AAR: Women, Gender, & Religion I
Theme: Reading against the Grain: Sexual Scripts in
Sacred Texts
XX, presiding
FRIDAY, MARCH 6
2:00–8:00 PM
Registration
Sarah Porter, Independent Scholar
Bound in Affection: The Confusions of Piety and
Eroticism in Mary of Bethany and Thecla of Iconium
Book Exhibits
2:30–3:00 PM
Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion
(SECSOR) Executive Board
Randall Bailey, Interdenominational Theological
Center, presiding
Mark A. Wirtz, McAfee School of Theology, Mercer
University
Strength, Virility, and Neglect in the Jacob-RachelLeah Narrative in Genesis 29-30: A Study of
Masculinity in the Presence of Women
3:00–3:30 PM
SBL/SE Executive Board
David G. Garber, Mercer University, presiding
Joseph Perdue, Union Presbyterian Seminary
A Mother’s Love: An Examination of Irony,
Compassion, and YHWH’s Maternal Nature in the
Book of Jonah
3:30–4:00 PM
AAR/SE Executive Board
Darla Y. Schumm, Hollins University, presiding
Debra Carter Williams, Wesleyan College
La Muchacha: Reading the Book of Ruth as an
Account of Commodification and Objectification
within the Guatemalan Context
4:00–5:00 PM
Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion
(SECSOR) Board
Randall Bailey, Interdenominational Theological
Center, presiding
AAR: Ethics, Religion & Society I, Philosophy of
Religion I, and Islam I (Joint Session)
Theme: Islam and the Theory and Practice of
Interreligious Dialogue
Nathan Eric Dickman, Young Harris College,
presiding
5:00–5:30 PM
AAR/SBL/ASOR (SECSOR) Joint Business Meeting
All members of the societies are invited
Randall Bailey, Interdenominational Theological
Center, presiding
Ross Moret, Florida State University
Contextualizing Interreligious Dialogue
FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH 6
6:00–8:00 PM
Joseph Lenow, University of Virginia
The Greco-Arabic Translation Movement and the
Material Conditions of Comparative Philosophy of
Religion
SESSION I
AAR: History of Christianity I
Theme: Bourdieu and Boundaries
XX, presiding
Ben Hardman, University of Southern Mississippi
Wujûd and the Closed Official Corpus: Apophasis as
Starting Point for Dialogue in the thought of Ibn
Arabi and Mohammed Arkoun
Jacob Lollar, Florida State University
Eyes That Do Not See and Ears that Do Not Hear:
The Syriac History of Philip, Pierre
Bourdieu’s “Field,” and the Struggle over Biblical
Interpretation
David G. Hunter, University of Kentucky
Pierre Bourdieu and the Origins of Priestly Celibacy
Anthony Mansueto, University of the District of
Columbia
Theology as Intercultural Engagement: Theory and
Practice in Interreligious Dialogue
Douglas H. Brown Clark, Vanderbilt University
Boundaries of the Human: Disability, Race,
Evangelicalism, and the Death Penalty in the Post–
Civil Rights South
AAR: Method & Theory in the Study of Religion I
Theme: Method and Theory in the Study of Religion
Laura Ammon, Appalachian State University,
Presiding
1
Jennifer Singletary, Independent Scholar
Defining the Problem: Ancient Religions, Ancient
Gods, and Modern Scholars
Kirby Trovillo, University of Tennessee, and Erin
Darby, University of Tennessee Knoxville
Daily Lifeways along the Roman Frontier: Evidence
for Domestic Activities in the Late Roman Fort at
‘Ayn Gharandal, Jordan
Thomas J. Carrico, Jr., Florida State University
Theorizing Comparative Religious Ethics: A
Proposal
Byron R. McCane, Wofford College
Excavations at Horvat Kur, Galilee: 2010–2013
Joshua Lupo, Florida State University
Revising the Materialist Approach: A
Phenomenological Account of Human Agency
SBL: New Testament I
Theme: The Kingdom of God
Annie Tinsley, Shaw University, presiding
Adam T. Miller, University of Chicago Divinity
School
