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.


	A23-311 Constructive Muslim Thought and Engaged Scholarship Seminar Theme: Theologies of Catastrophe and Crisis Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Farah El-Sharif, Stanford University, Presiding As the “Constructive Muslim Thought and Engaged Scholarship” seminar enters its fourth year, we continue to share the diverse nature of our collective scholarship in this capacious and developing field. For this session, the participants have been invited to join a roundtable conversation about the task of doing ethics, theology, and critical scholarship in the midst of ongoing catastrophe. What does it mean to do constructive work in moments of crisis? How are their respective projects envisioned? What work do they see their scholarship doing and with whom are they engaged? How is this work done in light of continually unfolding current events? All seminar attendees are encouraged to join the conversation after the invited participants have shared their opening remarks. Panelists Zeyneb Sayilgan, Virginia Theological Seminary Mohamad Chakaki, Shadaab Rahemtulla, University of Edinburgh Mohamed Abdou, Cornell University Responding Farah El-Sharif, Stanford University
	A23-312 Drugs and Religion Unit Theme: Contact Highs: Intoxicants in ritual and yoga Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Patricia Sauthoff, Hong Kong Baptist University, Presiding This panel examines the connections between cross-cultural contact and representations of psychedelic use by yoga practitioners. The first paper questions the identification of _soma_ with various psychedelic materials and explores the problematic implications of assuming that psychedelics lead to the same mystical states found in South Asian religious literature. The second paper considers the impact of using a psychedelic on language and vocal patterning, arguing that scholars should move beyond botany and vague mystical experiences to explore how the _soma_ sacrifice shaped the ritual itself. Our third paper calls into question what premodern South Asian texts meant by “intoxication.” The authors explore the various distinctions between types of _unmatta/mada_ and examine the employment of various intoxicants. Finally, the fourth paper calls into question the historical linkages between yoga and psychoactive substances as well as the notion of yoga itself being a substitute for those substances. Hugh B. Urban, Ohio State University Psychedelic Soma: R. Gordon Wasson’s Interpretation of Soma and its Impact on both Modern Yoga and Psychedelic Research Abstract This paper critically examines R. Gordon Wasson’s 1968 book, Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality, and traces its influence on both modern yoga and psychedelic research. A banker by trade, Wasson became fascinated with fungi and published a hugely influential article on the ritual use of psychedelic mushrooms in Life magazine in 1957. In 1968, he turned his attention to the enigmatic plant of the Vedas, Soma, arguing that it too was a hallucinogenic mushroom, Amanita muscaria. Although largely discredited by Indologists today, Wasson’s identification of Soma with psychedelics helped solidify in the popular imagination an idea that was already present in Aldous Huxley’s work – namely, that psychedelics can occasion the same mystical states described in South Asian religious texts. With the recent renaissance of psychedelic research in the 21st century, this idea has resurfaced both in popular yoga literature and in many scientific studies of psilocybin, with some problematic implications. Finnian Moore Gerety, Brown University “‘Gods Love the Hidden’: Soma, Sāmaveda, and the Cross-cultural Aesthetics of Pyschedelic Traditions” Abstract Botanical candidates proposed for the authentic soma of ancient India have all too neatly followed modern drug trends—soma has become a sort of floating signifier of the Urpsychedelic. Aiming to disrupt the paradigm of soma scholarship, this paper shifts our gaze away from botany back towards soma’s primary domain: ritual. My focus is the Sāmaveda, a corpus of chants performed during the soma sacrifice, which attest many “non-lexical vocables,” sounds and phonemes with no semantic meaning. Does the high incidence of non-semantic speech in Sāmaveda correlate with the psychoactive profile of soma? This inquiry also provides a rich basis for cross-cultural comparison with the aesthetics of other psychedelic traditions. Nonlexical vocables occur in both the peyote songs of the Native American Church and the ayahuasca prayer songs of Amazonian shamanism; and traditional practitioners throughout the Americas report non-semantic phonemes in the speech of otherworldly entities they encounter. Samuel Grimes, University of California, Berkeley James McHugh, Variations of Drunkenness: Alcohol Consumption in Tantra Abstract The paper will argue that, prior to the apparent prominence of intoxicating cannabis in the early second millennium, the only intoxicant of any significance in South Asia was alcohol, betel being considered a fragrant digestive, datura used for nefarious means, and soma, however we understand it, never presented as a mind-altering substance in the Common Era. We examine experiences of intoxication according to the testimony of the religious agents under examination, without involving contemporary applications of intoxicating substances. We especially note the understanding that there were a range of intoxicating experiences caused by alcoholic drinks to demonstrate that modern notions of drunkenness are insufficient to account for the experiences detailed in the first millennium CE. Stuart R. Sarbacker, Oregon State University Involution (pratiprasava) and Emergence (vyutthāna): Yoga Philosophy and the “Decoding” of Psychedelic Science, Culture, and Experience Abstract Transnational yoga traditions are playing an important role in the culture of the 21st century “Psychedelic Renaissance.” The bodily disciplines and contemplative practices associated with yoga have long been in the orbit of psychedelic science and culture—as a precursor to, a skill set within, and as an integrative method following psychedelic journeys and lifestyles. I argue that the “classical” framework for understanding power in yoga and in āyurveda with respect to the use of bioactive, if not psychoactive, herbs (oṣadhi) offers acute insights into contemporary psychedelic science and culture. These include 1) that yoga, historically, incorporated various endogenous and exogenous methods, paralleling the hybridity of modern, transnational yoga; 2) Pātañjala yoga philosophy provides a framework for understanding psychedelic experience that anticipates elements of psychedelic science; and 3) Contemporary descriptions of DMT-based psychedelic experience echo discussions of yogic experience by Larson and Grinshpon, with regard to “fantastic beings” and “near-death-experiences.”
