Southwest Commission on Religious Studies
Southwest Regional Meeting Preliminary Program of Events
February 28-March 2, 2025
AAR-SW
Friday: 2:00-5:00
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.
Saturday: 8:00-10:00
SWCRS Board of Directors Meeting
Saturday: 9:00-10:15
AAR-SW: Philosophy of Religion
Presiding: Rev. Alexander Vishio, Southern Methodist University
“Metaphysics, Metaethics, and Pleasure in Plato’s Middle Period”
Mark Wiebe, Lubbock Christian University
“The Problem of Religious Pluralism in Light of a Christian’s Constitutive Identity and the Church’s Proper Service in a Culturally Diversified World: A Proposed Solution”
Alexander Vishio, Southern Methodist University
AAR-SW: Roundtable Book Discussion
Presiding: Antoinette DeNapoli, Texas Christian University
Theme: Women and Representation in Buddhist Asia: Innovative Pedagogies, Alternative Narratives, and Reimagined Philosophies, Antoinette DeNapoli, Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox, and Kevin Curtis Taylor, eds.
Antoinette DeNapoli, Texas Christian University
Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox, Quinnipiac University
Kevin Curtis Taylor, University of Memphis
Wynn Gadkar-Wilcox, Western Connecticut State University
Victoria Montrose, Furman University
Angie Coker, San Diego State University
Maria Ritzema, College of DuPage
Rohan de Silva, Milwaukee Area Technical College
Lisa Battaglia, Samford University
Mark Dennis, Texas Christian University
AAR-SW: Latinx Religions
Presiding: Aixin Aydin, University of Texas
“¡Ya Basta! Examining the Possibility of a Chicano/a Social Gospel in America”
Anabella Martinez, Baylor University
“A Storied Shrine: Narrative Indeterminacy, Pilgrimage, and Healing at New Mexico’s Santuario de Chimayó”
Kirsten Erickson, University of Arkansas
“Gender-Based Violence and Immigration: Jie Hao's Story”
Aixin Aydin, University of Texas
AAR-SW: Black Theology
Presider: Hue Woodson, Tarrant County College
“Abstract Expressionism as a Reflection of American Civil Religion”
Laron Muse, Prairie View A&M University
“Paul's Message to the Privileged Black American”
Michael Royster, Prairie View A&M University
“Cosmic Forces and the Divine Energy: The World of the Lwa and the Presence of the Spirit in the World”
Celucien Joseph, San Jacinto College
AAR-SW: Affiliate Faculty Roundtable Discussion
Presiding: Rachel Schwaller, University of Kansas
Theme: Integrating and supporting affiliate faculty into academic life
Jillian Englehardt, Texas Christian University
Rachel Schwaller, University of Kansas
Marcus Hayes, Texas Wesleyan University
David Schones, Austin College
Saturday: 10:30-12:00
AAR-SW: History of Christianity
Presider: Jordan Swanson, University of Texas
“The Covenant in Paul: A Response to the ‘Paul within Judaism’ School”
Vincent Smiles, College of St. Benedict & St. John’s University
“St. Brigid of Kildare: Legend or Saint?”
