Southwest Commission on Religious Studies

2027 Call for Papers

GENERAL INFORMATION

The annual meeting will be held on March 5-7, 2026 at the Marriott Dallas Las Colinas.

Unless otherwise noted, a response to your proposal will be sent within one month of the deadline. If your proposal is accepted, you should confirm in writing your participation in the session with the program chair. In addition, you must register for the meeting through the Eventbrite site for SWCRS. All presenters and presiders must register at least one month prior to the meeting.

We encourage individuals to participate in all three sister organizations (ASSR, AAR-SW, and SBRL) at SWCRS. To avoid overlap in scheduling, please adhere to the following guidelines:

A person can submit the same proposal to two organizations, declaring this double-submission in your proposal. The organizations will communicate with one another to ensure that any given proposal is only accepted once.
A person can present up to two papers at the SWCRS conference across all participating organizations. For example, a person might present a paper to an AAR-SW session and a different paper to an ASSR session.
In addition to proposing papers, we encourage participants to preside over panels, roundtables, book clubs, etc. There is no limit on presiding. For example, a person might preside at an SBRL session, present a paper at a second SBRL session, and also present a paper in an ASSR session.

The Association for the Scientific Study of Religion

The Association for the Scientific Study of Religion invites paper proposals on any topic concerning the scientific study of religion, to include those dealing with the sociological, philosophical, economic, historical, psychological, and political considerations of religion in society.

PAPER PROPOSALS: Paper proposals should be submitted via this link by October 1, 2026.

DUES and CONFERENCE REGISTRATION: All ASSR presenters must be members
of ASSR and must submit dues via the PayPal or Venmo information on the ASSR website. Participants must also register for the annual meeting through the SWCRS website and pay the applicable cost of registration and book with the conference hotel. (ASSR dues are separate from and not included in any payments made in connection with the SWCRS.) Also note that our meeting takes place in person. There are no virtual sessions.

PAPER SUBMISSIONS: Papers must be submitted to jholcom4@samford.edu by Friday, February 26, 2027 to be considered for the Frank P. Forwood Award for excellence in presented research or the Harry Hale Prize for graduate and undergraduate research. More information about the prizes can be found on the ASSR website. Papers must be submitted to jholcom4@samford.edu by Monday, March 26, 2027 in order to be considered for inclusion in the annual Proceedings of the Association for the Scientific Study of Religion. All papers must adhere to the ASSR Style Guide for Paper Submissions located on the ASSR website.

American Academy of Religion-SW

The Southwest region of the American Academy of Religion invites proposals for the SWCRS regional conference, March 5-7, 2027 in Irving, Texas. We warmly encourage scholars (at all career stages) who work on religion in the Southwest region to submit proposals and to join us for a weekend of scholarly exchange, collegial conversation, and community. Submit a proposal to AAR-SW here (https://forms.gle/oBJhwaruSqy8jWSw6) or visit the AAR-SW website here (https://aar-sw.org/). Also note that our meeting takes place in person. There are no virtual sessions.

Our theme for the 2027 conference is Religion and Power. This is an open call for all topics related to religion or theology, but we especially invite proposals that examine religion as both a source of power and a response to it, exploring how religious actors and communities shape, and are shaped by, the forces that structure human life. This year, we are also excited to welcome Dr. Laurel Schneider, President of the American Academy of Religion, as our plenary speaker.

Power shapes religious ideas, institutions, practices, and communities in a multitude of ways. It is exercised through authority, persuasion, ritual, knowledge, economics, politics, social relationships, and cultural influence, but it is also negotiated, resisted, shared, or transformed. We hope this theme encourages scholars to examine religion as both a source of power and a response to it, exploring how religious actors and communities shape and are shaped by the forces that structure human life.

