Southwest Commission on Religious Studies

2023 Call for Papers

GENERAL INFORMATION

The annual meeting will be held on March 3-5 2023 at the Marriott Dallas Las Colinas. Proposals should be submitted per the instructions of each organization. Please indicate if the proposal is being submitted to more than one section. Proposals may be submitted to more than one section, but in order to accommodate as many people as possible, papers may not be read more than once during the meeting. Unless otherwise indicated, the deadline for paper proposal submission is Nov 1, 2022.

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.

 

AAR-SW CFP

This year’s conference theme is Hopeful Futures (?). These recent years have been shaped by a pandemic, political polarization and instability, effects of climate change, increased violence, and a rise in extremism, among other crises and hardships. In light of these challenging times, how do we imagine what the future holds?

For the 2023 conference, we want to explore how religion helps us think about or points us towards the future—both in contemporary and historical forms. How does religion help or hinder us from thinking about the world as it is or as it should be? What resources, tools, strategies, or inspiration do religions hold for confronting social, ecological, and political dilemmas and disasters? We want to ponder the role that religion and the study of religion plays–or should play– not only in planting the seeds of hope across societies but also in shaping efforts towards human flourishing and resilience.

We invite proposals for papers or panels/roundtables that address this theme in any way, including artistic, literary, cultural, political, social, ecological, and philosophical approaches. Topics exploring gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, and disability are particularly welcome. We also welcome proposals for presentations or panels on pedagogy, issues related to the profession of the academic study of religion and theology, public scholarship, reviews of recently published academic monographs, and other topics. The submission deadline is November 1, 2022. Proposals should be submitted through the online submission form: https://forms.gle/13v2R3f7v87SCyYF6

 

SWCRS AAR Plenary Talk:

Title: Hopeful Futures and the Future of SWCRS—A Cross Disciplinary Community Conversation

This year’s AAR plenary talk is different from past plenaries. In light of the evolving challenges of the pandemic and growing concerns with an unstable economy, the work of imagining hopeful futures is as urgent as ever. This year’s plenary leads with the intention of nurturing the future of SWCRS to grow and solidify its diverse scholarly community. With the SBL no longer holding regionals, multiple SWCRS bodies are tasked with reimagining their futures. As the impacts of the SBL’s decision starts to ripple through the regions, AAR-SW stands in solidarity with other SWCRS bodies, recognizing the interdependence of our organizations and our futures. In this plenary talk, AAR officers connect the annual theme of “Hopeful Futures” to broader issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging concerning the future and viability of SWCRS, and engage in vital conversation with the officers of other SWCRS organizations, but also with the regional community at large to reimagine pathways forward and toward flourishing futures. With multiple, and potentially conflicting, visions of what may ‘count’ for a “hopeful future” involved, this plenary aims to generate nuanced and robust discussion.

 

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. The ASSR welcomes proposals from members of other SWCRS affiliates. Proposals may be submitted to more than one SWCRS affiliate; but, in order to accommodate as many participants as possible, papers may not be read more than once during the SWCRS meeting.

Upon acceptance of a proposal, ASSR admin will send a membership invoice; members with PayPal accounts can directly submit dues through the PayPal link on the ASSR website. All ASSR presenters must be members of ASSR and must ensure payment of dues as outlined above. 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.

IMPORTANT: ASSR dues are separate from and not included in any payments made in connection with the SWCRS.

PAPER PROPOSALS   Send proposals via email to: David Holcomb, (dholcomb@umhb.edu). The deadline for submitting proposals is end of the day, Friday, November 4, 2022.

PAPER SUBMISSIONS   Please submit the completed paper to dholcomb@umhb.edu. Your paper must be received by end of the day, Friday, February 10, 2023, in order to be considered for inclusion in the annual Proceedings of the Association for the Scientific Study of Religion, and/or to be considered for the Frank P. Forwood Award. Graduate and Undergraduate students are encouraged to submit paper proposals. Accepted proposals will be eligible to compete for the Harry Hale Prize for graduate and undergraduate research with an honorarium for selected papers. All papers must adhere to the ASSR Style Guide for Paper Submissions located on the ASSR website.

Biblical Studies Call for Papers, 2023

DEADLINE FOR ALL PROPOSALS:  November 1, 2022. Questions may be directed to regional coordinator, Shelly Matthews, s.matthews@tcu.edu, and/or to relevant chairs of program units noted in the call.

Important items to note:  1) Because it is cost-prohibitive, the conference cannot provide AV equipment. Presenters who wish to use AV must provide their own set-up.  2) Scholars whose papers are accepted for presentation must register for the conference no later than January 3, 2023.

Submit your proposal using this link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1aPM1xgQYjHKGnPrRYwTrUZXswKQtD4I6F7CWYh7TtDs/edit

 

Themed panel across all program units:

“How to Read the Bible in the (Post)Corona Era?” Papers are invited for a panel entitled “How to Read the Bible in the (Post)Corona Era?” After three years of medical, political, and economic violations of constitutional rights around the globe, this panel invites papers to reflect, explore, analyze, debate, and interrogate how the (post)corona era serves or ought to serve as a context for the academic study of the bible. What methodologies are obsolete now and which ones should be advanced? Why do we need the field of biblical studies in the (post)corona era in difference or in continuation of before? What changed and what remains the same, and why? Will digitizing the field ensure its academic survival, and if so, why, and if not, why not? Which reading communities should bible scholars align with, investigate more or less, and how so? What is the utility of biblical studies in a world that prioritizes the biotechnofeudal order over against or in continuation of the western-neocolonial-democratic order? Bold, creative, and unexpected proposals are most welcome in the effort to develop a methodological, hermeneutical, and exegetical discourse in biblical studies for the so-called future. For questions, please email to sscholz@smu.edu.

 

Hebrew Bible/Old Testament:

Members of the society are invited to submit proposals on a variety of topics related to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, the Apocrypha, and the Pseudepigrapha. Proposals may focus on specific exegetical problems, biblical theology, biblical hermeneutics, methodological studies, the Dead Sea Scrolls, race, ethnicity, gender, pedagogy, and reception history. These 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 the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Program Chairs: Rebecca Poe Hays (r_hays@baylor.edu) and Mark Sneed (mark.sneed@lcu.edu)

 

Second Temple and Late Antique Judaism:

Members of the society are invited to submit proposals for papers on any topic related to the study of early Jewish ideas, texts, religious, social or political practices, or of Judaism in the Greco-Roman world and beyond. We encourage methodological diversity and are open to any scholarly approach to these topics.

Please address any questions to the Program Chairs:
Joseph McDonald (j.mcdonald@tcu.edu), Kelley Coblentz Bautch (kelleyb@stedwards.edu)

 

New Testament and Early Christianity:

Members of the society are invited to submit proposals for papers on any topic related to the study of the New Testament or early Christianity in its diversity of forms. Paper proposals may also treat such subjects as pedagogy or reception history. Particularly welcome are proposals that include critical reflection on traditional topics in New Testament studies (e.g., biblical theology, biblical hermeneutics) and/or that approach the material with new critical methodologies (e.g., feminist, liberationist, post-colonial). These approaches include, for example, cultural studies, film studies, and other media studies.

Please address any questions to the New Testament Program Chairs: Lidija Novakovic (Lidija_Novakovic@baylor.edu) and Jeehei Park (jeehei.park@ssw.edu).