In-person November Annual Meeting 2025 Program Book

This paper explores sadomasochism as a methodological entry point for studying trans/queer life and religion under its present oppressive policing by the United States government. Namely, it seeks to reposition the “more-than-human” turn away from “queer ecology” and the inherent queerness of the body towards, instead, the religious sensations of rendering and being rendered into meat. Centering BDSM and kink as methods exposes the pleasure in the pain of studying that which hurts, especially as a trans woman studying my own subjugation. If BDSM explores the perforated boundaries between pain and pleasure, a safe avenue for embracing pain and trauma felt as uncontrollable sexual ecstasy, I similarly position religious studies as a sensational reenactment of my own control by the state, my rendering as meat, and the economies of un/freedom that both harm me and make up the genuine pleasure I feel from studying religion. 

This paper interrogates self-subjugation and the putative dichotomy of freedom/unfreedom in works by Dominique Aury, Emily Dickinson, and Chris Kraus, opening the door to new considerations of relations between the erotic and the mystical. Histoire d’O (1954) has frequently been compared to works of Christian mysticism, predicated on the assumption that both the subjected erotic heroine and the mystic abnegates her ‘self’ in relation to an all-powerful Other. Drawing from Kant, Hegel, and Lacan, I argue that the relation between the protagonists of these erotic texts and Christian writers such as Teresa of Avila is rather that both assume the role of the bride in the Song of Songs: by addressing themselves entirely to absent masters, they fragment hierarchized distinctions of self/Other and freedom/unfreedom, thus laying bare the inextricability of lover and beloved, and standing in hungry, desirous relationality to artmaking, to others, and to language itself.

Being promiscuous lovers and praying to an irreducible God can be talked about more, and especially as theology itself. The work of Rowan Williams on theological integrity, the anti-capitalist theology of Marcella Althaus-Reid, and the vast, eclectic, transdisciplinary archive of psychosocial and critical religious theorists can bring together compelling evidence of this hopeful turn in theological anthropology. This paper will reflect on the merging of queer and subversive sexuality and holiness by speaking to the experience of spiritual strippers and sex workers. This paper hopes to contribute to the furthering of a queer and sapphic theology unapologetic and radically committed to the work strippers do at the pole to bring irreducible objects of desire and forms of healing into theirs and others' lives.

This paper discusses potentially negative consequences of the Lutheran principle of Sola Scriptura in light of three theoretical approaches: Reichel's understanding of theology as affordances, hermeneutical conditions for understanding, and psychological theory that points to the negative consequences of the neglect of experience/feeling, with the concomitant effect of insecurity, lack of self-reliance, and immature dependence on authorities.  Thereby, it shows the potential of this doctrine for supplying a theology that creates pathologies. Against the backdrop of a discussion of such pathologies, which includes an analysis of an empirical example, the paper also moves on to suggest what elements in Lutheran doctrine that can contribute to the avoidance of such pathologies. 

This paper argues that the Confession of Sin can create shame for queer Lutherans who participate in church bodies (both local and national) that do not affirm their sexual orientation.  I use Reichel's notion of an "Affordance" as a resistance strategy for queer Lutherans who choose to remain in such Lutheran bodies. Furthermore, I argue for a a renewed process for how one comes to understand oneself and one's sin that can help the Confession of Sin and doctrine of justification by faith can be liberating and transformative for those who seek the Holy Spirit's action in the transformation and sanctification of queer lives and loves. 

Drawing on a qualitative study of how young people in Christian youth ministries theologize about existential dilemmas related to sin and shame, this paper explores the affordances and dis-affordances (Reichel, 2023) of the Lutheran doctrine of sin. The study discloses an unresolved ambiguity: the liberating force of the doctrine of sin, as theologized by the young people, is not connected to what they describe as their primary existential dilemma – a profound sense of shame. Taking the approach of theology as design (Reichel, 2023), the paper points to how the doctrine of sin could be made more relevant to the young people’s lived experiences if it were to integrate the language of shame more explicitly. To make such a move we draw on Hartmut Rosa’s theory of resonance (Rosa, 2019) and particularly the concept of categorial inadequacy related to the Lutheran understanding of sin as being curved in on oneself.

This paper examines the Abhidharma Buddhist debates, preserved within the translation corpus of Xuanzang 玄奘 (602?-664 C.E.), the Sinitic scholar-monk of the Tang Dynasty, regarding whether the “intermediate being” (Skt.: antarābhava) has the capacity to generate new karma. Furthermore, if an intermediate being, the “extremely subtle” (Skt.: accha) embodied form that persists throughout the “intermediate state” (Skt.: antarābhava), the interstitial space and time between the biological death and the gross corporeal rebirth of an “individual sentient being” (Skt.: ātmabhāva; Chi: ziti自體), has the capacity to generate new karma, when and how are its consequences realized? 