We especially invite proposals that engage the conference theme by addressing questions such as:

How do religious communities acquire, negotiate, wield, contest, or resist power?
Who holds power within religious communities, and how is that power obtained, exercised, and maintained?
Where do power dynamics shape religious expression, identity, or community?
When is religion a source of influence, and when does it appear constrained or powerless?
How do changing social, political, and cultural contexts reshape the relationship between religion and power?
How can religion tap into the power of imaginative creation rather than reactive opposition?
How do questions of power shape the academic study of religion, theological inquiry, or the work of scholars and educators?
How is increased dependency on adjunct labor affecting power dynamics within academia?

We welcome historical, textual, ethnographic, philosophical, theological, and interdisciplinary approaches to these questions.

Special Areas of Interest

In addition to our usual program units, we invite proposals in three particular areas for this year:

Plenary Conversation:We welcome proposals that engage themes raised by our plenary speaker, Dr. Laurel Schneider, President of the American Academy of Religion. Dr. Schneider invites you to imagine with her a future where our field(s) and region build on the power of convening. What’s working? Who is crafting new ways of convening? What are we not tapping into? What can we rebuild, or where can we build something new?
Religion, Power, and the Southwest:Thinking specifically about our region, we are also interested in papers that consider regional concerns as they intersect with religion and power. For example, immigration and borderlands; Indigenous communities, religion and energy or the environment, church-state issues in Texas and neighboring states, public education, and other topics of regional significance.
Teaching Religion and Power:How do questions of power shape the teaching and study of religion today? Considering ongoing AI challenges and opportunities, political tensions in the classroom, restrictions on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, and broader pressures on higher education, what pedagogical approaches are proving effective? How do issues of authority, expertise, and institutional power affect our work as scholars and educators? We welcome individual papers, panel proposals, and teaching-focused sessions that explore these questions.

Ongoing Proposal Opportunities

Meet My Monograph:As a part of AAR-SW’s commitment to support regional scholarship and publication, we welcome suggestions for Meet My Monograph sessions featuring regional scholars and their new books. If you or a colleague has recently published, or has a forthcoming monograph, consider a proposal for this section.
Undergraduate Students: Undergraduate proposals should include the name and contact information of a faculty advisor. Full papers are due by January 15, 2027. For questions about TAK/undergraduate proposals, please contact Andrew Lee (AAR-SW Vice President) at alee58@uco.edu.
Graduate Students:We are also committed to creating a collaborative and supportive conference for Graduate Student scholarly development. We strongly encourage graduate students to propose papers and panels. We are exploring additional opportunities for graduate student mentorship, community, and professional development as part of this year’s conference.

For questions about the CFP or the conference, contact Cindy Dawson (AAR-SW Chief Regional Officer) at cdawson2@uh.edu or Marie Olson Purcell (AAR-SW President Elect) at mariep@smu.edu. For undergraduate/Theta Alpha Kappa questions, contact Andrew Lee (AAR-SW Vice President) at alee58@uco.edu.

Scholars of Biblical and Related Literature

Call for Papers for the SWCRS Annual Meeting 2027

In 2022, the Society of Biblical Literature discontinued its regional identities and meetings. Former SBL‑SW scholars decided to maintain an unincorporated identity as “Scholars of Biblical and Related Literature” (SBRL) in order to continue organizing and running sessions at the annual SWCRS conference. We identify as scholars who reside within the southwest region (Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri) and whose main focus of study is the Bible and related literature.

Please use this form to submit your proposal.

Items to note for our 2027 meeting:

The 2027 SBRL meeting will feature the theme “What texts do: functions, activities, and impacts of biblical and related literature in the real world.” While we encourage proposals that creatively engage this theme, other proposals remain most welcome.
We continue to invite proposals for a “Meet My Research” session—introduce us to your work in progress or recent publication. The precise shape of this session will depend on interest and the details of proposals received.
We appreciate proposers exercising courtesy and good judgment with respect to our conference participation limits. In general, presenters are limited to two total appearances on the program across all SWCRS participating societies (this does not apply to presiding). Reading the same or substantially identical paper in more than one session at the conference is not welcome. Please note on the proposal form if you are also submitting the same proposal to AAR-SW or ASSR.
Proposals for our meeting are for in-person presentations, and all individuals on the program must be registered to participate.
Address any questions to the relevant unit co-chairs, listed below, or to the SBRL coordinator Joseph McDonald (mcdonald@tcu.edu).

