Online June Annual Meeting 2026 Program Book

Like many Buddhists across Asia, Vietnamese Buddhists have long focused on accumulating merit and engaging in devotional practices. In present-day Vietnam, there is also a growing presence of meditation-based Buddhist schools that deserve attention in academia. This article compares two influential Vietnamese Buddhist figures, Thích Nhất Hạnh (1926−2022) and Thích Thanh Từ (1924−), and the two traditions they created. Although both grew up in Vietnam during French colonization and the conflict between the North and the South, their Buddhist paths are distinct. Làng Mai was established by Hạnh in the West and then “imported” to Vietnam, while Trúc Lâm was established by Từ in Southern Vietnam and subsequently “exported” to the West. This article primarily compares the teachings of the two traditions to demonstrate how they are similar yet distinct in many respects, despite being formed within the same religious and socio-political circumstances. 

This paper addresses five interrelated types of Buddhist views and practices that are labeled Mật Tông (literally “Esoteric School”) by contemporary followers of Buddhism in Vietnam: different dhāraṇī that were circulating independently or comprised parts of Buddhist sūtras and have been recited by Vietnamese for centuries; self-conscious traditions of rituals, visualizations, etc. with their own lineages and initiations that flourished in Vietnam during the Lý (1009–1225) dynasty, if not earlier, allegedly disappeared after the Trần Dynasty (1225–1400), and are currently in the process of “revival”; Tibetan tantric practices currently flourishing in Vietnam; tantric ritual practices based on teachings received by contemporary Vietnamese monastics in what can be described as pure visions; and such “spiritual tourism” sites as Samten Hills Đà Lạt. The paper also explores specific attitudes, practices, and types of study and training undertaken by groups and individuals currently following different types of esoteric Buddhism in Vietnam. 

Hòa Hảo Buddhism is a New Religious Movement that emerged in Vietnam in the first half of the 20th century. Despite its understudied status, the tradition has played an important role in Vietnamese history, as evidenced by its dynamic socio-political activities and its role in the preservation of Vietnamese religious culture during the colonial period. This paper will explore the syncretic nature of Hoà Hảo, a tradition that blends Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism into its doctrine. The present study places particular emphasis on Buddhist elements, thereby underscoring an understanding, from an emic perspective, of the self-identification of its adherents as Buddhists, notwithstanding the presence of several non-Buddhist elements. The objective of this study is to elucidate the integration of the orientation of other-help in Pure Land Buddhism and self-help in Thiền Buddhism within Hòa Hảo teachings. This is a subject that has not been previously examined.

This presentation will briefly discuss the changes in certain aspects of Vietnamese Buddhism as seen in the teachings of Đạo Cao Đài. In an attempt to find a new spiritual way of life in the specific socio-historical conditions of the early twentieth century (French colonization), Cao Đài followers, guided by spirits, adopted elements of Vietnamese Buddhism to develop their own philosophy of religious life, embracing the "Way of the Buddhas" as one of the five paths to salvation. Buddhist elements have been adopted and adapted to align with the teachings of religious unification and guide believers in a new socio-historical environment placing emphasis on spiritual cultivation leading to salvation defined as union with the Supreme Being Cao Đài. Thus, alongside Confucian and Daoist concepts, Buddhist ideas constitute one of the main pillars of Đạo Cao Đài teachings, which are rooted in the Vietnamese religious traditions.

Like many Buddhists across Asia, Vietnamese Buddhists have long focused on accumulating merit and engaging in devotional practices. In present-day Vietnam, there is also a growing presence of meditation-based Buddhist schools that deserve attention in academia. This article compares two influential Vietnamese Buddhist figures, Thích Nhất Hạnh (1926−2022) and Thích Thanh Từ (1924−), and the two traditions they created. Although both grew up in Vietnam during French colonization and the conflict between the North and the South, their Buddhist paths are distinct. Làng Mai was established by Hạnh in the West and then “imported” to Vietnam, while Trúc Lâm was established by Từ in Southern Vietnam and subsequently “exported” to the West. This article primarily compares the teachings of the two traditions to demonstrate how they are similar yet distinct in many respects, despite being formed within the same religious and socio-political circumstances. 

This paper addresses five interrelated types of Buddhist views and practices that are labeled Mật Tông (literally “Esoteric School”) by contemporary followers of Buddhism in Vietnam: different dhāraṇī that were circulating independently or comprised parts of Buddhist sūtras and have been recited by Vietnamese for centuries; self-conscious traditions of rituals, visualizations, etc. with their own lineages and initiations that flourished in Vietnam during the Lý (1009–1225) dynasty, if not earlier, allegedly disappeared after the Trần Dynasty (1225–1400), and are currently in the process of “revival”; Tibetan tantric practices currently flourishing in Vietnam; tantric ritual practices based on teachings received by contemporary Vietnamese monastics in what can be described as pure visions; and such “spiritual tourism” sites as Samten Hills Đà Lạt. The paper also explores specific attitudes, practices, and types of study and training undertaken by groups and individuals currently following different types of esoteric Buddhism in Vietnam. 