	A23-313 Energy, Extraction, and Religion Seminar Theme: Slippage, Flow, and Aqueous Extractions Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Lisa Sideris, University of California, Santa Barbara, Presiding Recognizing the coastal location of the 2024 AAR Annual Meeting, this session features papers on water, extractivism, and anti- or de-colonial approaches to knowing and relating to waters. In keeping with the annual meeting theme, the confluence of military violence and oceanic topics will be front of mind in a conference center mere kilometers from the second largest US naval base and an influential institution of oceanography with a military history. Following the insights of scholars such as Gilo-Whitaker, Liboiron, Ballestero, and more, the papers in this session attend to slippages and flows among culturally particular epistemologies, ontologies, and ethics of water. With foci on ritual in the context of privatized waters of the Sundarbans, multi-religious tensions around extraction at sites of melting glaciers in Bolivia’s Milluni Valley, and contesting the evangelical ferver of mainstream fresh water futurisms, these papers pay particular attention to the coloniality of practices of assessing and measuring waters while confronting the contemporary narrowing of paradigms for resistance. Calynn Dowler, Vanderbilt University Awakened Waters: Rethinking Extraction and Enchantment in the Sundarbans Abstract Divine and demonic powers play an important role in everyday life in the Sundarbans of West Bengal, India, shaping how people relate to the delta’s multispecies ecologies and to each other. This paper considers changing relations with water beings under conditions of water privatization. In the Sundarbans, certain creeks, ponds, and lakes are recognized as “awakened” (jagroto), enlivened by the presence of beings that sometimes assume embodied form in aquatic animals like crocodiles and fish. With the enclosure of these waters as private fisheries, water beings have become a point of contestation. Many say that they have departed local waters, even as fishery owners continue to enact relations with water beings through prayer and ritual. I adopt a cosmopolitical ecology framework to understand how extraction in aqueous ecologies articulates with more-than-human relations, generating material and spiritual gains for some and disorienting losses for others. Elizabeth Allison, California Institute of Integral Studies Dragons of Fortune: Glaciers as Resource Sentinels and Portals Abstract Across cultures and throughout history, glaciers have been considered to be living beings who respond to human activity, sometimes marauding mountain villages, sometimes rebuking moral infractions. Climate change is leading to rapid extinction of glaciers, with significant implications for the lifeways of local, rural, and Indigenous peoples. Placing the cryohumanities in conversation with studies of extractivism, this paper examines the ways that the global decline of mountain glaciers – terrestrial seas – sets the stage for enclosure and extraction of economically important resources including water, minerals, and land, with specific attention to the contested ontologies and epistemologies of glacier extinction in and around Bolivia’s Milluni Valley, where Catholicism, Evangelical Christianity, and Indigenous Aymara cosmovision intermingle and glacial decline has exacerbated inter and intra-community tensions around resource access. Indigenous Aymara cosmology understands mountains and glaciers as ancestors and guardians, yet glacier extinction creates emergent possibilities for resource extraction and exploitation. Christiana Peppard, Fordham University Fresh Waters, Anthropocene Futurisms, and Anti-Colonial Narrative Options Abstract Beginning with an insistence on hydrosocial pluralities of fresh waters, this paper presents a comparison among three kinds of narrative futurisms: Octavia Butler’s 1993 parabolic futurism (from Parable of the Sower) of the arid southern California of 2024; Andrea Ballestero’s ethnographic future anterior as watery ontologies are negotiated between the regnant concepts of commodity and human right; and the increasingly geopolitcally-influential mainstream Anthropocene Fresh Water futurisms. I argue against five specific totalizing dangers and evangelical fervor of mainstream fresh water futurisms, suggesting instead that the social ontologies and narrative multiplicities offered by anti- and decolonial speculative fiction writers (Butler) and contemporary social scientists (Ballestero) are necessary for thinking and relating to fresh waters.
	A23-314 Esotericism Unit and Yoga in Theory and Practice Unit Theme: Universalizing Secrets: Esotericism in the Global Transmission of Modern Yoga Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Eileen Goddard, University of California, Santa Barbara, Presiding This panel examines a number of broadly “yogic” (or “yoga-adjacent”) concepts and practices that have served as vehicles for the globalization of Indian esotericism and consequent negotiations of translation and hybridization, personal meaning, and cultural ownership. The esoteric, whether concepts or practices, is often regarded as by definition “hidden”—relying on networks of specialized knowledge and social belonging. Yet when it comes to modern transnational yoga, such concepts and practices are not only understood as universal but necessarily exoteric, as they enter into a global marketplace of spiritual consumption. The panelists foreground a historically diverse range of such examples, ranging from 19th-century translations of yogic texts, to 20th-century reinterpretations of kundalini, to contemporary workshops popularizing jyotish (astrology) as part of a “yogic lifestyle.” Peter Valdina, Albion College Revealing the Secret in an Open Court: Heeralal Dhole, Paul Carus, and the Translation Assemblage Abstract This paper examines the role of print media in the 19th-century dissemination of transnational esotericism and the promotion of South Asian yoga traditions beyond their indigenous contexts through an examination of the local and global concerns of Heeralal Dhole, a print entrepreneur in colonial Calcutta (now Kolkata). The paper examines the context and content of a selection of Dhole’s publications, revealing how translation facilitated appeals to transnational networks of cultural transmission and exchange. Then, through an analysis of Dhole's connection to Paul Carus and the Open Court Publishing House, the paper explores how vernacular agendas were both influenced by and influential in shaping the anglophone public's reception of yoga. The paper contributes to the understanding of yoga's historical transformation through translation, highlighting the complex interplay between publishers, book distributors, and the market's appetite for esoteric knowledge. Marleen Thaler, Universität Wien Kundalini Yoga Re-Discovered: Hindu Nationalist Efforts in Demystifying the Esoteric Nature of Kundalini Abstract This paper examines a brief episode in the modern re-interpretation of kundalini as a vital component of Indian cultural heritage, initiated by the Indian author Gopi Krishna (1903–1984). In his autobiography Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man (1967), Krishna assessed kundalini as an evolutionary mechanism inherent within the physical body. As Krishna’s network of global collaborators expanded, Indian politicians and journalists endeavored to involve him in various research projects in India aimed at elucidating the esoteric nature of kundalini through scientific means. The “Kundalini-Yoga” series, featured in the Indian tabloid Blitz between April and May 1976, played a pivotal role in disseminating knowledge of kundalini. The aim of this paper is two-fold: Firstly, to illuminate the significance of Blitz in the nationalization of kundalini, and secondly, to examine India’s research efforts aimed at demystifying kundalini. Drew Thomases, San Diego State University Aligning with the Cosmos: Vedic Astrology and Hidden Meaning in a Global Yoga Community Abstract Based on ethnographic “fieldwork” conducted during a 75-hour online course on Indian, or “Vedic” astrology (also called jyotish), this paper explores how non-Indian yoga practitioners incorporated astrology into their spiritual lives. In particular, I focus on how the course’s instructor, Nish, presented a brand of Vedic astrology that was simultaneously Indian and universal, mysterious and accessible to all. This leads to a broader reflection on how an astrological worldview—one with hidden meaning and suffused with beautiful connections—aids in the spiritual seeker’s search for physical and spiritual alignment. Responding Anya Foxen, California Polytechnic State University
	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.
