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2026 CONFERENCE PROGRAM
2026 CONFERENCE PROGRAM
April 16-18
April 16-18
NOTE: ALL PROGRAM TIMES are listed for the eastern TIME ZONE
NOTE: ALL PROGRAM TIMES are listed for the eastern TIME ZONE
Click on the session time banners to see section panels and presenters.
UC Shuttle route and schedule available here.
Paper Prizes
Paper Prizes
The Midwest AAR is delighted to recognize outstanding scholarship in three categories:
Undergraduate Research
Graduate Research
Marion McFarland Award for Best Research in the Area of Religion, Ecology, and Sustainability
THURSDAY, April 16th
THURSDAY, April 16th
Conference check-in and registration will open at 3pm in Arts & Sciences Hall 130
session 1: 3:30 PM - 5 PM EST
session 1: 3:30 PM - 5 PM EST
Theology, Ethics, and Philosophy: Ecumensim and Ecclesiology
Chair: Nik Rodewald (Loyola University of Chicago)
Location: A&S 221
Jennifer Reyes Lay, (Saint Louis University), “Christ Existing as Ecological Community: Bonhoeffer as a Resource for Ecofeminist Ecclesiology and Ethics”
Ethan Shearer (University of Virginia), “An Exercise in Experimental Divinity: Divine Self Experience in Troeltsch and Forsyth”
Chris Erskine (Middlesex University UK/Independent Scholar), “Incarnated Apophatic Futurism: Christology Without Sovereignty"
Gender and Religion: Marginalized Voices
Chair: Loleta Collins (Edison State Community College)
Location: A&S 253
Kate Kaura (The Ohio State University), “The Digital Goddess: Divine Femininity and the Politics of Feminist Resistance in Online India”
Laura Brown (Independent Scholar), “Listening for Her Voice: Reimagining the Samaritan Woman through Historical, Anthropological, and Embodied Theology”
Study of Christianity: Christianity in Word and Deed
Chair: Matthew Kraus (University of Cincinnati)
Location: A&S 53
Jared Pannell (University of Notre Dame), "From Word to Text: Christianity's Transition from Oral Tradition to Textual Community"
Peter J. Smith (Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary), "Monastic Lenses: Reading Scripture with Abba Isaiah of Scetis."
Thang San Mung (Oral Roberts University), "Ritual, Memory, and Homeland: Reimagining Paradise in Zomi Religious Experience"
Wildcard Session
Chair: Andrew Ambrose Mackey (Creighton University)
Location: A&S 354
Roundtable Discussion:
“Pronatalism & Christian Nationalism”, Panel from College of Wooster based on the submission "Be Fruitful & Multiply? Trad Wives, Pronatalism, & Christian Nationalism."
Discussants all from The College of Wooster:
Terry Reeder
Brenna Chasney
Ryann Taylor
Session 2: 5:15 PM - 6:45 Pm EST
Session 2: 5:15 PM - 6:45 Pm EST
Text & Literature: Constructing the Other/Reconstructing the Past
Chair: Julia Olson (University of Cincinnati)
Location: A&S 43:
Hasan H. Degerli (University of Iowa), “Hagiography as Historical Imagination: Constructing Mercurius in Late Antique Christian Memory”
Study of Judaism
Chair: Vadim Putzu (Missouri State University)
Location: A&S 53:
Jaban Lee (Wheaton College IL), “The Loneliness of the Halakhic Jew in the Light of Postmodern Critiques”
Marshall C. Johns (Claremont School of Theology) and Taylor Zimmerman (Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute), ‘Consult a Spirit for Me:’ Saul at Endor, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, and the Repetition Compulsion in Ghost Stories
Stuart Franklin (College of Wooster), “Crowning Crops with Words of Torah: Envisioning Sustainable Futures at Adamah Farm”
Opening reception: 7 - 9 pm EST
Opening reception: 7 - 9 pm EST
Tangman University Center 300
ALL REGISTERED ATTENDEES ARE INVITED
ALL REGISTERED ATTENDEES ARE INVITED
FRIDAY, April 17th
FRIDAY, April 17th
Session 3: 9 - 10:30 AM EST
Session 3: 9 - 10:30 AM EST
Theology, Ethics, and Philosophy: Signs, Symbols, and Discernment
Chair: Rob Saler (Christian Theological Seminary)
Location: A&S 250
Madeline Gold (Loyola University of Chicago), “Transfiguring Euphemism: Cultivating the Holy Habits of Truth-Seeking”
Kyle Schenkewitz (Mount St. Joeseph University), “A Vacillating Vintage: Alcohol in Christian Discernment”
Nik Rodewald (Loyola University of Chicago), “A Contemporary Gnosticism: Re-framing the Ethical Debate on Artificial Intelligence”
Text & Literature: Women, Bodies, Patriarchy
