Southwest Commission on Religious Studies
Southwest Regional Meeting Preliminary Program of Events
March 6-March 8, 2026

2026 National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion-SW Program

“Flourishing in Fraught Times”

Friday night (7:00–9:00pm, March 6) -- Planters

Introduction of Program

  • Rebecca Poe Hays, Baylor University’s Truett Seminary

7:15–8:15 Presentations

  • Steve Bezner, Baylor University’s Truett Seminary
  • Emily Prevost, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

Break

8:30 President’s Address

  • Warren Johnson, East Texas Baptist University
Saturday morning (8:00–10:00am, March 7) -- Planters

8:00–8:30 Breakfast

  • Hosted by Steve Stookey and the BGCT’s Office of Theological Education and Institutional Engagement

8:30-8:40 Devotional

  • Dalton Hicks, East Texas Baptist University

8:40-9:40 Plenary

  • Institute for Global Human Flourishing, Baylor University
  • Scott Heare and Dennis Wiles

9:45-10:00 Business Session

  • Larry McGraw, Hardin-Simmons University

2026 American Academy of Religion-SW

Friday: 3:00-5:00

American Academy of Religion, Southwest (AAR-SW) Future Planning Workshop

All interested conference attendees should contact Cindy Dawson (seedawson@mac.com) for details on the workshop.

Friday: 6:00

Informal meet-and-mingle in the hotel lobby and bar areas

Saturday: 8:00-10:00

SWCRS Board of Directors Meeting

Saturday: 9:00-10:15

AAR-SW: Religion and Race -- Carrollton

Presiding: Dr. Celucien L. Joseph, San Jacinto College

  • Robert O. Smith, University of North Texas

"The New Right Attack on Critical Race Theory: A Case for Critical Race Religious Literacy"

  • Dr. Celucien L. Joseph, San Jacinto College

"Master of the Crossroads and the Light of the World: Christ and Papa Legba in Conversation"

  • James L. Groman, Abilene Christian University

“To Beget the Strongest Prejudices against Christianity”: Transatlantic Evangelical Motives for Opposing Slavery from the 1770s to 1810s”

AAR-SW: Religion and Work -- Britain

Presiding: Dan Stiver, The Jesse C. Fletcher Seminary, President and Professor

  • Nathaniel Metz, Baylor University

"Divine Illumination and False Incarnation: The Aesthetic Logic of the Totus Christus"

  • Dan Stiver, The Jesse C. Fletcher Seminary, President and Professor

"The Fallible and Faulty Imagination: Ideology as Productive Imagination"

  • Tripp Gulledge, Southern Methodist University

"Eminently Sacred?: In Search of a Benedictine Sociology of Work"

Saturday: 10:30-12:00

AAR-SW: Book Review Panel -- Planters

Presiding: Carl Hughes, Texas Lutheran University

  • Theme: Woman Zion, Out of Hand by Cindy Dawson

Rebecca Poe Hays, Truett Seminary

Caryn Tamber-Rosenau, University of Houston

Susanne Scholz, Southern Methodist University

Cindy Dawson, University of Houston, respondent

AAR-SW: Religion, Gender, and Immigration -- Dallas

Presiding: Aixin Aydin, ACLS Fellow 

  • Natalie Readnour, Southern Methodist University

"Altars of Desire: Embodied Liberative Practice among Latina Women"

  • Aixin Aydin, ACLS Fellow

"Practices of Violence: Deputization and Possession by the State" 

  • Kaitlyn Weireich, The University of Texas at Dallas

"The Dallas Council of Church Women: Religion, Gender, and Citizenship on the Home Front of World War II" 

  • Dr. John Marc Sianghio, Arizona State University

"Filipino American Deep Stories and the Reimagining of Christian Nationalism"

AAR-SW: Religion and Gender I -- San Antonio

Presiding: Andrew Lee, University of Central Oklahoma

  • Aayush Triguni, University of North Texas

"Ardhanarishvara: A Symbol of Queerness in the Hindu Pantheon"