	A23-316 Foucault and the Study of Religion Seminar Theme: Foucault, Islam, and Political Spirituality Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Daniel Wyche, University of Chicago, Presiding Foucault’s 1978-79 interventions into the movements that coalesced into the Iranian revolution, his conversations with Iranian and regional intellectuals and figures, and the theoretical claims that both informed this work and emerged from it – perhaps especially the vexed notion of “political spirituality – are among the most misunderstood and controversial aspects of Foucault’s career. However, new scholarship in Foucault’s late project and the revolution itself, including richer understandings of the context and conditions of its emergence, have deeply complicated this picture. This panel will re-approach Foucault on Iran and Islam more broadly, in order to more clearly wrestle with his engagements with Islam and the Islamic world. Further, we will investigate the ways that Islamic traditions, contemporary movements, and intellectual currents challenge and complicate Foucault’s work within and beyond these specific interventions. Finally, we will ask how these particular conversations intersect with historic and emerging scholarship within all of these areas. Alma Fazeli, Monash University (Political) Spirituality and Revolt: Examining the 2022 Mahsa Amini Uprising through Foucault’s 1978 Iran Reports Abstract Following the death of Mahsa Amini in custody in 2022, after her arrest for not fully complying with the Islamic Republic’s dress code, a movement known as the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement emerged that is mainly characterized by its resistance to state control through various means, including unveiling and promoting a discourse of disobedience and self-government. While this discourse marks a radical departure from 1979 regarding Islamic governmentality, echoes of Foucault’s arguments in “Is it Useless to Revolt” are evident. In this paper, I examine the 2022 movement in tandem with this article and through the lens of Foucault’s key notion of revolt against subjugation [assujettissement]. I argue that Foucault’s concept of (political) spirituality is so broad that it encompasses both these divergent political movements, framing them primarily as revolts against governmentality that entail transformative practices of self-government. Daniel Schultz, Whitman College A Foucauldian Secular? Abstract This paper explores the way Foucault’s thinking is entangled with efforts to think, to defend, and to critique the secular. On the one hand, Foucauldian genealogy and discourse analysis are at the heart Talal Asad’s critique of secularism. On the other hand, some of the most vocal critics of Asad and his followers are acolytes of the late Edward Said and adherents to his notion of “secular criticism.” This paper attempts to gather these two conflictual streams of Foucault reception and read them back into Foucault’s text. It then asks: what secular tropes are at work in the organization of Foucault’s thinking? Does some notion of the secular inform the way Foucault writes history, thinks between epistemes, and conceives his periodizations? Might there be a political theology at work in his ethics? The paper works up and works through this problem space. Ehsan Shahwahid, University of Leeds Islam, Knowledge & Power: A Critical Study on Islamisation in Malay World Abstract Islam has been a key feature in the history of Malaysia, and Muslims have been considered a majority community. The spread of Islam in transforming the population has been narrated as a process of Islamisation. Since the 1970s to recent times, this Islamisation narrative has gained further dominance in influencing the youths and civil society movements, educational institutions, government policies, and also legal and political decisions in the country. However, critics have perceived the Islamisation narrative as to be over-simplifying the complex inter-relations between Islam and the Malay-Muslims population. Thus, this paper aims for a critical examination, by using the Episteme as a key concept. This paper shall demonstrate how Islam is related to three different epistemic phases; under the Malay Sultanates, British Colonial rule, and the nation-state in the history of Malaysia, and its relation to knowledge and power in shaping the Muslim population in Malaysia. Wing Yin Li, Foucault’s Power-Knowledge and Apocalyptic Resistance Abstract Apocalyptic resistance, a term that this paper uses to refer to the resistance presented in and by the apocalypse, is inseparable from the notions of knowledge and power. However, the conception of knowledge and power and their interrelation in apocalyptic resistance deserve more examination that goes beyond the simple moral representation of (revealed) knowledge as good and pure or the common reading of a unilateral causation – knowledge giving rise to the power to resist. This essay will conduct this examination by critically engaging with Michel Foucault’s analysis of power-knowledge and showing how it problematizes the general apocalyptic understanding of revealed knowledge as merely a reception occurring in an external process outside the spatial and temporal dimensions of the world, unrelated to its existing power relations. This essay argues for a wholistic understanding of revelation, with which the power-knowledge complex that exists in apocalyptic resistance can be better identified and examined.
	A23-317 Global-Critical Philosophy of Religion Unit Theme: Ancestors Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Marie-Helene Gorisse, University of Birmingham, Presiding Ancestors form a class of entities central to peoples' lived experiences of religions worldwide. These experiences include reverence for ancestors, communication with ancestors, and conceptions of ancestral afterlives. Despite its centrality, this topic receives little to no attention within the philosophy of religion. To start addressing this important area of inquiry in a more systematic way, the Global Critical Philosophy of Religion Unit therefore invited three papers to reappraise the role of ancestors in different religous traditions, here North American Indigenous cultures and East Asian modern societies, as well as to assess the potentials of the category of “ancestors” in the field of philosophy of religion. Mark S. Cladis, Brown University The Presence and Role of Ancestors in North American Indigenous Cultures, and Beyond Abstract In my presentation, I argue that ancestors as “spectral beings” present a challenge for Euro-American scholars. Ancestors play a powerful role in many cultures, and yet due to various forms of secularism, Euro-American scholars tend to discount the role of ancestors—including in their own Euro-American cultures. My window into this large topic is North American Indigenous cultures in the context of settler colonialism. After making broad comments about the role of past and future ancestors in North American Indigenous cultures, giving special attention to the work of Kyle Whyte of the Potawatomi Nation, I focus on the work of Leslie Marmon Silko. Ancestors are prominent characters in Silko’s writings: they are a tangible, practical part of life. Finally, I argue that, when viewed from the perspective of Silko’s Indigenous extraordinary beings, we gain a new sense of “spectral” ancestors in Euro-American cultures and traditions. Anh Q. Tran, Santa Clara University "Revisiting the Chinese Rites Controversy: A Contemporary Perspective on the East Asian Practice of Ancestral Worship" Abstract This paper offers a contemporary examination of the East Asian practice of ancestral worship, with a focus on its evolution since the historical Chinese Rites Controversy. Emphasizing key themes such as ancestral veneration, Confucian rites, Catholic and Protestant reactions, contemporary practices, harmonization, and complimentary or conflicting religious dynamics, the study delves into the multifaceted nature of ancestral worship in modern East Asian societies. Drawing on observations of evolving rituals and beliefs, the paper explores how ancestral worship has adapted to globalization, modernization, and cultural shifts while retaining its cultural significance in shaping family and community dynamics. It examines the interplay between ancestral veneration and various Asian religious traditions, including Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity, highlighting efforts towards syncretism or tension between different belief systems. Furthermore, the paper analyzes contemporary challenges faced by practitioners of ancestral worship, such as generational shifts and urbanization. It explores how these challenges impact the preservation and transmission of ancestral rituals. It also considers the global dimension of ancestral worship among East Asian diaspora communities, examining how these rituals are maintained and adapted in multicultural contexts. Steven G. Smith, Millsaps College Responsibility Prompts: A Global-Critical Philosophical Approach to Ancestor Regard Abstract Can modern philosophers of religion take ancestor regard seriously? How might ancestor regard make a decisive and defensible contribution to the interpretation of life? This paper seeks to clarify the “ancestor” field of religious reference and proposes a new framing of its ideal significance. On the model of “life is a conference” (complementary to Knepper’s “life is a journey”), ancestors figure as stakeholders in shared life whose supposed presence in our councils distinctively activates ethical, historical, and religious forms of responsibility: ethical in occupying the role of Ideal Observers, historical in anchoring long-term group endeavors, and religious in representing ideal human relations with ultimate reality and value. The combination of these activations is a sweet spot for ambitious moral reflection. The principle of responsibility prompting makes normative sense of ancestor regard without depending on unconvincing and culturally less regulated speculation about souls or deities.