How does Buddhism conceptualize human agency and subjecthood? Buddhist ontology critiques the notion of a permanent self (ātman), advocating instead the doctrine of non-self (anātman). It upholds karma as the governing force behind human actions and conventional phenomena. This raises a critical question: How can anātman be reconciled with the soteriological goal of liberating all sentient beings—a task requiring a volitional, compassionate agent? A metaphor in Buddhist sūtra—mechanical wooden figure (jiguanmuren 機關木人, Skt. vetāla-yantra)—symbolizes the constructed nature of human existence and dependent origination in a karmic reality. By analyzing this metaphor in Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra and Gaṇḍavyūha-sūtra, alongside Chinese commentaries, this paper argues that its interpretive diversity reflects ongoing efforts to reconcile the deterministic nature of karma with the conditions necessary for a subjecthood for compassion. This discourse gained prominence during the late imperial period as Buddhists increasingly engaged with the phenomenological aspects of reality and the intersubjective nature of mind.

The “karmic” worldview stands at once larger and smaller than a “Buddhist” or “religious” worldview. This study demonstrates how the idea of collective karma came to the fore in an array of Buddhist discourses on nation building in late Qing China. It features three case studies: (1) Yan Fu’s invention of the term, zhongye, literally “seeds-karma,” in Tianyan lun, the Chinese translation of British biologist Thomas Henry Huxley’s Evolution and Ethics and the single most influential book in initiating Chinese readers into social Darwinism; (2) Liang Qichao’s postulation of an undying “karmic totality” as the essence of the Chinese national “spirit”; (3) Zhang Taiyan’s critique of evolutionism based on Yogācāra teachings of karmic seeds. As these cases show, at a time when “karma” assumed the other name of “heredity,” discourses of collective karma played a critical role in the conceptualization of nationhood at the inception of the modern Chinese revolution.

The Tzu Chi Foundation, established by Dharma Master Cheng Yen證嚴 in 1966, is the world’s largest Buddhist charity. From its headquarters in Taiwan, Tzu Chi oversees a vast global volunteer network that provides disaster and poverty relief, medical assistance, educational resources and more. For volunteers of the foundation, a doctrinal emphasis on karmic connections serves to orient their everyday practice toward the need to establish positive relationships in the human realm. Volunteers draw on their affective experiences of karmic entanglements to help them form new affinities or transform negative relationships. This paper analyzes narratives volunteers have offered from their own life experiences of how they interpret their actions through a karmic worldview.

This paper examines the Abhidharma Buddhist debates, preserved within the translation corpus of Xuanzang 玄奘 (602?-664 C.E.), the Sinitic scholar-monk of the Tang Dynasty, regarding whether the “intermediate being” (Skt.: antarābhava) has the capacity to generate new karma. Furthermore, if an intermediate being, the “extremely subtle” (Skt.: accha) embodied form that persists throughout the “intermediate state” (Skt.: antarābhava), the interstitial space and time between the biological death and the gross corporeal rebirth of an “individual sentient being” (Skt.: ātmabhāva; Chi: ziti自體), has the capacity to generate new karma, when and how are its consequences realized? 

How does Buddhism conceptualize human agency and subjecthood? Buddhist ontology critiques the notion of a permanent self (ātman), advocating instead the doctrine of non-self (anātman). It upholds karma as the governing force behind human actions and conventional phenomena. This raises a critical question: How can anātman be reconciled with the soteriological goal of liberating all sentient beings—a task requiring a volitional, compassionate agent? A metaphor in Buddhist sūtra—mechanical wooden figure (jiguanmuren 機關木人, Skt. vetāla-yantra)—symbolizes the constructed nature of human existence and dependent origination in a karmic reality. By analyzing this metaphor in Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra and Gaṇḍavyūha-sūtra, alongside Chinese commentaries, this paper argues that its interpretive diversity reflects ongoing efforts to reconcile the deterministic nature of karma with the conditions necessary for a subjecthood for compassion. This discourse gained prominence during the late imperial period as Buddhists increasingly engaged with the phenomenological aspects of reality and the intersubjective nature of mind.

The “karmic” worldview stands at once larger and smaller than a “Buddhist” or “religious” worldview. This study demonstrates how the idea of collective karma came to the fore in an array of Buddhist discourses on nation building in late Qing China. It features three case studies: (1) Yan Fu’s invention of the term, zhongye, literally “seeds-karma,” in Tianyan lun, the Chinese translation of British biologist Thomas Henry Huxley’s Evolution and Ethics and the single most influential book in initiating Chinese readers into social Darwinism; (2) Liang Qichao’s postulation of an undying “karmic totality” as the essence of the Chinese national “spirit”; (3) Zhang Taiyan’s critique of evolutionism based on Yogācāra teachings of karmic seeds. As these cases show, at a time when “karma” assumed the other name of “heredity,” discourses of collective karma played a critical role in the conceptualization of nationhood at the inception of the modern Chinese revolution.