  • Rebecca K. Stephenson, M.D., F.A.C.S.TCU Burnett School of Medicine

"The Biology of Gender Diversity and the Creation Stories of Genesis"

  • Andrew Lee, University of Central Oklahoma

"Cult of the (P)androgyne: Cosmetic Surgery, Alchemy, and Body Art as Religious Practice" 

AAR-SW: Transformational Practice and Boundaries -- Hudson

Presiding: Adam T. Hogan, Texas Tech University

  • Mourad Takawi, University of Incarnate Word

"Beyond Borders: A Gravitational Model for Early Muslim-Christian Relations"

  • Adam T. Hogan, Texas Tech University

"The Spiritual Values of Tourism: Ecumenical Christianity, the National Park Service, and a Bicentennial Conference"

  • Whitney Buchanan, University of Edinburgh

"Progressive Muslimah Leaders’ Engagement with Political Muslim Advocacy in the United States and Germany"

Saturday: 12:00-1:00: Lunch Break
Saturday: 1:30-3:00

AAR-SW: Plenary Session -- Merchants

Listening to the Earth: An Eco-Experiential Mindfulness Workshop

  • Blake Hestir, Texas Christian University and the Mind Body Ecology Institute
Saturday: 3:00-3:30

AAR-SW: Business Meeting -- Merchants

Note: due to this year’s time change, our usual 7:30-8:15 AAR-SW Business Meeting has moved to Saturday, 3:15-3:50.

Saturday: 4:00-5:30

AAR-SW: Religion and Health -- Williams

Presiding: Alexandra Nelson-Tomlinson, UT-Austin

  • Lindsay Roman, Baylor University

"The Role of Delay Discounting in Anorexia Mirabilis and Anorexia Nervosa"

  • Alexandra Nelson-Tomlinson, UT-Austin

"Buying Salvation: GLP-1s, American Christianity, and Biomedical Power"

  • Jackson McNeece, Baylor University

"Christology in the ICU"

  • Samuel Davidson, Baylor University

"The Image of God in Ministry to People with Disabilities: A Qualitative Study of Pastoral View"

AAR-SW: Theta Alpha Kappa and Undergraduate session -- Kit

Presiding: Marie Olson Purcell, Southern Methodist University

  • Ian Waggoner, Oklahoma City University

"Impact Driven Beliefs: How American Pragmatism Has Taken the Focus off of Divine Authority Within the Church Growth Movement, Mysticism, and Progressive Christianity"

  • MaryKate Berg, Davidson College

"Appraising the Scholar-Athlete: An Analysis of the Reformed Tradition and the ‘Ethos of Reductive Consumer Capitalism’ at Davidson College"

  • Alanna Rothell, Arizona State University

"Catholicism in Timor-Leste: Resistance, Identity, and Nation-Building" 

AAR-SW: Religion and Gender II -- San Antonio

Presiding: Selena Madden, PhD, independent scholar

  • Maggi Jones, PhD, Baylor University

"The Vulnerable Force of Silence: Contemplation as Resistance"

  • Selena Madden, PhD, independent scholar

"Circles of Power: Ritual, Sexuality, and the Transformative Practice of Women’s Spiritual Communities"

  • Diego Roman Martinez, Brite Divinity

"Nahum, Feminicidio, and the Aesthetics of Resistance: A Contextual Reading from Mexico"

  • Kyle Perry, Baylor University

"Do Not Quench Her Spirit: The Role of Charismaticism in The History of Christian Women"

AAR-SW: Meet My Monograph -- Carrollton

Presiding: Lora Walsh, University of Arkansas

  • Oluwatomisin Oredein, The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye: Ecumenism, Feminism, and Communal Practice(Notre Dame, 2023)
  • Maggie Elmore, Unholy Border: How Catholics Created New Gateways to the United States (under contract with Penn)
  • Judith Ellen Burton, Boom or Bust: Storytelling Oil in Alberta (in progress)
  • Paniel Reyes Cardenas, A Semiotic Theory of Community (Lexington Books, 2023)
Sunday: 8:30-10:30