Hòa Hảo Buddhism is a New Religious Movement that emerged in Vietnam in the first half of the 20th century. Despite its understudied status, the tradition has played an important role in Vietnamese history, as evidenced by its dynamic socio-political activities and its role in the preservation of Vietnamese religious culture during the colonial period. This paper will explore the syncretic nature of Hoà Hảo, a tradition that blends Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism into its doctrine. The present study places particular emphasis on Buddhist elements, thereby underscoring an understanding, from an emic perspective, of the self-identification of its adherents as Buddhists, notwithstanding the presence of several non-Buddhist elements. The objective of this study is to elucidate the integration of the orientation of other-help in Pure Land Buddhism and self-help in Thiền Buddhism within Hòa Hảo teachings. This is a subject that has not been previously examined.

This presentation will briefly discuss the changes in certain aspects of Vietnamese Buddhism as seen in the teachings of Đạo Cao Đài. In an attempt to find a new spiritual way of life in the specific socio-historical conditions of the early twentieth century (French colonization), Cao Đài followers, guided by spirits, adopted elements of Vietnamese Buddhism to develop their own philosophy of religious life, embracing the "Way of the Buddhas" as one of the five paths to salvation. Buddhist elements have been adopted and adapted to align with the teachings of religious unification and guide believers in a new socio-historical environment placing emphasis on spiritual cultivation leading to salvation defined as union with the Supreme Being Cao Đài. Thus, alongside Confucian and Daoist concepts, Buddhist ideas constitute one of the main pillars of Đạo Cao Đài teachings, which are rooted in the Vietnamese religious traditions.

Mary Bosanquet Fletcher (1739–1815) spent the three decades following her husband John Fletcher's death governing a network of Methodist correspondents from her parish base at Madeley, Shropshire. Drawing on uncatalogued draft letters from the Fletcher-Tooth Collection at the John Rylands Library, this paper examines her epistolary practice as a form of relational connectionalism operating alongside the emerging denominational structures of late eighteenth-century British Methodism. Where Russell Richey's work emphasized itinerancy as the connective engine of Methodism, Fletcher's ministry inverts that model: stationary, lay, and gendered, it sustained connection through correspondence rather than mobility. Situating her post-1785 leadership within the consolidation of Methodist separation from the Church of England, this paper argues that institutional centralization altered rather than erased older forms of lay spiritual authority, and that the relational labor sustaining Methodist connection has always exceeded what conference minutes record.

When Agnes Nilsen came to the annual conference in 1932, she had no idea she would be ordained at that very conference. Nobody did. Yet she was, and is thereby the first women to be ordained a pastor in Norway. However, when Norwegian church history is written, her story is hidden along with other women in the denomination outside the former state church.

The project, "Seen and unseen", explores the lives of female pastors in history and our own time. This paper contributes to rewrite Norwegian church history by including Agnes’ story. It explores methodist history as well in documenting ordinations before full clergy rights for women was given. It further discusses similarities among the pioneers in being strong, outspoken women who with all their heart denied to be feminists.

This paper argues that women’s ordination in Methodist and Wesleyan traditions cannot be explained by theology or “progress” narratives alone; it must also be read through the machinery of polity that governs visibility, authority, and institutional memory. Using the Methodist Episcopal Church’s 1920 General Conference as a focused case, I show how women translated biblical interpretation into rule-text through a canon → script → policy infrastructure through reading communities, movement press, petition packets, and conference-savvy coalition work while official minutes and indexing practices compressed authorship and debate. I then extend this framework through comparative snapshots from two worldwide Methodist/Wesleyan contexts to demonstrate recurring gatekeeping mechanisms (committee routing, agenda control, credentialing, archival visibility) and the counter-moves women employed to sustain advocacy across decades. Reframing conferencing and print cultures as sites of lived theology clarifies how ordination becomes thinkable and why “stained-glass ceilings” persist.

This paper argues that decolonizing Episcopal ecclesiology requires reimagining the epistemic posture of privileged churches. Utilizing the method of “receptive ecumenism,” I place The Episcopal Church into dialogue with Elizabeth Gandolfo and Laurel Potter’s Re-membering the Reign of God—a Roman Catholic effort to decolonize ecclesiology by centering the witness of the poor in El Salvador. First, I introduce receptive ecumenism, explaining its decolonial potential and how it directly challenges notions of ecclesial self-sufficiency. Second, I introduce three promising concepts from Gandolfo and Potter for Anglicanism’s decolonial project: the critical retrieval of tradition for decolonial praxis; “adult faith” as a corrective to ecclesial infantilization; and solidarity as a difficult process of conversion for the privileged. In conclusion, I propose three corresponding interventions for Episcopal ecclesiology: retrieving Anglican “comprehensiveness” for decolonial praxis; reimagining confirmation pedagogy around theological agency; and cultivating epistemic practices of solidarity through virtuous unlearning and disciplined listening.