Chair: Matthew Kraus (University of Cincinnati)
Location: A&S 53
Chelsea Simon (Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion), “Conflated Characters: Abraham’s Non-Kin Wives in Genesis Rabbah”
Jennifer Wotochek (Marquette University), “The Power and Hospitality of the Menopausal Body: Reflections on Sarah and Elizabeth in Genesis 18 & 21 and Luke 1”
James Bunton (Des Moines Area Community College), “Trauma and Memory in Christian Iranian Women’s Memoirs”
Study of Christianity: Global Christianity Global Christian Culture I
Chair: Mark Minster (Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology)
Location: Swift 620
Charonda Woods-Boone (Meachum School of Haymanot), "Pre-colonial West African Christianity in the Niger-Benue River Confluence"
Manson Anane Adjei (Catholic Theological Union), “Breaking the Culture of Silence: Clerical Abuse and Safeguarding in Ghana, A Practical-Theological Reflection in Global Context”
Embodied Anthropology
Chair: Liza Bernstein (Northwestern University)
Location: Swift 819
Chase Viscuse (University of Chicago Divinity School – Current MA Student), “When Something Felt Different: Faith, Fear, and the Bounded Choice of Appalachian Serpent Handling”
Caroline Sawyer (University of Wisconsin-Madison), “Theoretic Approaches to a Devotional Tradition in North India: Gugga Pir”
William Arthur Eckley Jr. (Three Haven Society), “The Migration of the Gods: Tracing Mythic Parallels from Mesopotamia to the Northlands”
Session 4: 10:45 AM - 12:15 PM EST
Session 4: 10:45 AM - 12:15 PM EST
Theology, Ethics, and Philosophy: Justice, Punishment, and Violence
Chair: Rob Saler (Christian Theological Seminary)
Location: A&S 250
Seth Weidman (Missouri State University), “Divine Justice: Crime and Punishment in the Apocalypse of Moses”
Nick Fieseler (Independent Scholar), “Christian Nonviolence and the Path to Theosis”
Johnathan Carpenter (Candler School of Theology), Measure for Measure: Variegated Postmortem Punishment in the Gospel of Matthew
Text & Literature: Scripture, Theory, and Contemporary Issues
Chair: Marshall C. Johns (Claremont School of Theology)
Location: A&S 53
Mark Minster (Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology), “Psalm 119: How Discipline Attunes Perception”
Amanda DeWitt (Fordham University), “A Theological Anthropology for Planetary Personhood: Rereading Genesis 1-4 in a time of Climate Crisis”
Didier Bertrand (Independent Scholar), “'At That Time, They Began to Invoke the Name': Genesis 4:26 and the Birth of Symbolic Consciousness”
Monotheistic Anthropology
Chair: Abigail Kulisz (Otterbein University)
Location: Swift 620
Hezekiah Harrison (Missouri State University), “Changes in Culture: An Examination of Ibn Khaldun's Asabiyyah Through the Lens of Max Weber's Sense of Religious Identity in the Protestant Work Ethic”
Travis Cooper (University of Indianapolis), “Mr. Merde, or, the Christ of the Sewers: Abjection and Incarnation in the Films of Leos Carax”
Andrew Ambrose Mackey (Creighton University), “An Appeal to Heaven: Spiritual Warfare Rhetoric and Democratic Strain in Digital Ministry”
Religion & American Culture: Belief and the Body
Chair: Kristen Balzer (Northwestern University)
Location: Swift 819
Liza Bernstein (Northwestern University), “Meaning Making, Authenticity, and Obligation in Niddah Practice”
John Parrett (University of Dayton), “My Body, My Soul: The Roots of Personal Theologies in Declining Organ Donation”
Emoni Harmon (Independent Scholar) “Wrestling with the ‘Repugnant #Tradwife’ through the Praxis of Seeing”
BUSINESS MEETING & lunch: 12:30-1:15 PM EST
BUSINESS MEETING & lunch: 12:30-1:15 PM EST
Clifton Court Hall Auditorium (CCH 1170)
Clifton Court Hall Auditorium (CCH 1170)
OPEN TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE MIDWEST AAR
OPEN TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE MIDWEST AAR
Please join for important updates and announcements from leadership and members, including annual paper prizes. Regional elections are also held during business meetings when there are vacancies to fill.
Please join for important updates and announcements from leadership and members, including annual paper prizes. Regional elections are also held during business meetings when there are vacancies to fill.
Lunch is provided for all registered conference attendees.