AAR-SW: Religion and Technology -- Dallas

Presiding: Dr. Rebecca Huskey, University of Oklahoma

  • Allison Damiana Escobedo, St. Edwards University

"The Ritual of the Self: Addiction, Iconography, and the Curated Image in Digital Culture"

  • Ronald Lorenzo, PhD, Prairie View A&M University

"Cool Canonizations: Carlos Acutis, Anthony Bourdain, and Saint Javelin"

  • Dr. Rebecca Huskey, University of Oklahoma

"More Abundant Life? Transhumanism and crossing/erasing the boundary of physical existence"

  • Grace Babyan, Baylor University

"Digital Ritual: The Fast of Nineveh, Social Media, and a Community Transformed"

AAR-SW Roundtable -- Beaumont

Presiding: Antoinette DeNapoli, Texas Christian University

Ethical Systems Stretched to the Limit: Scholars Engaged in Religious Communities Accepting, Deflecting, or Dismissing Moral Accountability

  • Aixin Aidin, ACLS Fellow
  • Cindy Dawson, University of Houston
  • Antoinette DeNapoli, Texas Christian University
  • Alexandra A. Nelson-Tomlinson, University of Texas, Austin
  • Marie Olson-Purcell, Southern Methodist University
  • Rachel Schwaller, The University of Kansas
  • Lora Walsh, University of Arkansas

AAR-SW: Theology -- Frisco

Presider: Kyle Barton, Baylor University

  • Isla Henderson, Baylor University

"Gift, Affect and the Word of God: The Soteriological Function of Music in the Thought of Martin Luther"

  • Joseph Nugent, Oblate School of Theology

"Reclaiming Communal Mysticism: A Response to Ideological Polarization"

  • Kristofer Labenske, Southern Methodist University

"Defending a Way of Life: Understanding the First Origenist Controversy Through Palladius’s Lausiac History"

  • Steph Bartolomé de la Fe, Baylor University

"Until He Comes: Reimagining the Lord’s Supper as a Site of Healing and Hope in Baptist Contexts"

  • Kyle Barton, Baylor University

"The Whole Christ in a Broken World: Reclaiming Totus Christus for Theology Today" 

AAR-SW: Black Theology -- Kit

Presiding: Michael D. Royster, Prairie View A&M University

  • Erma Sinclair-Davis, independent scholar

"Abolitionist Birthwork Theology"

  • Travis B. Hill, University of Texas at Dallas

"Invisible Giant: the Black Church in the Shadow of a White Metropolis"

  • Michael D. Royster, Prairie View A&M University

"When Accommodation Becomes Costly (The Case of Thyatira)" 

  • Joseph Cunningham, Eureka College (IL)

"Identity and Sanctification in Sojourner Truth's Narrative (1850)"

Sunday 10:30-11:00: Coffee Break

 

2026 Association for the Scientific Study of Religion

Saturday: 9:00-10:15 -- Frisco

Presiding: Ronald Lorenzo, Prairie View A&M University

Theme: Surma Khanum and Assyrian Imagination, Ethnic Mexican Pentecostals Chasing Whiteness, and Gender Roles in Romanian Pentecostal Churches of Texas

  • Grace Babayan, Baylor University

"Princess, Delegate, Patriarch: Surma Khanum and the Case for the Assyrian Imagination"

  • Anabella Martinez, Baylor University

"Tienes el nopal en la frente: An Examination of Ethnic Mexican Pentecostals Chasing Whiteness in America"

  • Linda Moldovan, Baylor University

"Exploring Gender Roles in Romanian Pentecostal Churches of Texas"

Saturday: 10:30-12:00 -- Frisco

 Presiding: Dennis Horton, Baylor University

Theme: Religiosity in Kdramas and Cdramas, Ecclesiastical Resilience, and Other-Directedness and Contemporary Religion

  • Karol Chandler-Ezell, Stephen F. Austin State University

"Kdramas & Cdramas: Balancing the Supernatural with a Modern (lack of) Religiosity in Korean and Chinese Dramas"

  • Michael D. Royster, Prairie View A&M University

"Ecclesiastical Resilience Amid an Anomic Society"

  • Ronald Lorenzo, Prairie View A&M University

"The Lonely Flock: Other-Directedness and Contemporary Religion"

  • Noel Adams, Marquette University

"What Does it Mean to be a ‘Cultural Christian;’ and What Would Kierkegaard Think of It?"

