In-person November Annual Meeting 2025 Program Book
All time are listed in Eastern Time Zone.
Please note that this schedule is subject to change and is currently being updated. Please excuse our appearance as we finalize the schedule. If you have any questions, please contact annualmeeting@aarweb.org.
Lutheran Scholars Network (LSN) is sponsoring this pre-AAR workshop on Luther and mysticism. Our focus is emerging scholarship, in particular: 1) Luther in view of medieval antecedents; 2) critical work on early 20th century connections to German nationalism; 3) ecumenical mysticism during times of crisis; 4) constructive spiritual and political practices. Keynotes by JT Paasch and Aristotle Papanikolaou.
The conference takes place on Thursday, Nov. 20 (4pm-7pm) and Friday, Nov. 21 (9:30am-5:30pm). All interested are invited; program will be sent to you when you send an email intent to participate to Christine Helmer: c-helmer@northwestern.edu
Friday, 10:15 AM - 11:15 AM | Hynes Convention Center, 311 (Third…Session ID: P21-108
This interdisciplinary panel investigates the evolving conceptions of women, gender, and freedom through literary, philosophical, and performative traditions across four major Dharma traditions: Jainism, Sikhism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. The selected papers draw from a rich archive of premodern and early modern texts, artistic representations, devotional narratives, and vernacular poetics to interrogate the layered and context-dependent meanings of gendered agency and religious identity. The panel asks: How have Dharma traditions historically framed questions of gender and freedom? In what ways do women-centered narratives offer models for ethical, emotional, or spiritual liberation? And how do these frameworks respond to or complicate contemporary understandings of self, body, and community? In sum, this panel seeks to meaningfully engage ongoing scholarly conversations on gender and freedom by centering the roles, voices, and interpretive agency of women within diverse Dharma traditions. Through a comparative lens, the panel not only facilitates interreligious dialogue but also invites a critical reexamination of received narratives concerning freedom, ethics, and spiritual authority. By bringing Jain, Sikh, Hindu, and Buddhist traditions into sustained conversation, this panel offers new insights into the historically situated and evolving expressions of gendered religiosity.
Papers
.
.
.
.
Friday, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM | Hynes Convention Center, 108 (Plaza…Session ID: A21-104
This pre-conference workshop will explore the potential for resistance within certain media forms, specifically exploring how religious and spiritual communities engage with media as a way to counter dominant discourses. These counter-voices may be speaking against injustices within religious institutions or working to dismantle larger systems of oppression in society. The structure of the workshop will include 2-3 keynote presentations from scholars who are working on research in the area of counter-media, resistance, and religion. Following the keynote presentations, participants will engage in roundtable discussions about the presentations, their own research interests, and theories discussed in a selection of assigned readings. This workshop will be ideal for participants interested in activism within religious communities, alternative media forms, and theories around resistance and media.
Friday, 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM | Hynes Convention Center, 110 (Plaza…Session ID: A21-106