Lunch is provided for all registered conference attendees.
PLENARY ADDRESS: 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM EST
PLENARY ADDRESS: 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM EST
CLIFTON COURT HALL AUDITORIUM (CCH 1170)
CLIFTON COURT HALL AUDITORIUM (CCH 1170)
“Religion and American Culture: Living Within the Practice of Oppression”
Dr. Alicestyne Turley
Session 5: 3:30 pM - 5 PM EST
Session 5: 3:30 pM - 5 PM EST
Theology, Ethics, and Philosophy: Theology, Literature, and Mass Culture
Chair: James Bunton (De Moines Area Community College)
Location: A&S 221
Sean Kenta Carpenter (United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities), “’Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert’ as blues: interrogating and analyzing life according to art”
Moriah Reichert (Indiana University), “In Plain Sight: Glennon Doyle and Networks of Popular Theology”
Ryan Poll (Northeastern Illinois University), “Theorizing the Sacred in Times of Mass Violence: Hannah Arendt, Pope Francis, and James Baldwin”
Study of Christianity: Global Christian Cultures II
Chair: Sarah Crane (University of Cincinnati)
Location: A&S 354
YuHao Chen (The Ohio State University), "Of Script and Sound: Missionizing Disability at the Margins of Chinese Literacy"
Hone Ling (Lutheran Seminary), “Romanization, Burmanization, and Americanization: Towards a Burmese-Asian-American Rereading of Romans 13”
Teaching Religion
Chair: Michael McLaughlin (University of Missouri)
Location: A&S 53
Abubakarr Kuyateh (Western Michigan University), "Moving Beyond End–of–Semester Surveys: Using Ongoing Student Feedback to Improve Graduate Religious Studies"
Tim Basselin (Western Theological Seminary), “The Studio and the Study: Wooing Muses and Proclaiming Good”
Mark Minster (Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology), “Roleplaying COP29 in a Religion and Ecology Course”
Session 6: 5:15 PM - 6:45 pm EST
Session 6: 5:15 PM - 6:45 pm EST
Session 6: 5:15-6:45
Theology, Ethics, and Philosophy: Subjectivity and Theology
Chair: Nik Rodewald (Loyola University of Chicago)
Location: A&S 221
Tess Seay (Wheaton College), “Embodied Mystical Union: Rābi'a al-'Adawiyya and Hadewijch of Brabant on Divine Love”
Abigail Kulisz (Otterbein University), “The Apostle of the Unconscious: Sigmund Freud and the Study of Religion”
Noman Munya (Loyola University of Chicago), “Augustine’s Paradox in Describing Joy”
Wildcard Session: Traditions in Tension
Chair: Travis Cooper (University of Indianapolis)
Location: A&S 354
Tanner Moore (Midway University), "To make “Christianity as unchristian as possible”: Richard Allestree and the Codification of Latitudinarianism in the Later Stuart Church of England, 1662-1714"
David Howard (University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley), “The Inclusive and Exclusive Democratic Voice of the Southern Baptist Pulpit and Pew”
Patricia Tillman (University of Maryland-Global Campus), “Faithful Rebels: Lay Catholic Traditionalists in the U.S.”
Undergrad Showcase: Ethics, Evil, and Moral Reasoning
Chair: Abubakarr Kuyateh (Western Michigan University)
Location: A&S 43
Leah Azmi (George Mason University), “The Projection of the Devil in the Three Abrahamic Faiths”
Ellison Kochensparger (Wittenberg University), “The Bible Meets the Trolley Problem”
Katt Higgins (Washburn University), "Taking a Break, An Autoethnographic Approach to Religious Trauma”
Wildcard Session: Masculinity, Identity, Economy
Chair: Andrew Ambrose Mackey (Creighton University)
Location: A&S 53
Emma Mason (Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary), “The Erotic Liberation of St. Sabastian”
Kati Fitzgerald (Otterbein University), “Money-Making Monastics: Refugee Status, Globalized Buddhism and the Performative Value of Poverty”
Kristen Balzer (Northwestern University), "Religion in Business Brings Sure Success": Prosperity Theology & Politics in Full Gospel Business Men’s Voice Magazine"
Saturday, April 18th
Saturday, April 18th
session 7: 9 AM - 10:30 AM EST
session 7: 9 AM - 10:30 AM EST
Study of Islam: Contemporary Islamic Debates
Chair: James Bunton (Des Moines Area Community College)
Location: A&S 354
Shahla Shahreen (University of Iowa), “Representation of Palestinian Fida’iyyat (Female Freedom Fighters): A Comparative Study of Western vs. Non-Western Academic Discourses”