Panels and cross-disciplinary proposals

In addition to individual paper presentations, we welcome fully-planned panel proposals to consider for the 2027 program. Themed panels may be proposed that fit within any of the SBRL program units, or that take up issues that run across or stretch the boundaries of one or more program units. Cross-disciplinary paper proposals are also welcome; select “consider the program unit with the best thematic fit” on the proposal form.

Program Units

Hebrew Bible / Old Testament

We invite proposals on a variety of topics related to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, the Apocrypha, and the Pseudepigrapha. We are particularly interested in papers around this year’s conference theme of “What texts do: functions, activities, and impacts of biblical and related literature in the real world.” Proposals may focus on specific exegetical problems, biblical theology, biblical hermeneutics, methodological studies, the Dead Sea Scrolls, race, ethnicity, gender, pedagogy, and reception history. Welcome approaches include cultural studies, film studies, and other media studies. This list is intended to be suggestive rather than exhaustive.

Please address any questions to unit co-chairs Rebecca Poe Hays (R_Hays@baylor.edu) and Marcus Hayes (hayes@txwes.edu).

Second Temple and Late Antique Judaism

We invite proposals for papers on any topic related to the study of early Jewish ideas, texts, religious, social, or political practices, ranging from the Hellenistic to the Greco-Roman world and beyond. As our theme this year is “What texts do,” we are especially interested in papers that address the unique functions or impacts Second Temple texts or traditions have had on religious communities both in the late antique period or in the modern world. Proposals which expand on traditional scholarship are also welcome, including social-scientific criticism, form criticism, reader response criticism, ideological criticism, cultural criticism, disability studies, childhood studies, and post-colonial studies. We believe that these methods can shed new light on familiar texts and traditions, offering fresh insights into the complexities and diversity of the Second Temple period.

Please address any questions to unit co-chairs David Schones (dschones@austincollege.edu) and Deirdre Fulton (Deirdre_Fulton@baylor.edu).

New Testament and Early Christianity

We invite proposals for papers on any topic related to the study of the New Testament or early Christianity in its diversity of forms. Submissions may also engage with topics such as pedagogy and the reception history of biblical texts. Particularly encouraged are proposals that critically engage traditional areas of New Testament scholarship (such as biblical theology and hermeneutics) as well as those that adopt innovative critical frameworks (such as feminist, liberationist, and postcolonial/decolonial perspectives). Interdisciplinary approaches are especially welcome, encompassing fields such as homiletics, cultural studies, film studies, and other media-related disciplines. Of special interest are papers that align with the conference theme, “What texts do: functions, activities, and impacts of biblical and related literature in the real world.” We especially encourage submissions that integrate methodologies from disciplines beyond biblical studies, such as Classical Studies, Anthropology, Archaeology, Sociology, Psychology, and Papyrology, among others.

Please address any questions to unit co-chairs Jeehei Park (Jeehei.park@ssw.edu) and Rodney Caruthers II (rcaruthers@austinseminary.edu).

Christian Literature Beyond the Bible

We invite proposals for papers on any topic related to the study of early Christian literature, including the reuse of early Christian literature by later authors/artists. Papers may focus on literature from the Christian apocrypha/pseudepigrapha; or Nag Hammadi/other Gnostic codices; or Apostolic Fathers/Patristic literature; or monastic sources; or Christian magical texts/spells; or documentary/other papyri; or writing on other material objects. We encourage methodological diversity and are open to any critical approach. This year we especially welcome proposals related to or reflecting on the theme of this year’s conference, “What texts do: functions, activities, and impacts of biblical and related literature in the real world.”

Please address any questions to unit co-chairs April DeConick (adeconick@rice.edu) and Matt Calhoun (R.M.CALHOUN@tcu.edu).