	A23-318 History of Christianity Unit and Religion in Europe Unit Theme: Violence on the Margins of Christianity: Medieval to Modern Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Lloyd Barba, Amherst College, Presiding This panel brings together three different perspectives on violence in the history of Christianity in response to the AAR Presidential call to understand violence in relation to "the hierarchical understanding of beings and valuation of their lives." Papers examine Christian and Jewish accounts of violence during the First Crusade (1096-1099); the political thought and theology of Martin Luther in response to the German Peasants’ War (1524-1525); and patterns of institutionalized violence in contemporary American Evangelicalism. Looking at narratives and structures that enforced otherness of religious identity, class, gender, and sexuality will enable a deep, comparative investigation of continuity and change in the reifying of boundaries between the centers and peripheries of the Christian world. Robbie Bendelius, The Rhineland Massacres and Religious Violence During the First Crusade Abstract This paper will elucidate how Christendom within popular imagination, spurred on by coalescing imperial identities, created and forced violence upon minority persons, such as Jews, in the build-up to the first crusade. While we think of the crusades as acts of war within the Near East, we need to disrupt this perceived binary of Christians and Muslims. Looking at the formations of modern antisemitism is more crucial than ever. This paper will look at the Jewish sources of the Rhineland massacres to understand the reception and reaction to Christian crusading ideology outside of a pure Christian/Muslim binary and to see how Christendom interacted with new ideas of national identity to purposefully and violently create an Other. This violence will be understood through theories of narrative fracture that unveil the continued trauma, even in narrating the accounts themselves. Tapio Leinonen, University of Helsinki Offering "an Opportunity to Come to Terms" before Taking the Sword. Luther on Princes, Peasants, and Peace. Abstract In May 1525, Luther published a fiery pamphlet titled Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants. Luther found little understanding for rebelling against legal authorities with violent actions, especially when conducted under the name of Christ. Before encouraging rulers to take the sword to strike the rebels down, he advised them to offer the peasants an opportunity to come to terms, “even though they are not worthy of it.” This paper presents a historical arch, examining the development of Luther’s political and theological thought behind the well-known pamphlet. The paper examines the shifts in the historical context affecting Luther’s theological connotations, claiming that the idea of peace as a primary solution remains in Luther’s societal teaching while promoting the ruler’s duty to carry the sword. The paper presents changes in Luther’s biblical teaching related to the lived experiences in the 1520s in the ever-changing societal and ecclesial realms. Keanu Heydari, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Celibate Gay Christians, Tradwives, and Christian Nationalists: The Discursive Regime of Mandatory Heterosexuality in Contemporary American Evangelicalism Abstract Informed by the new historiography of American evangelicalism and critical, queer, and feminist theory, this paper is a strategic intervention in the social and cultural history of the sexual politics of conservative evangelicalism in the United States. Relying on a careful analysis of a wide range of primary sources (e.g., autobiographical literature, social media posts, and church-adjacent documentation), I frame the seemingly disparate enunciative modalities of contemporary evangelical Christian intimacy as taking place within a dense cluster of related discursive regimes. Moreover, I connect these threads through their effects as examples of discursive violence.1 This cluster of discursive regimes produces new subjectivities that hinge on the violence(s) of mandatory heterosexuality, misogyny, and the normalization of patterns of institutionalized abuse and gendered violence. Case studies of “celibate Gay Christian” homonationalism, the imperial, white supremacist logics of “tradwives,” and the neo-Volkskörper of Christian Nationalism converge against the backdrop of rapidly changing coordinates of public space and place, ever increasing socio-economic precarity, and the decline of the public sphere under neoliberal capitalism. The paper includes a discussion of how these American-born cultural products are being exported elsewhere, especially to Europe.
	A23-319 Human Enhancement and Transhumanism Unit Theme: Justice, (In)humanity, and Moral Reasoning in Technological Enhancement Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Melanie Dzugan, Fuller Theological Seminary, Presiding The role of human enhancement technologies in ongoing wars, genocides, and political battles make it clear that the transhuman is a matter of urgent moral reasoning. How may technological enhancement protect mere humans, even in pursuit of a less violent humanity? This session, beginning with our first paper, interrogates the progress of moral enhancement in explicit consideration of race and slavery. Our second paper investigates the violent implications of Nietzsche’s “superhuman” for merely human life and suggest better transhumanist visions in the interest of humanity. The (lack of) appeal of human enhancement in African traditions is developed in our third paper. With this session, we push past weighing the risks and benefits of technological enhancement in order to more critically analyze the morality of mere humanity. Such work is urgent to address the challenges of technological enhancement in service of just peace. Blessing Emmanuel, University of Georgia Can Human enhancement technologies morally enhance humans? An African Perspective Abstract That the core of our humanity can be enhanced and edited innately by biotechnological and scientific innovations presupposes that the human being is essentially a biological, scientific, and technological creation. The bio-techno-scientific mode of being human no doubt enlivens transhumanist ideologies and other enthusiast about the possibilities of these innovations, as we all are inundated by a host of current and future projected technological developments which have defined and continue to redefine what it means to be human in diverse ways. This excitement however is not shared by the African traditional understanding of virtue, morality and what it means to be human. This paper highlights the ontological and normative perspective to being human within African tradition and argues that bio-moral enhancement has little to nothing to offer the African worldview, despite the acclaims it has garnered in current milleu. Nicholas Low, Harvard University Dreaming of Superhumans: Reactionary Eschatologies in the 21st Century Abstract This paper examines the “superhumanist” legacy of Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy in contemporary reactionary movements, and shows that they promote a dark metaphysics that contains a hierarchized eschotology of exclusion and violence. The paper looks at two specific strains of this reactionary “superhumanism” – effective accelerationism, and “BAPism” – traces their legacies in Nietzsche’s thought, and argues that they owe their popular appeal in part to their superhuman ambitions, their "eschtaological" scope. In other words, I suggest that while these movements engender frightening political programs and messages, their appeal and power is ultimately grounded in their visions of superhumanity, and therefore speaks to an ontological dissatisfaction with merely “human” life. I conclude with thoughts about how to respond to these reactionary movements, and consider what competing visions of superhumanity might be able to contest them. Daniel Crouch, Baylor University The Need for Moral Enhancement and the Possibility of “Going Off the Rails” Abstract This paper is concerned with moral bio-enhancements (MBE) and parsing out what we might reasonably expect from such a technology—and where we might remain skeptical. To this end, I take up Jason Eberl’s argument regarding the role of prudence in moral enhancement, demonstrating how, from a distinctively Thomistic perspective, bio-enhancements may offer us a real possibility for moral improvement, including in ways Eberl himself discounts. Yet, despite these possibilities for moral enhancement, there remains constraints for what MBE can provide. By noting similarities between Eberl’s account and American philosopher Cora Diamond’s analysis of moral reasoning concerning race and slavery, I suggest that the limitations we encounter in MBE should temper our hopes for substantial moral progress. Diamond demonstrates to us that the ability to reason more rigorously concerning moral questions—to exercise our prudence—cannot guarantee even the most basic level of moral agreement necessary for a healthy society. Business Meeting Jacob Boss, Queen's University, Presiding