Emily Knoppe, Missouri State University
“1925: A Year of Decision in Zion”
Jason Smith, Chicago Theological Seminary
AAR-SW: Book Panel
Presider: Chad Pevateaux, Interfaith Action of Central Texas
Theme: Clouds of the Cross in Luther and Kierkegaard: Revelation as Unknowing by Carl S. Hughes
“Revelation for the Rest of Us: Carl S. Hughes's Kierkegaardian-Lutheran Theology of Revelation and its Ecclesiological Implications”
Lora Walsh, University of Arkansas
“Considering the Cloud: A Response to Hughes”
Anthony Baker, Seminary of the Southwest
“Reading Hughes on Luther and Kierkegaard”
Paul Martens, Baylor University
Carl Hughes, Texas Lutheran University, responding
AAR-SW: Theta Alpha Kappa and Undergraduate session
Presiding: Jenny Veninga
“The Complex Identity of Οἰ Ἐγρήγοροι (Εe Εgrigori) in 1 Enoch: Redefining ‘the Watchers’ through Greek Linguistics, Myths, and Art”
Evyenia (Nia) Botti, St. Edward’s University
“Words under Pressure: The Power of Poetry and Apophatic Theology”
Lily Lobo, Baylor University
“The Word is Near You: A Study of Justification by Faith in the Pentateuch”
Camden Ammons, Dallas Baptist University
Saturday: 12:00-1:00: Lunch Break
Saturday: 1:30-3:30
AAR-SW: Religion and Class
Presiding: Fadime Apaydin, University of California, Riverside
“‘Religion in the Hovels’: Houselessness and Religious Practice in Lawrence, KS, past and present”
Rachel Schwaller, University of Kansas
“The Advantages and Shortcomings of Faith-Based Initiatives for Poverty Alleviation”
Bethany Burnett, Prairie View A&M University
“Exploring Different Perspectives on Classifying Muslims”
Fadime Apaydin, University of California, Riverside
AAR-SW: Theology
Presiding: Dr. Samuel Davidson, Princeton Theological Seminary
“Self-Implication and the Study of Spirituality”
Ryan Martin, Oblate School of Theology
“The Ethics of Yards and the Doctrine of Creation: An Ecotheological Proposal”
Samuel Davidson, Princeton Theological Seminary
“Master of the Crossroads and the Light of the World: Christ and Papa Legba in Conversation”
Celucien Joseph, San Jacinto University
“Dan Gayman, the Church of Israel, and the Dangers of Self Religio-Racialization”
Jason Smith, Chicago Theological Seminary
AAR-SW: Book Panel
Presiding: Antoinette DeNapoli, Texas Christian University
Theme: Reciprocal Ethnography and the Power of Women’s Narratives, by Elaine Lawless
Lora Walsh, University of Arkansas
Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner, Southern Methodist University
Elise Edwards, Baylor University
Antoinette DeNapoli, Texas Christian University
Patricia Duncan, Texas Christian University
Aixin Aidin, University of Texas
Alexandra Nelson-Tomlinson, University of Texas
AAR-SW: Theta Alpha Kappa and Undergraduate Session
Presiding: Jenny Veninga
“Perfected in Christ: A Study in the Doctrine of the Incarnation”
Sam Byassee, Baylor University
“Medieval Mysticism: Hildegard von Bingen’s Illuminative Compositions and Transcending Role within the Church Hierarchy”
Alexandra Chastain, St. Edward’s University
“Unwritten Women: The Untold Stories of Women in Faith”
Emma Goins, Oklahoma City University
Saturday: 3:30-4:00: Coffee Break
Saturday: 4:00-5:30
4:00-5:30 AAR-SW Plenary Session
Presiding: Malcolm Foley, Baylor University
God of the Whirlwind, ed. Tyler Davis
Elise Edwards, Baylor University
Matthew Harris, University of Chicago
Rachel Ozanne, University of Texas at Austin
Tyler Davis, St. Mary’s University
Sunday: 7:30-8:15: AAR Business Meeting
Sunday: 8:30-10:30
AAR-SW: Meet My Monograph
Presiding: Lora Walsh, University of Arkansas
Oluwatomisin Oredein, Brite Divinity School, The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye: Ecumenism, Feminism, and Communal Practice (Notre Dame, 2023)
