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