Online June Annual Meeting 2025 Program Book

Contemporary Afro-Brazilian theologians are challenging Western stigmatizations of their divinities by reinterpreting historically marginalized devotions through antiracist and decolonial perspectives. In Candomblé and Umbanda, the reimagining of Exu and Pombagira decolonizes theological, sociological, and pedagogical discourses, emphasizing their polysemic nature. These devotions serve as liberating narratives that empower marginalized communities by sacralizing their survival, independence, and resistance. This presentation explores three examples of Afro-theologians reworking colonial legacies. First, Hendrix Silveira (2012, 2024) reinterprets Exu as Hermes and develops exunêutica to center Black epistemologies. Second, Luis Rufino’s Pedagogia das Encruzilhadas presents Exu as a disruptor of intellectual arrogance, essential for education resisting cognitive and social injustices. Lastly, Alexandre Cumino’s Pombagira A Deusa: Mulher Igual Você (2023) reinterprets Pombagira through Black feminist thought, portraying her as a symbol of women’s self-empowerment and resistance, challenging patriarchal, racist, and sexist structures while promoting decolonial and social justice struggles.

This paper deals with doing theology in context—diasporic theology, which, in its first section engages in a constructive conversation with Stephen Bevans’s Synthetic and Countercultural models of contextual theology. The second section, under the theme of diasporic theology, is committed to establishing a more flexible working definition of the term diaspora through analyzing its origin and diverse usages in interdisciplinary scholarships in its first subcategory. Then the fundamentals of the diasporic theology, an example of critical integration and hybridization of traditions, cultures, and experiences within which the Lutheran grammar and charismatic experience acquire a new synthesis, are discussed in the second subsection. I would argue that  diasporic theology is the antidote for the crisis of self-alienation arising from fear of assimilation with others, which enables us to leave our comfort zone in obedience to the Holy Spirit and leads us to transition of thoughts from fear of contamination by others’ culture toward embracing people in love and treating their culture with respect for the sake of the gospel.

The early Jain literature, canonical and non-canonical, regardless of the sectarian affiliation, glorifies monastic stays in liminal spaces and solitary isolation. However, they also gradually reflect adaptations accommodating communal living, urban stays in the house of laity, and sometimes, structured monastic spaces. A long developmental phase of the canonical literature, stretching for almost a millennium, before its eventual compilation, betrays a lack of a monolithic textual code on this issue. These differences emerged out of pragmatic readjustments to contemporary needs by both sects. A similar trend is visible in the later exegetical literature, commentaries, and other normative texts. This study in longue durée, examines how monastic lawgivers navigated these tensions, balancing adherence to orthopraxy with pragmatic concerns, sometimes through a sustained idealization, or through necessary adaptions, and sometimes through an uncanny silence.

Talal Asad in his Genealogies of Religion (1993) discusses discipline as an “embodied practice” which considers body as a site of religious formation. Asad argues that discipline involves practices that shape body and subjectivity to regulate the religious life of an individual. Based on this framework, my presentation will investigate the ritual organizational discipline and the establishment of authority and obedience in Digambara monastic jurisprudence. The primary source of the presentation will be the Mūlācāra of Vaṭṭakera and its commentary Ācāravṛtti of Vasunandi. The paper will take three case studies from the text ̶  samācāra, vinaya and, vandanā as ‘embodied practices’ to explore the ritualized organizational discipline of a monk. The core methodology of the paper will be a philological analysis of primary sources with a focus on the historical framework provided by Asad to understand the role of bodily discipline and religious practices in constructing authority in religious communities. 

Śrāvakācāra cognates the Sanskrit words śrāvaka, literally translatable to “one who listens” and used contextually to indicate the Jain householder laity, and ācāra meaning “conduct,” together meaning roughly lay conduct. In that sense, the Upāsakadaśāh, the Seventh Angā of the Śvetāmbara canon, fulfills just the function of a śrāvakācāra without being so categorized by Jains or scholars of Jainism as such. This makes the Upāsakadaśāh a unique example of a text that focuses on lay conduct whilst being part of the core of the Śvetāmbara canon. This paper will historicize the Upāsakadaśāh’s role as one of the earliest consolidated attempts by the predominantly monastic Jain ascetics to situate the laity within their theological-philosophical framework. It will analyze how the framers of the Śvetāmbara canon constructed a consolidated discourse on lay conduct, complete with both doctrine and narrative tales that image the ideal Śvetāmbara śrāvaka.