	A23-321 International Development and Religion Unit Theme: Faith Traditions in Transformation: Bridging Development, Conservation, and Social Justice Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Olivia Wilkinson, Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities, Presiding This panel explores the role of faith traditions in addressing contemporary global challenges related to international development, environmental conservation, social justice, and peacebuilding. Through four papers, it investigates how faith-based perspectives and initiatives contribute to sustainable development, environmental stewardship, equitable social practices, and the fight against modern slavery and human trafficking. The panel examines diverse case studies, such as the environmental conservation efforts among Cambodia's Bunong community, the nuanced roles of Muslim-led humanitarian INGOs in conflict zones, the contributions of faith communities to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the work of religious sisters in combating human exploitation. By bringing together scholars, practitioners, and faith leaders, this panel fosters a rich dialogue on the evolving role of faith in addressing global challenges, highlighting the importance of understanding and inclusion of religious perspectives in international development agendas for a just, sustainable, and peaceful world. Titus Payne, Christian Conversion, Indigenous Bunong Animism, and Environmental Conservation in Cambodia. Abstract This paper presents the case study of the Bunong, an indigenous group in Cambodia, to explore how Christian conversion affects environmental conservation efforts and the interplay between secular and religious values in conservation programs. This research sheds light on the nuanced ways in which religious conversion, particularly to Christianity, impacts the Bunong community's relationship with their ancestral lands and the broader environmental conservation initiatives in the region. It raises critical questions about how conservation INGOs navigate and negotiate the boundaries of secular and religious values, highlighting the complexities at the intersection of faith, indigenous rights, and environmental sustainability. Gerald FitzGerald, George Mason University Examining the Nexus of Anti-Muslim Discrimination and Information Manipulation, and its Ramifications on Humanitarian Relief and Development Aid. Abstract This paper explores the escalating phenomenon of information manipulation campaigns targeting Muslim-led humanitarian relief and development aid International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) based in the United States. Against a backdrop of geopolitical instability and evolving conflicts, it investigates the perpetrators, methods, and repercussions of such attacks. Through a series of research questions, it delves into the actors behind the manipulation, their arguments, dissemination channels, and funding sources. By bridging gaps in existing literature, it aims to shed light on the tactics used to disrupt INGO operations and impede their information-sharing functions. Ultimately, this research contributes to understanding the dynamics of a particular slice of the "Islamophobia industry" and highlights the detrimental effects of information manipulation on humanitarian efforts, policymaking, and financial access for US-based Muslim-led humanitarian relief INGOs, underscoring the urgent need for countermeasures to safeguard humanitarian work. Moti Daba Fufa, United States Institute of Peace Faith, Justice, and Sustainable Development: How Can Faith Communities Contribute to the Post-2030 Development Agenda Abstract This paper explores the potential contributions of faith communities to the post-2030 development agenda, particularly in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It examines the roles of faith-based organizations, religious leaders, and spiritual values in addressing complex challenges such as poverty, inequality, and environmental sustainability. This research underscores the unique moral authority and capacity of faith communities to mobilize for social cohesion, policy advocacy, and ethical development practices. It also highlights the importance of interfaith collaboration and dialogue in leveraging diverse perspectives, resources, and networks for inclusive and equitable development. Shafaat Saleem, Nova University, Lisbon How Faith Based Organizations Contribute Or Hinder Development In Pakistan ? The Case Of Al-Khidmat Foundation Abstract Paper explores the interactions between religion and development by analyzing the case of the Al-Khidmat Foundation (AKF) in Karachi, Pakistan. Studying AKF, the paper discusses how Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) draw on religious ideas and practices to conduct social welfare and development projects. I explore the meaning, mission, and characteristics of FBOs, in terms of their religious and political affiliations in Karachi. Findings show the emerging role of faith/religion in community development, as a counterpoint to the modern notions of secularisation. It argues that AKF occupies vantage positions over ‘non-religious’ or mainstream organizations, in terms of resources, enhanced access, and religious legitimacy. However, AKF has also been criticized for its conservative, proselytizing, and political development agendas. Such characteristics contradict the mainstream and secular discourse of development and call for a strategic and nuanced engagement of local faith actors – and therefore religion, into global development. Business Meeting Christopher Duncanson-Hales, University of Sudbury, Presiding
	A23-322 Jain Studies Unit Theme: Between Tradition and Modernity: 19th, 20th and 21st Century Jain Mendicant Leaders Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Anil Mundra, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, Presiding This panel focuses centrally on the seminal role that Jain mendicant leaders of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries have played in translating tradition into modernity, thereby transforming their notions of this binary altogether. It examines and compares four highly influential 20th- and 21st-century Jain Śvetāmbara and Digambara mendicant leaders, and their multiple methods of adapting Jain practices for the modern period which often depend upon an engaged Jain lay community. Despite having outsized influences on the transmission, translation, and adaptation of the Jain tradition into the modern period, no panel to date has taken a microscopic look at the actions and sensibilities of influential Jain mendicant leaders who have reshaped the Jain religious landscape as we know it today. By doing so, we come to appreciate the fluidity of the categories of “tradition” and the “modern,” and understand that both are at play and reconceptualized. Venu Mehta, Claremont School of Theology Fortifying the Tradition through the Icon: Ātmārāmajī Mahārāj’s Vision for Reforming Jainism in Modern India Abstract Ātmārāmajī Mahārāj (1837-1896) is the popular name of the Jain ācārya Vijayananda Surī, a Śvetāmbara Mūrtipūjaka Jain mendicant leader in the late 19th century. Ātmārāmajī saw the need for reforming Jainism in the western and northern parts of a colonized India in response to the growing influence of Hindu practices and ideals and to the aniconic sentiments of the Sthānakavāsīs (non-image worshipping Jains) and a contemporary Hindu reformation leader Dayānanda Sarasavatī (1824-1883) of the Ārya Samāj, a Hindu Indian reform movement. By exploring Ātmārāmajī’s The Chicago Praśnottara (1892-93) and Ajñānatimīra-bhāskara (1882) as well as his own autobiographical accounts found in various sources, this paper discusses how Ātmārāmajī navigated the tradition of the Jain mūrti-pūjā—practices associated with worshipping an icon that form the ritual praxis of particular Jain sects—through the modern period as part of his vision to reform Jainism in the modern period. Corinne Smith, SOAS University of London Kānjī Svāmī: The Transmission of the Adhyātmik Tradition in the Modern Era Abstract This paper discusses the role of technology in the dissemination and preservation of the teachings of Kānjī Svāmī (1890 – 1980). His religious career as an independent Jain leader began in the 1930s, delivering daily lectures on adhyātma, and most frequently on the Samayasāra of Kundakunda. I argue that the community’s use of technology and updating to the latest modes was significant in spreading these teachings into the modern age. Kānjī Svāmī was well-known for his oratory skills and never composed a single written work during his career. His followers certainly exploited the oral nature of Kānjī Svāmī’s teachings to great effect via audio recordings which began from the 1950s onwards using different analogue formats through to the digital age. Keeping pace with the latest technological trends and advancements allowed the preservation and transmission of oral content to audiences, which contributed to the successful growth of the movement. Pratibha Pragya, Mahāprajña’s Exegetical Approach in Ācārāṅga-bhāṣyam Abstract This paper investigates the exegetical approach of Śvetāmbara Terāpanthi leader Ācārya Mahāprajña (1920-2010) in order to illustrate how a learned Jain mendicant leader adapted his exegetical style for a modern context. Mahāprajña’s commentary on the canonical text of the Ācārāṅga Sūtra or his Ācārāṅga-bhāṣyam reinterprets ancient Jaina descriptions of ascetic practice and proposes a new format for understanding scripture tailored for a contemporary audience. He strongly believed that it is difficult to understand Jaina canonical literature without understanding Vedic, Buddhist and Āyurvedic sources. He was explicit about the sources and constructive method of his modern exegetical practices, divorcing himself from the traditional approach set by the oldest commentaries of the Niryukti, which the poetic compositions of older Jain commentators followed. I argue that his reliance on an “end-note” type of commentary (ṭippaṇa), rather than proposing a mere textual adaptation of the chosen text, redefined contemporary approaches to scriptural exegesis. Lynna Dhanani, University of California, Davis Preserving Knowledge: Jambūvijaya and the Jaisalmer Bhaṇḍār Abstract This paper will show how the learned Jain scholar-monk Jambūvijaya (1923-2009) opened the archives to the West while simultaneously revamping indigenous understandings of knowledge-preservation through his enormously successful cataloguing, scanning, copying, and digitizing efforts at the Jaisalmer bhaṇḍār or Jain manuscript libraries located at the Jaisalmer Fort in the Rajasthani desert. Western and Asian scholars, such as Daniel Ingalls, Paul Dundas, Nalini Balbir, Shin Fujinaga, John E. Cort, Maria Heim, and dozens of others, benefited from Jambūvijaya’s intellectual prowess, curiosity, and generosity from the 1950s onward. Jain studies, specifically, would not have advanced without his manuscript cataloguing work, critical editions, and independent writings. His willingness to use modern methods alongside traditional ones and engage local and international scholars opened the treasures of the Jaisalmer bhaṇḍār (and other Jain libraries) to the world. Despite such influence and output, there remain limited studies of his collective influence on Jain and Indological studies.