Saturday: 12:00-1:30: Lunch
Saturday: 1:30-3:30 -- Frisco

Presiding: David Holcomb, Samford University

Theme: Book Roundtable

Charles McDaniel’s Christian Realism and the Revival of Public Theology (Routledge 2025).

Discussants:

  • Robin Lovin, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University
  • Elisabeth Rain Kincaid, Baylor University
  • Dallas Gingles, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University
  • Response: Charles McDaniel, Baylor University

ASSR Business Meeting

Saturday: 3:30-4:00: Coffee Break
Saturday: 4:00-5:30 -- Frisco

Presiding: Karol Chandler-Ezell, Stephen F. Austin State University

Theme: Undergraduate Research

  • Diego Ryza, Stephen F. Austin State University

"Metal and Māori Mythology: Alien Weaponry and the Preservation of Māori Religion"

  • Ella Hutzler, St. Edward’s University

"The USCCB on Adopting Drug Courts to Counteract the Negative Effects of the War on Drugs"

  • MaeKayla Effinger, Baylor University

"Was Jesus Autistic? Autistic Traits of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke"

Reception: 5:30-6:30
Sunday: 8:30-10:30 -- Hudson

Presiding:  Grace Babayan, Baylor University

Theme:  Reimagining of Igbo Faith, Concepts of the Kingdom of God in the Indian Context,  Early Christian Reception of Love’s Ascent in the Symposium, and Women in 1-2 Samuel

  • Okam Ochuba, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary

"When the Cross Arrived: Christianity, Empire, and the Reimagining of Igbo Faith – Southeast Nigeria-Africa"

  • Stanly Jones, Union Biblical Seminary, Pune, India

"Analogous Concepts of the Kingdom of God in the Indian Context: Towards a Relevant Contextual Theology"

  • Kyle Barton, Baylor University

"Eros and Theosis: Early Christian Reception of Love’s Ascent in the Symposium"

  • Claire Thompson Mummert, Baylor University

"Political Agency as Survival: Women in 1-2 Samuel"

Sunday 10:30-11:00: Coffee Break
Sunday: 11:00-12:30pm -- Hudson

Presiding:  David Holcomb, Samford University

Theme: The Ikhwān al-Ṣafā' on Love, Religion as Formation, Everyday Economics of God

  • Molly Wells, The University of Texas at Austin

"Beyond Monotheism: the Ikhwān al-Ṣafā' on Love"

  • Colin C. Caso, Oklahoma State University

"Religion as Formation: Rethinking Experience, Belief, and Identity"

  • Michael Laminack, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

"Reimagining Civic Religion with Rorty and Levinas: On the Priority of Individual Freedom to Social Justice in the Liberal Tradition"

  • Nicholas Elliott, Independent Scholar

"On the Everyday Economics of God(s) in Relation to Questions of Have"

 

2026 Scholars of Biblical and Related Literature

Saturday: 10:00-12:00

SBRL: Christian Literature Beyond the Bible I -- Kit

Presiding: Matt Calhoun, Texas Christian University

Theme: Manuscripts and Patristic Thinkers

  • Emy Pinto, University of Texas at Austin

"The Nature of the Palimpsest: The Rewriting and Erasure in Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus"

  • Zach Turner, Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts

"The Gospel of Josephus: The Provenance of a Modern Forgery"

  • Erik Estrada, Texas Christian University

"Justin Martyr’s Dilemma on David—Model Christian Penitent or Acquitted Christian Sinner?"