This paper examines the evolving concept of yoga in Jain thought. Early Jain sources define yoga as the activity or vibrations of the soul, with Umāsvāti's Tattvārthasūtra describing it as “bodily, verbal, and mental action” (TS 6.1Ś). In this framework, yoga is tied to karmic bondage, while viyoga signifies liberation. Over time, under Upaniṣadic influence, yoga became associated with ethical restraint, prayer, and meditation. Some medieval Jain thinkers, such as Haribhadra, Śubhacandra, and Hemacandra, redefined yoga within distinctively Jain practices. Haribhadra defines yoga in the Yogabindu as all spiritual and religious activities leading to emancipation, a perspective later systematized slightly different by Yaśovijaya (1624–1688), whose contributions remain understudied. In modern times, yoga has continued evolving, reflecting diverse interpretations across historical contexts. This paper reviews contemporary scholarship that has only recently begun exploring these developments, offering new insights into the transformation of yoga in Jainism and its broader historical trajectories.

This paper examines Nīti Mārgānusārīnā 35 Bola Athavā Māṇasāi Eṭale Śuṃ?, a 1951 commentary by the Sthānakavāsī monk Ratnacandra, which interprets the thirty-five qualities of an ideal Jain layperson (śrāvaka) from Hemacandra’s Yogaśāstra. Unique within Sthānakavāsī traditions, the text emphasizes benevolence, humanity, and ethical living, offering a contemporary perspective on Jain moral values. Written in the post-colonial era, it reflects nationalist and anti-colonial sentiments, redefining the ideal layperson within a Jain ethical framework. Ratnacandra’s work promotes a nationalistic Jain identity while preserving core religious values. This study situates his commentary within early post-independence India, highlighting its role in shaping modern Jain self-conception. By exploring the intersection of Jain ethics, religious tradition, and national identity, this paper contributes to Jain studies by revealing how religious thought engaged with broader socio-political changes, influencing both individual and communal expressions of Jain identity.

Abstract:

This paper examines the critical yet understudied role of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church within North America’s National Negro Convention Movement from 1830 to 1864, exploring how this Black religious institution functioned as a pivotal site for ontological resistance against the systematic violence of American antiblackness. By investigating the transnational religious networks, theological frameworks, and political strategies that emerged through this movement, I aim to contribute to ongoing scholarly conversations about how religion has historically functioned as both a source of meaning-making and a practical resource for communities navigating precarious existence. Drawing on AAR’s presidential theme of “Freedom,” this analysis bridges historical, critical, and constructive methodologies to demonstrate how antebellum Black religious actors developed sophisticated strategies of survival and resistance that transcended regional and national boundaries throughout North America.

The 1920s and 1930s were tumultuous for Mexican nationals and Mexican Americans (referred to as Mexicans), especially in the U.S. Mexican Catholics had to contend with racial and economic discrimination, Protestant Americanization efforts in the Wesley Settlement House movement, and the Great Depression era in North Texas (Dallas-Fort Worth). Despite these obstacles, Mexicans practiced “resistance” Catholicism to construct their cultural and religious identities. Their resistance centered on their identities as Mexicans and católicos, which affirmed, maintained, and passed down cultural and religious traditions against Anglo-Protestant society. Specifically, this resistance examines the overlooked interactions of Mexican Catholic women and the Settlement House movement. Additionally, resistance was in Mexican labor organizations, and the short-lived Iglesia Católica Ortodóxa Apostólica Nacional Mexicana (ICAM), also known as the Mexican Catholic Apostolic Church. As a result, Mexican Catholics protested segregated public spaces, and affirmed their place in society.