	A23-323 Moral Injury and Recovery in Religion, Society, and Culture Unit Theme: Moral Injury in the Context of State and Cultural Violence Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Brian Powers, Durham University, Presiding This session will explore the capacity and limits of the concept of moral injury to describe particular kinds of harm suffered in wartime and in situations of racist discrimination and violence. Papers offer examinations of the language and concepts that undergird understandings of violence, guilt and morally injurious circumstances in the contexts of Anti-Asian hatred in the US during the COVID pandemic and its aftermath, the Colombian civil war, and the current US defense posture and its philosophical frameworks. Kristine Chong, Shay Moral Injury Center at Volunteers of America Russell Jeung, San Francisco State University Anti-Asian Hate and Moral Injury: Social Healing through Reclaiming Moral Virtues, Collective Action, and Meaning Making Abstract Focusing on the testimonies and movements that emerged during the surge of anti-Asian racism and hate during the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper will explore the causes and manifestations of moral injury among Asian Americans in the United States, through the lens of gendered, ageist, and xenophobic violence against individuals and communities. Reflecting on Asian Americans’ processes of reclaiming moral virtues, taking collective action, and making meaning, we will identify lessons on social healing, noting the challenges and possibilities of restorative justice approaches in processing moral injury and building communal resilience. Ana Maria Rodriguez Alfonso, Boston University Moral Injury, Normalization of Evil, and Decolonial Theory in the analysis of perpetrators' discourse and a liberationist response Abstract This paper will examine the analysis of paramilitary perpetrators’ narratives concerning their involvement in mass crimes during the Colombian civil war, focusing on individuals who do not exhibit typical symptoms of moral injury like remorse or guilt. Through the theoretical frameworks of normalization of evil and decolonial theory, I will explore these narratives. Divided into three parts, the paper will first discuss Carlos Mauricio García Fernández's book, "No divulgar hasta que los implicados estén muertos," detailing the experiences of a former commander of the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia - AUC, whose behavior diverges from traditional perceptions of moral injury. Subsequently, I will delve into the concept of normalization of evil, juxtaposed with decolonial theory, to elucidate how assimilation to oppressive structures enabled perpetrators' involvement in heinous acts. Finally, I will explore potential ethical frameworks that liberation theology can offer to address these narratives. Rosemary Kellison, Florida State University Moral Injury, Grief, and the Violence of War Abstract Neither of the two primary ethical traditions that address U.S. military force—pacifism and just war reasoning—frame their critiques in terms of violence, instead using the category of “war.” Drawing on Judith Butler’s work on nonviolence, I suggest that increased attention to the violence of war grounds a critical perspective that centers the human beings who suffer the harms and devastation wrought by war. Butler’s nonviolence is grounded in a commitment to the equal grievability of all human beings. The testimonies of servicemembers who have suffered moral injury after participating in war demonstrate how the embodied, relational experience of grief can generate a new, human-centered critical discourse on the violence of war. Business Meeting Brian Powers, Durham University, Presiding
	A23-324 Nineteenth Century Theology Unit and Schleiermacher Unit Theme: Roundtable Discussion: The Oxford History of Modern German Theology, vol. I: 1781-1848 Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Sheila Briggs, University of Southern California, Presiding This roundtable discussion will consider the themes and approaches of the recent volume, Oxford History of Modern German Theology, volume 1: 1781–1848, edited by Grant Kaplan and Kevin M. Vander Schel. This volume is the first in a three-volume critical history of modern German theology from 1781 to 2000, edited by Johannes Zachhuber, David Lincicum, and Judith Wolfe. It provides the most comprehensive English language overview to date of the central debates, intellectual movements, and historical events that have shaped modern German theology from the late 1700s to the 1848 revolutions. Additionally, it pays attention to topics often neglected in earlier overviews of this period, such as the position of Judaism in modern German society, the intersection of race and religion, and the influence of social history on nineteenth-century theological debates. Panelists Judith Wolfe, University of Saint Andrews Hans Schwarz, University of Regensburg Jonathan Mumme, Concordia University, Wisconsin Grant Kaplan, Saint Louis University
	A23-325 North American Religions Unit Theme: Pedagogies of Racial Capitalism: Contesting Capitalist Subject Formation in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century American Institutions Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Isaac Weiner, Ohio State University, Presiding This roundtable seeks to excavate pedagogies of racial capitalism - and challenges to those pedagogies - that animated the creation of a variety of institutions and institutional innovations in the nineteenth- and twentieth-centuries. While capitalism is often considered in the abstract as economic philosophy or political ideology, the historical process it describes was lived or embodied in the religious ontologies of its mediating institutions. Contributors examine African-American repatriation companies, Protestant churches, Fordist factories, business schools, vocational training programs, and agricultural curricula at land-grant universities to show how religious logics of colonial conquest and resource extraction persisted in the secular expressions of education, reform, and management. While centering on the North American context, this roundtable traces these institutions’ engagement with global networks of missionaries, scholars, and businesspeople through which racialized thought and exploitative practices were both produced and challenged. Panelists Deonnie Moodie, University of Oklahoma Heath Carter, Princeton Theological Seminary Kati Curts, Sewanee: The University of the South Timothy Rainey, St. Olaf College Chad Seales, University of Texas, Austin Daniel Vaca, Brown University
	A23-326 Political Theology Unit Theme: Insecurities: Beyond Religious (Non)Violence Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Michelle Sanchez, Harvard University, Presiding This panel explores ways in which the intricate ties between law and violence play out in the sovereign figure of the state, particularly as questions of (in)security emerge at the center of modern political life. Panelists will analyze the underlying religious foundation that sanctions law/violence within the various domains of the state such as the secular civil disobedience movements, the U.S. elections, the counterinsurgent warfar against the Islamic communities in the U.S. and climate politics. Isak Tranvik, The Myth of Religious Nonviolence Abstract This paper draws on the insights of scholars of the secular to interrogate the foundation upon which contemporary theories of nonviolence--and civil disobedience, more specifically--rest: what I call the "myth of religious nonviolence." In short, no such thing exists; just as “religion” cannot precipitate violence, it does not cause nonviolence. I contend that post-war attempts to link religion and nonviolence in the aftermath of Indian Independence and the American Freedom Movement betray a misunderstanding of both religion and nonviolence and, in turn, reveal more about the preoccupations of post-war political philosophy than either phenomena. Namely, they illustrate that religious nonviolence, understood as a primarily or essentially communicative (rather than coercive) approach to public