Elise Edwards, Baylor University, Architecture, Theology, and Ethics: Making Architectural Design More Just (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024)
Natasha Mikles, Texas State University, Shattered Grief: How the Pandemic Transformed the Spirituality of Death in America (Columbia, 2024)
Susan Benton, Baylor University Women Patrons and Mothers in Associations and the New Testament (Mohr Siebeck, 2025)
Mourad Takawi, University of the Incarnate Word, Exegetical Encounters: Interreligious Interpretations of the Qurʾān in Early Islam (De Gruyter, forthcoming)
Isaiah Ellis, Southern Methodist University, Apostles of Asphalt: Race, Empire, and the Religious Politics of Infrastructure in the American South (in progress)
Judith Ellen Brunton, Rice University, Boom or Bust: Storytelling Oil in Alberta (in progress)
AAR-SW: Religion, Gender, and Sexuality
Presiding: JT Martin, Southern Methodist University
“For Such a Time: Fictionalizing the Lives of Dinah and Esther”
Ashley Nguyễn, Boston College
“Your Body is a Temple: The Religious right to Reproductive and Bodily Autonomy”
Michelle Johnson, Prairie View A&M University
“‘Weight, What?’ An Examination of the American Pursuit of the Salvific Body”
Alexandra Nelson-Tomlinson, University of Texas at Austin
“From Bible Stories to Sexual Theology: One Bigender Theologian's Journey from Evangelical Epistemology to Queer Theology”
JT Martin, Southern Methodist University
AAR-SW: Ethics, Society, and Cultural Analysis
Presiding: Ezra Jiseok Choe, Baylor University
“Whose Story Gets Told? Methods for Navigating Polarization in Ethnographic Research”
Marie Purcell, Southern Methodist University
“‘A Subject for the Historical Painter’: The Modest Failure of John Gadsby Chapman’s ‘Baptism of Pocahontas’ as Theological Symbol”
Andrew Whitworth, Baylor University
“Chatta Chowk: A bazaar that has told many stories”
Aayush Triguni, University of North Texas
AAR-SW: Arts, Literature, and Religion
Presiding: Laron Muse, Prairie View A&M University
“Chat G-D, Narrative Traditions, and the Gospel Truth: On the Theological Differences between the Fabrications of Chat-Bots and Human Authors of Scripture”
Rebecca Huskey, University of Oklahoma
“The Intersection of Apocalyptic Narratives, Artificial Intelligence, and the Human Condition: A Critical Examination of Technological Fears and Existential Themes”
Eugen Rosu, Rio Salado College
“I Wrote this Bible Myself: Original Poetry as Esoteric Religious Texts”
Caroline De la Garza, University of Texas at the Rio Grande Valley
Sunday 10:30-11:00: Coffee Break
ASSR
Saturday: 10:30-12:00
Presiding: Todd Jay Leonard, University of Teacher Education Fukuoka, Japan
Theme: Baptist Women in Ministry, American Muslim Youth, and Sutra on Hearing the Messiah
10:30 Mandy McMichael, Baylor University
“Piecing Together a Story of Baptist Women in Ministry Using Qualitative Data Analysis”
11:00 Samuel J. Ross, TCU
“Trends in Religious Affiliation and Disaffiliation Among American Muslim Youth: Preliminary Results from a New Pilot Study”
11:30 Gerhard Stuebben, Baylor University
“The Cool Breeze Visits Mo Yan: A Translation and Analysis of the Jesus Story in Sutra on Hearing the Messiah from Seventh Century China”
Saturday: 12:00-1:30: Lunch
Saturday: 1:30-3:30
Presiding: Darren J. N. Middleton, Baylor University
Theme: Jordan Peterson, The Material Culture of Death, and Han on Embodied Narratives
1:30 Noel S. Adams, Marquette University
“Narrative as the Fundamental Framework of Human Understanding: Jordan Peterson on Why Biblical Stories are Privileged.”
2:00 Eric Breault, Northern Arizona University
“The Material Culture of Death: A Story of Disruption”
2:30 Ezra Jiseok Choe, Baylor University
“Han on Embodied Narratives and the Crisis of Narration”
3-3:30pm ASSR Business Mtg.