This paper, “Catechizing Communities: Charlottesvillian Parochial Schools and the Desegregation and Integration of Charlottesvillian Catholicism,” narrates the desegregation and integration of Charlottesville’s parochial schools, at the Redemptorist-run Black Catholic Saint Margaret Mary and Diocese of Richmond-run White Catholic Holy Comforter. Despite Charlottesville’s troubled history with race, Chrlottesvillian Black and White Catholic laity, with the Redemptorists and Diocese of Richmond, collaboratively and rather smoothly desegregated and integrated their parochial schools. I utilize primary oral historical interviews of former students of these Charlottesvillian parochial schools, with archival research, to show how their laity and clergy created a progressive Catholic identity that sought to erase the Church’s historical racism and then contemporary controversies and mixed feelings on school desegregation and integration, while using parochial education to evangelize Black Charlottesvillians. Ultimately, it serves as a more peaceful Southern counterpoint of comparison to the strife of Bostonian schools’ bussing and desegregation and integration. 

This paper argues that Pope Francis’s notion of synodality finds many precedents in the Tridentine theologian Robert Bellarmine. Francis links synodality to Vatican II’s emphases on episcopal collegiality, the people of god, and openness towards the world. Without denying the gap between post-Tridentine and post-Vatican II theologies, it will be argued that Bellarmine anticipated synodality by advocating for the positive “goods” of representation and consultation, which he thinks add credibility and prudence to ecclesial judgments. At the same time, Bellarmine balances Francis’s vision by treating synods as precursors of councils. When combined, Bellarmine balances Pope Francis’s papal decentralization agenda with a clearer role of papal primacy within a neo-conciliarist framework. A combination of Francis and Bellarmine’s vision helps nuance how synodality could be constitutive of the church while implying no more rupture than is necessary, and it avoids pitting synodality against episcopal collegiality by linking synodality to local church law.

In light of the Catholic Church’s recent Synod on Synodality, synodality has been interpreted by some (especially disaffected Catholics) as a road to new ecclesial freedom, throwing off clericalist structures and doctrinal rigidity. However, such interpretations misconstrue the true nature of synodal freedom. Rather than a liberation from doctrinal authority, synodality represents a liberation of the Church’s teaching ministry, freeing it from artificially static divisions between the ecclesia docens and the ecclesia discens. Drawing on models of pedagogy from early monastic literature, this paper argues that synodality reunites ecclesial learning and magisterial authority, thus freeing and empowering the Church to teach with greater confidence and authenticity. 

An ecclesiology of the Church as network speaks directly to the Church’s dynamic relationality. Network ecclesiology can account for, advance, and suggest action on recent ecclesiological insights. Data gathered through observation of the Synod on Synodality and interviews of participants and others present is used to correlate network science and ecclesiology to develop a network ecclesiology. Special attention is given to the women who lead Discerning Deacons. These ministers connect congregations and the recipients of their ministry. Their call to the diaconate was heard not only through their personal relationship with God but from God through the communities they served, initiating them into a networked relational ecclesial epistemology. At the Synod, they habitually acted in accord with network principles to balance proclamation of truth and implementation of the good. Network analysis situated in network ecclesiology enhances ministerial and synodal habitus by revealing the People of God in its entirety.

The emergence of controversies and cases of sexual or spiritual abuse in Catholic Charismatic residential covenant communities raises critical questions about the freedom accorded to charism in Catholic ecclesiology. To refine the theology of charism, this paper proposes to draw on the resources of historicity and authenticity as they appear in the work of Bernard Lonergan and in the magisterium of Pope Francis. From both Jesuit thinkers, one can derive key criteria for a longitudinal evaluation of charism: first, one must more fully explore the historical conditions of a charism’s emergence with an eye towards distinguishing the perception of the good in a charism’s cultural context. Second, one must make a distinction about how the Holy Spirit works “in the midst of” a phenomenon. As a result, the authenticity of a charism (and the freedom it should enjoy) is co-determined by the church and the world in dialogue.