In light of Walter Bruggemann's Prophetic Imagination and the growth of Global Pentecostalism, this paper explores the ecclesiological characteristics and challenges of Pentecostalism. By attending to Bruggemann’s prophetic imagination and its connection to Pentecostalism, this paper offers a proposal of what a prophetically imaginative, creative, and liberative Pentecostalism might entail. As Pentecostalism is a major driving force of Global Christianity, this paper draws not only from the work of Bruggemann, but resources the work of global Pentecostal/Charismatic theologians who have reflected upon the importance of the prophetic imagination for the future of Pentecostalism. This paper argues that Pentecostalism’s pneumatic emphasis, when placed in conjunction with the prophetic imagination, can offer a constructive ecclesiological vision for the future of the church.

How can we reimagine the identity and mission of the church as it participates in a more just future? A new discourse about the significance of diakonia has emerged across the global church. The retrieval of diakonia by the ecumenical church is one of the most promising developments in contemporary ecclesiology. This emerging ecumenical consensus recognizes diakonia as an expression of the church’s prophetic imagination. Diaconal action by its very nature includes the task of unmasking systemic forms of injustice and promoting justice. Diaconal advocacy weds imagination with action, grounding the prophetic in material projects of mutual concern within community. The church is called not only to serve but to advocate. At the end of Western Christendom, the needs of the world for peace, healing, and repair are acute. This paper describes how prophetic diakonia and a theology of diakonia can contribute to a new paradigm for the future church.

Interest in the cultural dimensions of difficult conversations, such as those related to ‘race’ or sexual ethics, can be one way of softening the polarizing energies around these important dimensions of the life of faith. Cultures are processes, not things; contested, not total. Assuming, for example, that immigrant communities of faith do not share a mainline denomination's progressive values, or should be rejected if they do not express them in the “right way,” denies the grace of being in process. Denominations and their communities of faith are continually in process, working toward becoming intercultural as they uphold their traditions and values. This paper employs the framework of the Intercultural Development Continuum, which many theological schools now engage through the Intercultural Development Inventory, to demonstrate how this lens can chart a course through polarizing conversations around sexuality and gender identity, and minimizing conversations around ‘race.’

This paper examines the Koreri movements of the Biak people in Papua as a form of political messianism that imagines indigenous futures. Yet colonial and missionary presented it as a pagan and a “false hope” in which the Biak people lost themselves in an illusory messianic hope. Countering that narrative, this study employs Koreri as an indigenous text and political messianic movement grounded in the Biak contexts and its relational cosmology. Through the lenses of Linda Tuhiwai Smith, George Dei, and Christina Jaimungal's decolonial and indigenous frameworks, this research method offers a critical analysis of the authority of colonial and missionary texts in relation to the oral narratives and interconnectedness cosmology of the Biak people. Hence, the result of this study claims Koreri as an epistemological decolonial movement and resistance, which could therefore be seen as a decolonial attempt to envision and construct possible indigenous futures.

In settler-colonial Taiwan, Christian texts historically functioned within apparatuses of colonial governance to marginalize Indigenous epistemologies. However, for the Sediq people, engaging with the Bible constitutes an ongoing process of decolonial resistance. This paper explores how Sediq mother-tongue biblical translation and reading enact what decolonial theorists term "epistemic disobedience." I argue that reading the Bible in the Sediq language conceptually and materially unsettles the text, transforming it from an imperial tool of linguistic hegemony into a site for reclaiming cultural sovereignty. By analyzing specific Sediq hermeneutics, this paper demonstrates how linguistic reclamation disrupts the dominance of settler languages (like Mandarin) and Western orthodoxies. Ultimately, it illustrates how Indigenous mother-tongue reading operates as a profound political and religious act, reconstructing Indigenous identity and spiritual autonomy within the broader discourse of religion and postcolonialism.

In much postcolonial and decolonial scholarship, Christianity in South Asia appears to arrive on schedule with European empire: missionaries first, colonial governance close behind, violence never far away. This story is powerful, morally compelling, and by now something of a reflex. But it also produces a decolonial common sense in which precolonial Christian communities become difficult, if not impossible, to recognise. This paper turns to the Thomas Christians of South India, an ancient Christian tradition embedded in Syriac liturgical worlds, Indian Ocean networks, and regional political formations long before European rule, in order to ask what this reflex leaves out. By tracing how early modern ecclesiastical intervention, colonial knowledge practices, and contemporary critique together reclassified Christianity as European, the paper suggests that critique itself can end up thinking like an empire. It calls for a decolonial approach alert to the colonial afterlives of its own categories.