North Carolina Religious Studies Association
Annual Meeting November 1, 2025
Program

All sessions will be held in Carolina Hall on the campus of UNC Chapel Hill. 

8:00-8:30 Check-In and Onsite Registration (125)

• Refreshments in room 124

8:30-9:15: Biblical Studies (204)

• Magic or Miracle? Examining the Conflicting Rhetoric Around Object Presentation and Early Christian Iconography from Ancient Rome, Bryce Settlemier (UNC Wilmington)

• Breaking Luke's Heart: Examining Alternative Interpretations of Kardía in the Gospel of Luke, Isaac Watkins (UNC Chapel Hill)

8:30-9:15: Native American Religions (213)

• Christianity in the Lumbee Community, Shelby Harrell (Fayetteville State University)

• Land Grabbing VS. Land Sharing, Emma Claire Thompson (High Point University)

8:30-9:15: Religion and Popular Culture (220)

• Hope in Hogwarts: The Myth, Magic, and Christian Ethos of Harry Potter, William Godwin (UNC Pembroke)

• Narnia's Mythos on Screen and Stage: C.S. Lewis and American Popular Culture, Nick Petrov (UNC Pembroke)

9:30–11:15: Religion and Culture (204)

• Appraising the Student-Athlete: An Analysis of the Reformed Tradition and the 'Ethos of Reductive Consumer Capitalism,' MaryKate Berg (Davidson College)

• Jesus Christ, or Jim Crow?: The Episcopal Society for Cultural & Racial Unity, Incarnational Ethics, and the Anglican Social Tradition, Joshua Lewis (Moravian Theological Seminary)

• A hypothesis-testing approach to the geography of biblical giants, Philip Senter (Fayetteville State University)

• The Art of Madness: Cosmic Chaos in the Works of Vincent van Gogh and Robert E. Howard, Ray Sutherland (UNC Pembroke)

9:30-11:15: Religions of Africa (213)

• Sacred Healing: The Spiritual Roots of Health and Wellness in Akan Traditional Religion, Paul Boaheng (Fayetteville State University)

• From the Perspective of non-Igbo: The Concept of Chi, Kofi Johnson and Adegoke Ademiluyi (Fayetteville State University)

• Superstitious Beliefs Among the Igbos of Southeastern Nigeria, Ngozi Kamalu (Fayetteville State University)

11:30-12:00: Business Meeting/Award Presentations (220)

12:00-1:00: Lunch (on your own)

1:00-2:15: Religion and AI (220)

• Algorithmic Beauty and the Crisis of the Self: Eastern Aesthetics in the Age of AI, Han Lheem (Fayetteville State University)

• Thinking about Thinking: Religion and the Next Generation of AIs, Randy Reed (Appalachian State University)

• AI v. The Divine: Art, Artificial Intelligence and Religious Art, Lucas White (Appalachian State University)

2:30-4:30: Religion in the Americas (204)

• Home Funerals and Reimagining Grief, Nathaniel Goenaga (Appalachian State University)

• The War in Gaza's Impact on American Christians: A Study of Public Opinion about Jews, anti-Semitism, Israel & the War, Motti Inbari (UNC Pembroke)

• Alters Without Judgement, Isaiah Peters (UNC Charlotte)

• Nomadic Ritual: Pilgrimage and Potentiality, Sierra Sarver (Appalachian State University)

• America's Foundational Documents: Scripting the Sacred, Conrad Ostwalt (Appalachian State University)

2:30-4:30: Theology and Ethics (213)

• Sacred Transition and Medical Intervention: Buddhist Approaches to End-of-Life Ethics, Sydney Hudson (Appalachian State University)

• Multiple Animistic Worlds Versus Science?, David Nikkel (UNC Pembroke)

• Prayer and Divine Hiddenness in Modern Jewish Thought, Karl Plank (Davidson College)

• An Adaptation Study of the Cross-cultural Love Ethics Perception Scale: The Case of Turkiye and the USA, Fatma Zehra Savi (Karabuk University)

• How a religious personalism ran afoul of Nazism – Diedrich von Hildebrand and Hitler, Paul Wilson (Shaw University)