In recent years, the concept of religious literacy has become central in discussions on religious education. A key critique is the lack of empirical evidence supporting its effectiveness. To address this gap, an experimental survey was conducted to explore two main questions: a) whether religious literacy leads pupils to develop a more positive attitude towards religious diversity, and b) whether secularization leads to religious illiteracy among pupils and lower scores in their attitudes towards religious diversity. The results show that religious literacy improves through religious education but does not necessarily lead to more positive attitudes towards religious diversity. Contrary to some claims, religious literacy and attitudes towards religious diversity were both higher in the more secular context. This suggests that societal challenges related to religion stem from deeper structural, political, or economic issues, rather than from a mere lack of knowledge about religions.

On 19th August 2024, the Atlanta-based Georgia State University reported online with a headline "Georgia State Becomes First Public University to Offer Graduate Pathway to Chaplaincy".  The term Chaplain is rooted in Christian pastoral care, but over the years Christian and non-Christian Chaplains have provided emotional and spiritual support in military, jails, airports, fire stations, hospices, hospitals, and higher education.  In the context of separation of church and state policies and rising secularization in the U.S., it is remarkable how Chaplains not only maintained steady presence but have also grown their ministries (Kruzman, 2021).  Traditionally, Chaplains were trained by private theological institutions but perhaps due to the rising demand, Georgia State University has adventured into training Chaplains on its public campus, while addressing sensitivity to the separation of church and state policies.  This paper analyzes this milestone with its risks, challenges, and opportunities to offering chaplaincy training on public campuses.

Despite being a Muslim-majority country, Islamic religious education in Bangladesh remains politically and socially contested. The education system comprises Bengali-medium, English-medium, and Madrasa streams, each with varying approaches to religion. While public and Alia Madrasas include Islamic education under government oversight, Qawmi Madrasas focus solely on Islamic teachings and are privately run. Political regimes have historically used religious education to gain legitimacy, and global events, like post-9/11 Western critiques, have shaped perceptions of madrasas. However, scholars argue that madrasas also offer social support and are evolving with global and technological influences. The 2016 Holey Artisan attack reignited debates, highlighting that radicalization is not confined to Islamic schools. Recent political shifts, especially post-2024, have brought Islamic parties back into curriculum debates, raising concerns over radicalism versus the moral grounding Islamic education might provide. This paper explores the historical, pedagogical, and moral dimensions of religious education across different systems in Bangladesh.

In Christian theology, the Holy Spirit is described as the Giver of Life. At the same time, in both anecdotal testimony and scriptural record, the Holy Spirit is associated with periods of Kairos. Its presence is felt in extremes of experience. A question arises for the twenty-first century theologian: as the earth enters a great extinction event and Homo sapiens sapiens faces the likelihood of perishing as a species, how do our various historical pneumatological configurations now serve us?  In this paper I will ask questions about the Holy Spirit’s role in the process of extinction. I will argue that to maintain a working pneumatology in the Kairos event of the sixth great extinction, the Giver of Life must also be read as inhabiting a paradoxical role as a Giver of Death, an advocate for the cyclical renewal of the Creation, for what is sustainable and “good,” human or otherwise. 

Jürgen Moltmann’s understanding of hope includes personal, social, cosmic, and divine eschatology. Although the first three categories are delineated in depth, Moltmann’s discussion of divine eschatology, which he articulates as when God will be “all in all,” would benefit from further exploration. Richard Kearney has proposed a perspective of God as the eschatological God who may be, a future possibility of God who makes the impossible possible. Kearney’s position attempts to overcome the theist-atheist divide to talk about God again. This paper argues that Kearney’s philosophy of the eschatologically possibility of God helps to buttress Moltmann’s proposal of divine eschatology.

Despite being the first person to produce a full-length mystical work in the German vernacular, Mechthild of Magdeburg has been largely overlooked in discussions of dipolar theism’s mystical genealogy, especially compared to Meister Eckhart. This paper argues for her inclusion, both to rectify historical oversight and to enhance the credibility of dipolar theism’s claims to a mystical genealogy. Dipolar theism, rooted in Whiteheadian metaphysics, emphasizes God’s dynamic engagement with the world but has neglected historical figures who embody this concept. Mechthild’s The Flowing Light of the Godhead demonstrates divine responsiveness, making her a crucial figure for process theologians to consider. By engaging with Mechthild’s work, dipolar theism can refine its theological discourse, address critiques of its historical oversights, and deepen its engagement with the mystical tradition. Ultimately, this study calls for a broader and more inclusive exploration of mysticism within process theology.