Saturday: 3:30-4:00: Coffee Break
Saturday: 4:00-5:30
Presiding: Dennis Horton, Baylor University
Theme: Sacred Plants, Herod’s Harbor, and Human Exceptionalism
4:00 Karol Chandler-Ezell, Stephen F. Austin State University
“Beyond the Lily and the Lotus: Sacred Plants as Living Metaphors of the Gods”
4:30 Patrick Scott Smith, Independent Scholar
“Paul, Caesarea, and Herod’s Harbor: A Summary Update”
5:00 Michael Royster, Prairie View A&M University
“The Risk of Human Exceptionalism”
Reception: 5:30-6:30
Sunday: 8:30-10:30
Presiding: J. David Holcomb, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
Theme: Hispanic and Assyrian American Social Gospelers, Traditions, Democratic Party Political Socialization, and Silence is Religious
8:30 Grace Babayan, Baylor University
“An Unheard Story: The Case for a Diasporic Social Gospel”
9:00 Luke Bellinger, University of Texas at Austin
“The Role of Marginalized Racial-Religious Communities in Democratic Party Political Socialization”
9:30 Nicholas Elliott, University of Southern Mississippi
“Silence is Religious: When Conversation Meets the Unspeakable Force”
10:00 Discussion
Sunday 10:30-11:00: Coffee Break
Sunday: 11:00-12:30pm
Presiding: Karol Chandler-Ezell, Stephen F. Austin State University
Theme: Lucius Tobin and the Roberts Court
11:00 Ronald Lorenzo, Prairie View A&M University
“A Durkheimian Interpretation of the Life and thought of Lucius M. Tobin (1898-1984)”
11:30 J. David Holcomb, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
“Is the ‘Separation of Church and State’ Unconstitutional?: The Roberts Court and the Primacy of Free Exercise
SBRL
Saturday: 10:30-12:00
Christian Literature Beyond the Bible 1: Other Gospels
Presiding: April DeConick, Rice University
Jennifer Reil, Baylor University
Broken Jars and the Way of the Kingdom: Reading Gospel of Thomas 97 and 2 Corinthians 4:7 as Common Tradition
Sara Patterson, Baylor University
The Rest of the Story? Sabbath Controversy in the Gospel of Nicodemus’ Trial Scene
J.D. Reiner, Rice University
Reception, Social Memory, and Retrospection in Scholarship on the Hymn of Christ
New Testament and Early Christianity 1: Community Building and the New Testament
Presiding: Jennifer L. Greig-Berens, Oral Roberts University
Eric Brewer, Baylor University
Friendship with Jesus in the Gospel of Luke
Catharine Corder, Seminary of the Southwest
A Novel Approach to Acts: Conceiving a Hybrid Church
Rodney Caruthers II, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
The Bodhisattva and the Martyr: Tracing Possible Influences on Jewish and Christian Martyrdom Traditions
Michael D. Royster, Prairie View A&M University
With No Ground to Stand On: Paul’s Message Against the Evil of Racism
Second Temple and Late Antique Judaism 1: Roundtable on Apocalyptic Bodies in Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity
Presiding: David Schones, Austin College
Jamal-Dominique Hopkins, Baylor University
Ariel Feldman, Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University
Lidija Novakovic, Baylor University
Saturday: 12:00-1:30: Lunch
Saturday: 1:30-3:30
Christian Literature Beyond the Bible 2: Christianity and Culture
Presiding: Matt Calhoun, Texas Christian University
Erik Estrada, Texas Christian University
The Problem of Faith, Works and Salvation in the Shepherd of Hermas
Abigail CroweTipton, Rice University
God, Wombs, and Prostitutes: An Analysis of Suffering and Birth in Exegesis on the Soul (NHC II, 6)
Rochelle Willingham, Rice University
God, Wombs, and Matriarchs: Monastic Healing of Infertility through Prayer in Late Antique Egypt
Camden Roy, Rice University
Archons between the Beginning and the End of the World
Hebrew Bible / Old Testament 1: Identity, Politics, and Power
Presiding: Mark Sneed, Abilene Christian University
Lily Davis, Baylor University