life underpinned by the dissident’s “religious” commitments, was invented to buttress secular accounts of civil disobedience and constitutional democracy and integrate nonviolence into their nascent theories of democracy. Adam Kotsko, North Central College The Katechōn, the Man of Lawlessness, and the Most Important Election of Our Lifetimes Abstract This paper proposes to look in a perhaps unexpected place for insight into the 2024 election: the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, which introduces a strange apocalyptic narrative in which the katechōn or “restrainer” holds back the depredations of the “man of lawlessness.” Applying this framework to the two-party system in the US, this paper shows that each party casts itself in the role of katechōn and its opponent in the role of “man of lawlessness,” turning every election into an apocalyptic showdown in which the forces of evil may triumph once and for all. Drawing on Giorgio Agamben’s attempted secularization of Second Thessalonians’ apocalyptic myth in The Mystery of Evil, the paper argues that the very urgency of always staving off “the worst” is in fact the true force of chaos and destruction, actively preventing us from constructing a livable political and economic order. Kyong-Jin Lee, The Violence of the State of Exception and Macrosecuritization in Climate Politics Abstract The intersection of insecurity and exception applied in climate politics is examined through an engagement of Giorgio Agamben’s theory on the limit—more specifically, violence—of law in modern politics. Agamben maintains that the sovereign law, or more precisely the sovereign ban, is applied to disasters, catastrophes, and emergencies which are increasingly becoming ubiquitous conditions of modern life. This constant declaration of the state of exception reveals that the law is in force but without concrete significance. The essential problem with the normalization of the state of exception might be summarized as the sovereign power’s separation between law and life, while replacing it with indistinction between law and violence. This discussion seeks to understand the conceptual mechanisms and processes that enable familiar apocalyptic ideas such as risk and crisis that activate the state of exception, and consequently legitimize and authorize the unleashing of violence in full complicity with law. Mohamad Jarada, Counterinsurgent Force: Islam and Speculative Violence Abstract This paper engages with the intractable fact that Islamic communities in the United States have become sites that express the force of counterinsurgent warfare. As the War on Terror persists, both abroad and domestically, it has developed its weapons and technologies by virtue of taking Islamic forms of life and their spaces as its experimental means. This has intimately reverberated across local Islamic communities in the US, who have felt the pressures of surveillance, capture, and racial violence most intimately inside mosques and within their souls. This paper depicts an experience of counterinsurgent warfare with particular attention to the practices of securitization that are wielded for and against Islamic communities who are deemed prone to domestic terrorism. Fundamentally, the aim of the paper is to conceptualize the mode of violence that is animated by securitization and the counterinsurgent force that perpetuates the use of security technologies within Islamic life. Responding Christopher C. Brittain, Trinity College, Toronto Business Meeting An Yountae, California State University, Northridge, Presiding Michelle Sanchez, Harvard University, Presiding
	A23-327 Publications Committee Theme: From Dissertation to Book (to Next Book) Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Margaret Kamitsuka, Oberlin College and Conservatory, Presiding The process of turning a dissertation into a book mystifies most newly minted PhDs. The second book equally confounding. Carey C. Newman, Executive Editor, Fortress Press, addresses the questions surrounding both the first and next book based on his 30 years of experience as a midwife for academic books. Prior to joining Fortress, Newman was director of Baylor University Press and served as senior editor for academic books at Westminster John Knox Press. Newman has also held numerous academic appointments and is himself the author of several academic books. Dr. Newman will share insights from his newly published, Mango Tree: The Artistry and Alchemy of Writing (Friendship Press, 2023). Professor Margaret Kamitsuka, who serves on the AAR Publications Committee, will convene this session, which will include ample time for Q&A. Panelists Carey Newman, Executive Editor, Fortress Press
	A23-328 Quaker Studies Unit Theme: Quakers, Fellow Travelers, Racial Justice, and Peace Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Andrew Taylor, College of St. Scholastica, Presiding This panel examines how two “fellow travelers” of the Quakers, Charles C. Burleigh (1810-1878) and Bayard Rustin (1912-1987), theorized and practiced the relationship between pacifism and racial justice in their respective political projects. A broader discussion with an esteemed respondent will explore how Quaker attitudes toward racial justice transformed from the Civil War through the mid-twentieth century. Jennifer Rycenga, San Jose State University American Abolitionist Non-Violence as Seen in the Life of Charles C. Burleigh (1810-1878): Uniting Philosophy, Practice, and Religious Eclecticism Abstract Charles Calistus Burleigh (1810-1878) was a proponent of Immediate Abolition who was also a committed adherent to principles of peace and non-violence. His pacifism and non-resistant ideas were tried in actual struggle, as he was present at some infamous attacks upon the Abolitionists, such as the attempt in Boston to attack William Lloyd Garrison (1835) and the destruction of Pennsylvania Hall (1838). Based primarily on original archival research, this presentation looks at his combination of theory and practice, aided by an eclectic approach to religious resources from groups as disparate as the Congregationalists, Baptists and Quakers, that highlight how Burleigh's direct engagement with the struggle helped accelerate the diffusion of non-violent ideas from many sources into a genuine practice that, despite its shortcomings, can speak to issues of social justice that remain cogent today, including race, gender, capital punishment and the violence of war. Martha Reineke, University of Northern Iowa Bayard Rustin’s Quakerism: A Radical Habitus Abstract Scholars have underplayed Bayard Rustin’s Quakerism. Labeled a “Gandhian,” Rustin is said to have prioritized techniques Gandhi tested in India over biblically-based teachings about nonviolence from a distant past. Gandhi did influence Rustin; however, I argue that Quakerism played a key role, as shown in Rustin’s “holy experiments'' at the Ashland Federal Penitentiary and at interracial institutes he organized. Rustin’s Quakerism is revealed as a radical habitus (N. Crossley). Rustin called on fellow Quakers to “expend our energies in developing a creative method of dealing non-violently with conflict,” to “make war impossible in ourselves and then make it impossible in society,” and to share with others what Quakers already have at hand: “a pattern for a ‘way of life that can do away with the occasion of war.’” Rustin’s experiments, grounded in this “way of life,” powerfully influenced non-violent direct actions he organized. Responding Emma Lapsansky-Werner, Haverford College Business Meeting David Harrington Watt, Haverford College, Presiding