The Process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead and Jain philosophy converge on their perspectives of interconnectedness and the nature of ultimate reality. Whitehead's Process philosophy views reality as dynamically interrelated, with peace being a process of becoming and an intuition of permanence. This resonates with Jainism's concept of mokṣa (liberation), where the soul attains the permanent state of a siddha, free from karmic material yet undergoing origination and destruction while maintaining permanence. Both philosophies emphasize the dipolar nature of existence—Whitehead’s primordial and consequent nature of God, and Jainism’s dravyārthika (substantial) and paryāyārthika (modal) viewpoints of substances. Furthermore, Whitehead's prehensions and Jain meditation (śukla dhyāna) highlight transformative experiences that foster deeper connectedness to reality. This paper argues that despite differences in their notions of soul and liberation, Process philosophy and Jainism share profound parallels, suggesting a complementary understanding of interconnectedness, the process of becoming, and the creative unfolding of existence.

This paper brings asexuality studies to bear on Marcella Althaus-Reid’s indecent theology to consider: How can Althaus-Reid’s indecent theology aid us in theologizing asexuality? And how might asexuality studies speak back to and enrich Althaus-Reid’s indecent theology. Despite the hypersexuality and latent compulsory sexuality of indecent theology, Althaus-Reid’s work helpfully unveils and critiques the pervasive cisheteropatrichy latent in mainstream Western “Theology” (including many liberation theologies), and second, returns to the material conditions of the poor, including the sexual dimensions of their lives, as an alternative starting point for indecent theological reflection. Returning theology to lived experience can, and should, move us to engage experiences of asexuality. 

This paper examines the state’s vested interest in producing children as “proper” future citizens by juxtaposing two seemingly disparate legal frameworks: the religious freedom protections afforded to Amish parents in Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) and contemporary legislative prohibitions on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth in Tennessee. By analyzing these cases through queer theoretical approaches to futurity, childhood, and citizenship, I demonstrate how debates ostensibly centered on “parental rights” reveal deeper state concerns with maintaining normative citizen formation and reproducing particular national imaginaries. The religious exemption granted in Yoder and the recent wave of anti-transgender healthcare legislation in states like Tennessee (2023) illustrate how the state selectively supports or overrides parental authority based on its assessment of whether the resulting children will conform to desired models of citizenship. 

While Joseph Massad’s Desiring Arabs extends Edward Said’s study of Orientalism by incorporating a sexual dimension, it is less satisfying from a feminist and queer perspective. It struggles to reject Western Orientalist discourses while avoiding local nationalist frameworks that reinforce misogyny and homophobia. Islamic feminism challenges Massad’s critique by resisting both Western essentialism and patriarchal structures in the Middle East. Far from being contradictory, its existence defies binary classifications and Eurocentric taxonomies. I argue that Islamic feminism already embodies strong globality, positioning itself as a postcolonial transition toward a global feminism that transcends religious differences, not through secularization but by fostering shared ground while preserving diversity. This article reviews research on Islamic feminism over the past twenty-five years and addresses key criticisms, including religious belief and personal choice, its relationship with secular feminisms, veiling, theological debates, political and economic critiques, queerness, and Islam’s intersection with human rights.

This paper brings Judith Butler’s work on freedom and subjection into conversation with Gregory of Nyssa’s belief in the autexousia—self-determination—of the human psyche (soul). Both thinkers are deeply committed to human liberation. Both offer critiques of the discursive practices by which structures of domination are naturalised—in Gregory’s case, chiefly in his condemnation of slavery. Moreover, both consider ‘male and female’ binary sex to present a particular affront to human freedom and flourishing, with Gregory anticipating the eventual eschatological transcendence of sexual difference. This paper advances a Butlerian reading of Gregory’s writing on freedom, while suggesting that his theology offers an apophatic route through the aporias in Butler’s poststructuralist account of subjectivity. I suggest that Gregory provides a view of the human psyche, imprinted with the freedom of the divine, that resists being reduced to the human subject, which (as Butler recognises) is constituted by power.