Sexuality as Empowerment: the Expose of Jael
Rannfrid Thelle, Wichita State University
The Trial of Benjamin
W. Dennis Tucker Jr., Truett Theological Seminary
Revisiting Psalm 91 in Light of Israel’s Internal Religious Pluralism
Mark Hamilton, Abilene Christian University
Theology and/or Politics? The Case of “Third Isaiah”
New Testament and Early Christianity 2: Apocalypticism in the New Testament
Presiding: Jeehei Park, Seminary of the Southwest
Taylor Brown, Baylor University
Barren Fig Trees and the Breaking of Bonds: Reading Luke 13:6–9 in Light of Lukan Eschatological Theodicy
Eric Covington, Geneva School of Boerne
“Sleeper Awake, Rise from the Dead”: Future Resurrection and Present Ethics in Ephesians
Jennifer L. Greig-Berens, Oral Roberts University
The Communal Persona of Holy Priests in John’s Apocalypse: From Ideal Type to Ritual Embodiment
Dale Walker, Brite Divinity School
John’s Rage against Rome
Second Temple and Late Antique Judaism 2: Apocalypse, Ethnicity, and Imperial Ideology in Second Temple Literature
Presiding: Deirdre Fulton, Baylor University
Marcus Hayes, Texas Wesleyan University
Hifalutin Fear: A Socioeconomic Critique of Qohelet 12:5
Timothy J. Sandoval, Texas Christian University
Eschatological Ethnicity and Ethical Identity in Tobit
Kyle Sherling, Rice University
Contesting Imperial Space through Writing in the Book of Jubilees
Aaron Decker, Brite Divinity School
Lady Jerusalem, Bringer of Hope
Saturday: 3:00-4:00: Coffee Break
Saturday: 4:00-5:30
Hebrew Bible / Old Testament 2: Reading in Context
Presiding: Kim Bodenhamer, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
Kyle Rouse, Baylor University
Sacrificial Liturgies at Ugarit: Implications from the Offering Sequence of the So-Called “Royal Funerary Ritual” of KTU 1.105
Wenji Konyu Emmanuel, Rice University
The Hermeneutics of the Fireside: Proverbs in the Biblical and African Wisdom Traditions
Diego Roman Martinez, Brite Divinity School
A Multi-Layered Christian Reading of Psalm 45
Panel Discussion: Biblical Studies after the Pandemic: Should Anything Change?
Presiding: Susanne Scholz, Perkins School of Theology
Abraham Smith, Perkins School of Theology
Serge Frolov, Southern Methodist University
Kelley Coblentz Bautch, Saint Edward’s University
Carol J. Dempsey, University of Portland
April DeConick, Rice University
Sunday: 7:30-8:15: SBRL Business Meeting
Sunday 8:30–10:30
Hebrew Bible / Old Testament 3: Memory and the Maintenance of Relationship
Presiding: Rebecca Poe Hays, Baylor University
Kelsey Spinnato, Texas Lutheran University
Replacing Rebekah: The Generative Power of Biblical Stories
Luke T. Bitzkie, Brite Divinity School
A Theophany of Injury: Jacob’s Impairment as a Sign of Divine Covenant
Reichert Zalameda, Baylor University
Remember Like a Man: Memory and Masculinity in the Gideon and Jephthah Cycles
Stuart Lasine, Wichita State University
Exiles and Fugitives: Cain and the Book of Jonah
New Testament and Early Christianity 3: Remembrance and Memories in Early Christianity
Presiding: Eric Brewer, Baylor University
Jin Young Kim, Oklahoma State University
The Boy Jesus in the Temple: Exploring the Temple’s Role and War Memory in Luke 2
Lanie Walkup, Baylor University
“A Poor Man Lay at His Gate” (Luke 16:20): Visual Exegesis, Shrinking Boundaries, and the Sin of the Rich Man
Ashlyn Wimberly, Baylor University
Lost in the Wilderness, Found in the Flock: ἡ ἐρῆμος, Mental Illness, and the Parable of the Lost Sheep
Gary D. Wallin, University of Texas at Austin
Making a Memorial When I Pray: Paul’s Remembrance among the Graffiti of Migrants
Sunday 10:30-11:00: Coffee Break
Sunday 11:00–12:30
SBRL Presidential Address
Presiding: Rannfrid Thelle, Wichita State University
Matthias Henze, Rice University
As It Could Have Been: The Hebrew Bible and Jewish Apocalypses