: Nonviolence in Action: Why Civil Resistance Works and the Role of Religion Sunday, 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM Hilton Bayfront-Sapphire AEI (Fourth Level) Jin Y Park, American University, Washington, D.C., Presiding Can nonviolence be a practical and sufficient method of dealing with violence? This is a common question. Regardless of any suspicion about nonviolence’s feasibility for facilitating change, however, nonviolent resistance is a way for ordinary people to advance rights, freedoms, and democracy using methods such as protests, strikes, and boycotts, and it has historically been twice as effective as armed struggle in achieving major goals. From Indian independence to the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, to the anti-Apartheid struggle in South Africa, to “people power” in the Philippines, to the first Palestinian Intifada, to recent pro-democracy campaigns in Hong Kong, Sudan, and Guatemala, nonviolent resistance has been a powerful force for change – although it has not always succeeded. This talk explores the power and potential of civil resistance during a time of rising authoritarianism and political violence in the U.S. and around the world, with a focus on the crucial role of religion and religious actors in advancing nonviolent change and examining what it means to move from theory to practice. Panelists Maria J. Stephan, The Horizons Project
	A24-136 Status of Women and Gender Minoritized Persons in the Professions Committee Theme: Status of Racial and Ethnic Minoritized People in the Professions Committee and Status of Women and Gender Minoritized Persons in the Professions Committee Mentoring Lunch for Women and Gender-Minoritized People Sunday, 11:15 AM - 12:30 PM Convention Center-20D (Upper Level East) K. Christine Pae, Denison University, Presiding The Status of Women and Gender Minoritized Persons in the Professions Committee and the Status of Racial and Ethnic Minoritized People in the Professions Committee will co-sponsor a mentoring lunch for women and gender-minoritized people. The luncheon is open to female-identified and gender minoritized members of AAR at any stage of their professional journey and offers space for candid conversations about the challenging issues which the participants are facing. This AAR member luncheon requires an advance purchase. Add this to your registration by MODIFYING your AAR Annual Meeting registration. Tickets not available after October 31. Panelists K. Christine Pae, Denison University Andrea Jain, Indiana University - Purdue University, Indianapolis S.B. Rodriguez-Plate, Hamilton College Elyse Ambrose, University of California, Riverside Sahin Acikgoz, University of California, Riverside Mitzi Smith, Columbia Theological Seminary Caroline T. Schroeder, University of Oklahoma Melissa Harl Sellew, University of Minnesota SueJeanne Koh, University of California, Irvine Sarah Imhoff, Indiana University, Bloomington Ann Gleig, University of Central Florida C. Libby, Pennsylvania State University Cristian De La Rosa, Boston University Juliane Hammer, University of North Carolina At Chapel Hill Melanie Johnson-DeBaufre, Drew Theological School Denise Buell, Williams College Linn Tonstad, Yale University Jennifer Harvey, Drake University Elaine Padilla, University of La Verne Pamela Lightsey, Meadville Lombard Theological School
	M24-105 Encyclopedia of Jewish-Christian Relations Theme: Encyclopedia of Jewish-Christian Relations Network Meeting Sunday, 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Omni-Gaslamp 5 (Fourth Floor) Board members, authors, and friends are invited to this Encyclopedia of Jewish-Christian Relations Network Meeting
	M24-106 Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Pines School of Graduate Studies Theme: HUC-JIR, PSGS Luncheon Sunday, 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Marriott Marquis-Rancho Sante Fe Rooms (North Tower - Lobby Level) Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, Pines School of Graduate Studies cordially invites all Graduate Alumni, Faculty, and Students to enjoy lunch on Sunday, November 24th.

« first
‹ previous
…
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
…
next ›
last »

You are here

Online Program Book