  • Kendra Jernigan, Abilene Christian University

"The Creation Theologies of Basil the Great and Jacob of Serugh"

SBRL: Hebrew Bible / Old Testament I -- Williams

Presiding: Mark Sneed, Lubbock Christian University

Theme: Considering Composition

  • Michelle Hunt, Baylor University

"Arrangement and Rearrangement: List-making and Organization in Joshua 15–19"

  • Aaron Parish, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

"From Solomon to Jehoshaphat: Repurposing Wisdom in Chronicles"

  • Dylan T. Smith, University of Texas at Austin

"Nehemiah’s Prophetic Portrayal as an Authority Conferring Strategy"

  • Reichert J. Zalameda, Baylor University

"Tying Up Loose Ends: The Function of Nehemiah 13:1–3 at the End of Ezra-Nehemiah"

SBRL: New Testament and Early Christianity I -- Carrollton

Presiding: Jillian D. Nelson, Texas Christian University

Theme: Literary and Rhetorical Approaches to the New Testament

  • Jordan Wilson, Abilene Christian University

"The Rhetorical Style of Philippians 2:6–11 and 3:5–14: A Case for Pauline Authorship of the Christ Hymn"

  • Eric Covington and Paul Johnson, Geneva School of Boerne

"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Bread: Literary Lessons on the Lord’s Prayer Neologism"

  • David S. Ritsema, B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary

"Messianic Grammar in the Johannine Community as Boundary Marker"

  • Travis B. Hill, University of Texas at Dallas

"A Theology of Inheritance: Eternal Life and the Oppressed Family of God in the Gospel of Luke"

SBRL: Second Temple and Late Antique Judaism I -- Brown

Presiding: Deirdre Fulton, Baylor University

Theme: Interdisciplinary Conversations on Historical Summaries, Utopias, and Reception History

  • Timothy Sandoval, Texas Christian University

"The Provenance of Tobit"

  • Matthias Henze, Rice University

"Historical Summaries in Ancient Judaism"

  • Claire Thompson Mummert, Baylor University

"The Dead Sea Scrolls and Temporal Utopia"

  • Anna Kate Velasquez, Truett Theological Seminary

"Were the Targumists Deuteronomists?"

Saturday: 12:00-1:30: Lunch
Saturday: 1:30-3:30

SBRL: Special Interdisciplinary Session -- Hudson

Presiding: Joseph McDonald, Texas Christian University and Brite Divinity School

Theme: Biblical Studies in Conversation

  • Katie Brown, University of Texas at Austin

"'For the Covenant of Our Fathers': Asserting Divine and Political Authority through Gendered Noble Death"

  • Ryan Martin, Oblate School of Theology

"Patterns of Experience: Intersections Between Biblical Studies and Spirituality"

  • Colin C. Caso, Oklahoma State University

"Lost Knowledge, Found Online: Gnosticism’s Appeal to a New Generation"

  • Aaron Decker, Brite Divinity School

"Learner Motivation Theories and Biblical Language Teaching"

SBRL: Book Review Panel -- Kit

Theme: 1 Samuel: A Conceptual Feminist Interpretation by Susanne Scholz (Fortress 2025)

Panelists:

  • Carol J. Dempsey, University of Portland
  • Mark Hamilton, Abilene Christian University
  • Kim Bodenhamer, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
  • Serge Frolov, Southern Methodist University
  • Laura Walsh, University of Arkansas
  • Chad Pevateaux, Interfaith Action of Central Texas

Respondent:

  • Susanne Scholz, Perkins School of Theology

SBRL: Hebrew Bible / Old Testament II -- Williams

Presiding: Rebecca Poe Hays, Truett Theological Seminary

Theme: Considering Themes

  • Hannah Johanson, Abilene Christian University

"Reading Psalm 37 through the Lens of Metaphor and Suffering"

  • Stuart Lasine, Wichita State University

"Competing Portrayals of Moab in Biblical Narrative and Prophecy"

  • Kendra Jernigan, Abilene Christian University

"Creation and Recreation in Joel"

  • Cristian Rata, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

"The Centrality of Hope in the Reading of the Psalter as a Book of Happiness"