Jusuf Salih (University of Dayton), “Predestination as the Cause to Decadence”
Yijian "Lexa" Lyu (University of Iowa), “When Chain Challenges: How does an Islamic Actor Reconfigures Blockchain Morally Intelligible within a Shariah Frame”
Undergrad Showcase: Asian Religions, Modernity, and the Ethics of Adaptation
Chair: Kati Fitzgerald (Otterbein University)
Location: A&S 221
Sydney Titus (Otterbein University), “The Psychedelic Sangha”
AJ Jeyabalan (Otterbein University), “Making Religion Approachable: Saint Young Men”
Lekan Aleshe-Shittu (Oberlin College), “Why Did The Hijra Cross the Road? To Get To The Suf Tariqah: A Historical Examination of the Role of Sufism in the Provision of Sanctuary for Gender Nonconforming Peoples in South Asia”
Halen Hamstead (Otterbein University), “Sacred Geometry Meets Structural Integrity”
Theology, Ethics, and Philosophy: Theologizing Lived Experience
Chair: Nik Rodewald (Loyola University of Chicago)
Location: A&S 43
Tsz Fung Tin (Emory University), “Freedom Amidst No Freedom, Hope Against Hope: Kelly Gissendaner’s Agency on Death Row”
Wesley Williams (Interdenominational Theological Center), “Removing the Rose-Colored Glasses of ‘Good’ Christianity: A Constructive Theological Critique of Christianity and Black Autonomy”
r. scot miller (Religious Society of Friends), “I Shall Stand Upon the Scaffold: Quaker Social Context and an Unfriendly Radicalization”
Religion & American Culture: Theopolitical Legacies
Chair: Kristen Balzer (Northwestern University)
Location: A&S 53
Austin Day (Independent Scholar), “Manifest(ing) Sons of God: Religious and Racializing Technology in a Mid-Century US Pentecostal Revival”
Michael McLaughlin (University of Missouri), “Placing Indians on the Home Front: Settler Colonial Religion and the Omission of Indigenous Sovereignty”
Catherine Abbott (Independent Scholar), “Nobody Joins a Cult: The Peoples Temple Community in Jonestown”
session 8: 10:45 AM - 12:15 pM EST
session 8: 10:45 AM - 12:15 pM EST
Ecology and Religion
Chair: Abigail Kulisz (Otterbein University)
Location: A&S 221
Jacqueline Smith (Otterbein University), “Reimagining Buddhism through the EcoDharma: An analysis of One Earth Sangha’s Response to Climate Change”
Baiju Markose (Trinity Lutheran Seminary at Capital University), “Phytography and Planetary Solidarity: Insights from Subaltern Oiko-autobiography”
Fwangmun Oscar Danladi (University of Iowa), Dry Land, Wet Land: Legacies of Colonial Tin Mining (1902-1970) and Ecological Rupture of Wetness in Nigeria’s Middle Belt
Religion & American Culture: Religion, Representation, & Popular Culture
Chair: Kristen Balzer (Northwestern University)
Location: A&S 354
Adam Banks (The Ohio State University), “Black Holiness: Tillich, Moten, and the Sacred Aesthetics of Sinners”
Ashley Jones (Missouri State University), “Mothman and Jesus: How Cryptids Reflect the Religious Feelings of America”
Michael Perez (Missouri State University), “The Cardassian Orientalist”
Religions of Asia: Pedagogy, Parables, and Praxis
Chair: Jusuf Salih (University of Dayton)
Location: A&S 53
Sabbi Lall (Harvard Divinity School), “The Rise of Debate and Pedagogy in the Early Upaniṣads”
Kunpeng Xin (University of Virginia), “Dividing Offerings before the Gods: Fen gong and Healing at a Spirit Hall in the Songnen Plain”
Undergrad Showcase: Alternative Christianities, Gnosticism, and Reimagining Jesus
Chair: Rob Saler (Christian Theological Seminary)
Location: A&S 43
Elijah Sturges (Ball State University), “Astral Fatalism in the Gospel of Judas”
D. A. Williams (Otterbein University), “The Psychological Jesus”
Ellison Kochensparger (Wittenberg University), “Jesus Christ Superstar versus the Gnostics”
Eva Fajardo (University of Chicago), "As for Me and My House, We Will Serve the Lord (Not the Pope!)”
Recent CONFERENCES
Recent CONFERENCES
Please note that this page contains archived information about the 2023 Regional Meeting.
2022 Meeting ARCHIVE
2022 Meeting ARCHIVE
Check back soon for archived materials from the 2022 virtual Regional Meeting.
Please note that this page contains archived information about the 2021 virtual Regional Meeting.
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