The Tzu Chi Foundation, established by Dharma Master Cheng Yen證嚴 in 1966, is the world’s largest Buddhist charity. From its headquarters in Taiwan, Tzu Chi oversees a vast global volunteer network that provides disaster and poverty relief, medical assistance, educational resources and more. For volunteers of the foundation, a doctrinal emphasis on karmic connections serves to orient their everyday practice toward the need to establish positive relationships in the human realm. Volunteers draw on their affective experiences of karmic entanglements to help them form new affinities or transform negative relationships. This paper analyzes narratives volunteers have offered from their own life experiences of how they interpret their actions through a karmic worldview.

This presentation examines a series of woodcut prints depicting religious leaders who fought for freedom in their communities, including Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr., Óscar Romero, Gustavo Gutiérrez, and Judy Heumann. Drawing on Alejandro García-Rivera’s theology of community-oriented beauty and justice, Karl Barth’s theology of prayer, and the icon tradition, this study explores the body’s religious freedom to pray through creative action. Just as these leaders embodied their prayers in the struggle for justice, artists engage their whole selves in the act of creating. Through the physical motions of making, artists reflect deeply on their materials and subject matter, expressing their lament, hope, protest, and joy. When rooted in their communities, their work becomes a reflection on and a prayer for communal flourishing. In this way, artistic practice is a lived prayer—an embodied response of hope and a witness to change.

This paper examines William Blake's innovative synthesis of visual and textual elements in Plate 2 of "The Book of Thel" (1789) to illuminate his theological-artistic vision. Through analysis of the plate's compositional strategies and variations across different copies, the research reveals how Blake's integration of image and text transcends conventional boundaries between material and spiritual expression. The Thel-Lily dialogue serves as a pivotal moment where the apparent binary of innocence and experience dissolves into a nuanced spiritual dialectic. By positioning Thel in a liminal space between states of consciousness, Blake creates a theological framework where childlike wonder coexists with profound understanding. The paper contributes to religious aesthetics discourse by demonstrating how Blake's visual-textual synthesis challenges traditional theological distinctions between spirit and matter, offering new pathways for understanding the interplay between divine revelation and human perception.

Mary, Mother of Jesus was selected and has since been honored as an exemplar worth imitating for generations to come. Some of the early Christian writers even viewed her as an ascetic role model, one whose commitment and discipline to the call of the angel would go on to justify the establishment of Christian and “pagan” cults, religious denominations and ceremonies to be celebrated throughout the year. These moves toward asceticism were a calling to resist and thus restore the social dynamics of the time. Therefore, this paper analyzes the research that inspired the mixed-media collage visual art piece Imitatio Mary. It uses Black feminist and womanist thought as its primary interpretive lens for contemporary settings to address how the life of Mary, Mother of Jesus, draws attention to class oppression, yet also the resiliency and value of oppressed beings. 

In his 1843 "Address to the Slaves of the United States," Henry Highland Garnet declares, “The Pharaohs are on both sides of the blood-red waters!” This metaphor captures the tragic circumstances of enslaved individuals caught between oppression and the desire for freedom. This paper explores Garnet’s call for freedom as a moral reorientation. Garnet presents freedom as individual responsibility and collective action that requires moral reform in addition to physical liberation. By analyzing Garnet’s critique of slavery, this paper considers how his prophetic vision offers an ethical framework for reclaiming freedom in the face of oppression. It ultimately asks: How can moral reorientation shape our understanding of freedom in the context of persistent and pervasive injustice?

In exploring the relationship between freedom and responsibility, this paper first briefly diagnoses the outsized attention given to blameworthiness and guilt in the philosophical and Christian ethical literature on moral responsibility. Then, this paper locates the sympathetic response (as a kind of practical wisdom) as a capacity central to the concept of responsibility. The sympathetic response, or acknowledgement of another’s suffering, is an achievement fundamental to being responsive to and responsible for others. Drawing from Stanley Cavell’s distinction between “knowing” and “acknowledging,” this paper dramatizes the claim (that acknowledgment of human suffering is essential to knowledge of it) through insights from the lives and legacies of Mamie Till-Mobley and Frederick Douglass.

Martin Luther King Jr. characterized freedom as a kind of self-determination—the ability to deliberate, decide, and take responsibility for one’s own actions. Poverty and segregation remove one’s ability to be fully free by attacking one’s sense of self-regard. One common expression of this unfreedom is sloth, specifically, apathy toward one’s unjust and unfree circumstances. This paper reconstructs King’s reflections on the vice of sloth and proposed solutions. It proceeds in three parts: first, it reconstructs King’s account of the psychological roots of sloth. Second, the paper examines one of King’s most common political constructions of the apathetic agent—white moderate liberals—and his positive proposal about removing apathy through democratic participation and direct action. The paper concludes by connecting King’s arguments about nonviolent resistance and the dual formation of self and society to contemporary debates about the usefulness of virtue and vices for an ethics of social change.