SBRL: New Testament and Early Christianity II -- Carrollton

Presiding: Eric Covington, Geneva School of Boerne

Theme: Healing and Liberating in the New Testament

  • Jillian D. Nelson, Texas Christian University

"Suffering under Many Physicians: Medicine and Marginality in Mark 5"

  • Katherine Rojales, Truett Theological Seminary

"Who Sinned? An Interdisciplinary Approach to Sin and Disability in John 9"

  • Penny Biddy, Brite Divinity School

"The Women Received Their Dead: Resurrection as Affirmation of Socio-Economic Justice"

  • Stanly Jones, Union Biblical Seminary

"Paul’s Hermeneutical Adaptation of Jesus’s Sayings in Romans: A Framework for Contextual Biblical Interpretation and Theological Praxis"

SBRL: Second Temple and Late Antique Judaism II -- Brown

Presiding: David Schones, Austin College

Theme: Interdisciplinary Conversations on Jubilees, Messianism, and Illegitimate Authority

  • David Ritsema, B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary

"Every Spirit That Confesses Jesus Christ Has Come in the Flesh: A Johannine Critique of N.T. Wright’s Messianic Idea (1 John 4:2–3)"

  • Adam Dodd, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

"Divine Transcendence: The Intersection of Scribal Mechanics and Theology in the Book of Jubilees"

  • Kyle Sherling, Rice University

"The Book of Jubilees as Total History and the Struggle for the Judean Court"

  • Joshua Williams, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

"The Temple Narrative in Chronicles: Between Kings and Josephus"

Saturday: 3:00-4:00: Coffee Break
Saturday: 4:00-5:30

SBRL Plenary Session -- Merchants

Presiding: Rannfrid Lasine Thelle, Wichita State University

  • Brittany E. Wilson, Associate Professor of New Testament, Duke University Divinity School

"The Body and the New Testament: Recent Trajectories and Future Directions"

Sunday: 7:30-8:15: SBRL Business Meeting -- Kit
Sunday 8:30–10:30

SBRL: Hebrew Bible / Old Testament III -- Williams

Presiding: Chwi-Woon Kim, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary

Theme: Considering Interdisciplinary Conversations

  • Luke Bitzkie, Brite Divinity School

"Disability Theory and Isaac’s Blindness: Examining Israelite Ancestral Disability through Isaac’s Deviation from the Bodily Mōs"

  • Kenna Curry, Southern Methodist University

"Prophetic Voices in Criminal Justice: How the Prophetic Genre Impacts Young Adults Transitioning Out of Penitentiaries"

  • JinRi Kim, Perkins School of Theology

"Genesis 17 and the Biopolitics of Circumcision: A Korean Cultural Lens"

  • Carol J. Dempsey, University of Portland

"Isaiah 13–27: Proclamations Concerning Earth in the Aftermath of Gaza-Israel"

SBRL: New Testament and Early Christianity III -- Planters

Presiding: Rod Caruthers, Austin Seminary

Theme: Reading the New Testament among the Jews, Greeks, and the Romans

  • Jin Young Kim, Oklahoma State University

"Pierced by Truth: The Isaianic Sword and the Affective Epistemology in Luke 2:35"

  • Kyle Sherling, Rice University

"Transgression and its Consequences: Reading Acts in the Context of Hellenistic and Roman Historiography"

  • Amy Smith Carman, Dallas College

"Mapping a Herodian Queen: Berenice’s Routes and Elite Alliances in the Roman East"

  • Hunter Holmes, Baylor University

"The Defeat of Thanatos: Reconsidering the Identity of Death in 1 Corinthians 15"

Sunday 10:30-11:00: Coffee Break
Sunday 11:00–12:30

SBRL Presidential Address -- Merchants

Presiding: Matt Calhoun, Texas Christian University

  • Rannfrid Lasine Thelle, Associate Professor in the Religion Program, History Department, Wichita State University

"Biblical Studies among the Humanities and Social Sciences: Challenges and Opportunities in the Present Moment"