	A23-329 Queer Studies in Religion Unit Theme: Melissa M. Wilcox: Honoring A Decades-Long Commitment to Queer and Trans Studies in Religion Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Sahin Acikgoz, University of California, Riverside, Presiding This panel will honor Melissa M. Wilcox’s decades-long contribution to the field of queer and trans studies in religion through her mentorship, service, advocacy, activism, and scholarship. In addition to co-founding a pioneering open-access journal, QTR: A Journal of Trans and Queer Studies in Religion, and co-editing the new book series, Hauntings: Trans, Queer, Religion, Wilcox has been the director of the Holstein Dissertation Fellowship in queer and trans studies in religion as well as the chair of the program committee for the UCR Conference on Queer and Trans Studies in Religion, which had its sixth successful annual meeting in February 2024. Panelists will not only talk about the profound impact that Wilcox’s scholarship and community building efforts have had on the queer and trans world of studying religion but also celebrate the labor and pivotal contributions of one of the most important and intellectually generous scholars writing/working today. Panelists Laurel C. Schneider, Vanderbilt University Janet R. Jakobsen, Barnard College Joseph A. Marchal, Ball State University Heather White, University of Puget Sound Kathryn Phillips, Defiance College Responding Melissa M. Wilcox, University of California, Riverside
	A23-330 Religion and Popular Culture Unit Theme: Modern Love: Dating and Romance at the Intersection of Religion and Popular Culture Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM America Wolff, Florida State University, Presiding Contemporary romance is indelibly shaped by dating apps, social media influencers and reality television shows. The papers on this panel explore how romance, marriage and dating practices-- and the the religious norms that condemn or sanction them-- are transformed through the media of popular culture. Morgane Thonnart, Independent Scholar Cultivating an Ethic of Relationships and Marriage Across Media: The Work of Yasmin Elhady Abstract Worried about a rising rate of unhappy marriages, several Muslim authority figures have extensively discussed the need to protect marital unions. Beyond religious professionals, cultural producers are also leading conversations around marriage preservation in the American Muslim communities (Thonnart 2023). Understanding the leadership role of cultural producers in shaping religious communities (Jackson 2017), this paper considers the stakes of their socio-religious activism; and how various platforms and (art) forms are mobilized to (re-)imagine the culture of marriage today. One such cultural producer is Yasmin Elhady. Wearing many hats, the former matchmaker has become actively involved in the American Muslim community as a comic and relationship advisor. This paper examines the ethic of relationships and marriage that she articulates and cultivates through her public interventions. It shows how she actively engages members of the Muslim community about becoming “proactive protectors of our union.” (Elhady 2020). Elonda Clay, Vrije University Amsterdam The dating game is rigged but play along anyway": Black Women's Dating App Stories, Digital Sexual Racism, and Shifting Religious Norms Abstract How do new digital dating practices and technologies challenge, entrench, or reanimate religious norms and values, offering insights into the evolving relationship between faith, sexuality, and digital culture among black women? In this paper, I explore dating story videos of black women content creators on social media, focusing on their experiences navigating dating apps, dating interactions in physical and digital sites, and their resulting dating advice. This study stands out by integrating digital womanist ethics to understand the sexual racism and gendered harassment that black women encounter online. By examining popular videos under the hashtags #blackwomendating and #singleblackfemale, this study examines how black women express their sexual and gender identities in digital spaces. These videos bring to light the challenges of digital-sexual racism, interracial dating dynamics, opaque algorithms, and socio-religious pressures of “dating down”, accepting “struggle love”, and remaining “humble” while dating. Ellen Sandin, Prime Time Love and Marriage: The Religious Influence of the K-1 Visa Process as seen on “90 Day Fiancé” Abstract This paper examines the portrayal of religious influence in the creation and immigration process of the K-1 visa, as showcased in the popular reality TV show "90 Day Fiancé." Through an analysis of the show's depiction of couples navigating the complexities of intercultural relationships, the broader religious influences shaping American immigration policies and practices are examined. Drawing upon the experiences of couples featured on "90 Day Fiancé", I argue how religion serves as a significant factor in the K-1 visa process. The cultural contexts and dynamics between couples of different religious backgrounds as shown on "90 Day Fiancé", highlight the profound impact of religion on immigrant experiences in the United States. Furthermore, the portrayal of religion in media, particularly reality television, is considered.
	A23-331 Religion and Public Schools: International Perspectives Unit Theme: Identity, Religion, and Education: Comparative Perspectives Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Angela Bernardo, Sapienza University of Rome, Presiding Identity, religion, and education are closely interconnected. Identification with a specific religion shapes individuals’ self- perception and self-representation. These two aspects of identity can be deeply influenced by the ways in which schooling systems approach the concept of religion and religious education, considered as education provided from both an outsider and an insider perspective. The papers in this session bring together case studies from Europe and Asia that provide insights into the relationship between identity, religion, and education. They examine how a sense of belonging to a religious tradition is influenced and shaped by community and state dynamics, both nationally and globally, as well as the spaces within educational settings for negotiating religious identity and its related issues. Leonie Geiger, Negotiating "Religion" in German School Life: Ethnographic Insights into Marginalization, Exclusion, and Pupil Agency within Religious Education Lessons Abstract This paper presents the research results of a one-year ethnographic field study in a school class in Germany on the topic of negotiation processes of “religion” in the everyday school life of pupils. It will illustrate how non-Christian pupils experienced marginalization and exclusion and examine these situations in detail. To achieve this, religious education lessons, in particular, will be considered, focusing on the understandings of “religion” taught there and the exclusions it creates. After all, if “religion” was negotiated among the pupils, then a significant part of it either took place during these lessons or was initiated by topics taught there. However, while focusing on the manifestations and intersections of violence, this paper argues that these mechanisms can only be adequately understood if the agency of the pupils are also considered. They were often not passive in situations of discrimination but were able to actively shape and turn these situations. Abantee Harun, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh Madrasa Education in Bangladesh: Politics and Current Debates Abstract Madrasas, educational institutions for Islamic knowledge, have become controversial in Bangladesh and globally due to religious sentiments and political complexities. Public interest in madrasas and Islamic scholars has surged since the 2000s, but oversimplified views often portray them as scapegoats for societal challenges. State-driven reform initiatives fail to recognize madrasas' unique developmental paths and their ties to society. This paper conducts a comparative review of madrasa education within community and state dynamics to offer a nuanced understanding. Examining Bangladesh's madrasa history from medieval to post-liberation eras reveals socio-political influences. It argues that Islamic education is entangled with modernity, secularism, and globalization amid political turmoil and global capitalism's dynamics. Responding Kate Soules, Religion & Education Collaborative Business Meeting Angela Bernardo, Sapienza University of Rome, Presiding Kate Soules, Religion & Education Collaborative, Presiding

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