On Whose Terms? Bruce Lincoln’s theory of ancient
and post-ancient religions and the case of Mahāyāna
Buddhism
Jennifer Alexander, Vanderbilt University
Matthew’s Eunuchs in utero: Engendered by Design
Jesse Coyne, New Orleans Baptist Theological
Seminary
Paul and the Root of Jesse: Romans 15 and Isaiah’s
Messianic Kingdom
AAR: Religions of Asia I
Theme: Modes of Transformation in Buddhism and
Hinduism
Warner Belanger, Georgia College & State
University, presiding
*AV NEEDED*
Felipe E Oliveira, University of Tennessee
Latinos, the New ξένοι: Immigration Theology in
Ephesians 2:12
Kathy Barrett Dawson, Independent Scholar
Demon Possession, a Canaanite Woman, and the
Kingdom of God
Michelle J. Sorensen, Western Carolina University
On Vigorous Effort and Generosity at
Svayambhunath, Nepal
Mark Proctor, Lee University
“Who is My Neighbor” – Recontextualizing Luke’s
Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)
Rachel Pang, Davidson College
Shabkar’s Songs and the Non-Sectarianism
“Movement”
SBL: Hebrew Bible/Old Testament I
Theme: Open Session
Phillip Sherman, Maryville College, presiding
Jodi Shaw, University of Florida
Bharatanatyam: Devotion and Culture Become
Muscle Memory
Edmon Gallagher, Heritage Christian University
The Nature of the Major Expansions in the Samaritan
Pentateuch
Kendall Marchman, Young Harris College
Huaigan and the Growth of Pure Land Buddhism
during the Tang Era (618-907 CE)
Tyler Kelley, University of Georgia
Were the Shilonite Priests Mushite? A Critique of
Cross’s Priestly Houses of Israel
ASOR: Archaeology and the Ancient World I
Theme: Excavation Reports
Tom McCollough, Centre College, presiding
*AV NEEDED*
Jason Bembry, Emmanuel Christian Seminary
The Rashomon Lens and the Levite’s Concubine in
Judges 19: The Viewpoints of LXX A, B, Josephus
and MT
Jennie Ebeling, University of Evansville
Recent Discoveries at Jezreel: Results of the 2013–14
Excavation Seasons
P. Scott Henson, Asbury Theological Seminary
Moving Beyond Deuteronomy 18 and 34: The
Prophetic Characterization of Moses throughout
Deuteronomy
Ralph Hawkins, Averett University
Field B at Khirbat ‘Ataruz: Questions and Goals for
the 2015 Season
AAR: Undergraduate Student Research I
2
Theme: Religion and Cultural Contexts
Lynn Huber, Elon University, presiding
The Sins of Your Sister Sodom: Social Justice and the
Book of Ezekiel
Sarah Seton-Todd, Agnes Scott College
Seeds of Goodwill and Barren Plants: The White
Savior Complex in The Poisonwood Bible
AAR
Darla Y. Schumm, Hollins University
Why Does Disability Studies Belong in Religious
Studies?
Elizabeth Bargamian, Elon University
Call and Response, Ambiguous Language, and
Sampling: Usage and Function in Spirituals and Rap
Music
9:30–11:00 PM
Conference Reception
Daniela Sostaita, Elon University
Transcending the Hyphen: The Growth of Latino
Protestantism in the U.S.
SATURDAY MORNING, MARCH 7
7:30–8:45 AM
Women’s Caucus Religious Studies Breakfast
Vittoria Lion, University of Toronto
Between “Redemptive Hegemony” and “Business as
Usual”: The Ritual of Protest at a Slaughterhouse
8:00 AM–6:00 PM
Registration
Book Exhibits
9:00–10:45 AM
AAR/SBL: Bible and Modern Culture I
*AV NEEDED*
Theme: The Language of Literature and the
Language of God
Brian Mooney, Johnson & Wales University,
presiding
SESSION II
AAR: Ethics, Religion and Society II
Theme: Spiritual Practices, Health Care, and
Disability
Sally Holt, Belmont University, presiding
Leif C. Tornquist, UNC-Chapel Hill
Narrating Religion and Health in North America: A
Bio-political Approach
Gary A. Herion, Hartwick College
Bible Literacy, Public Discourse, and the Challenge
to the Liberal Arts
Melissa Reginelli, Vanderbilt University
Memory, Narrative, and Solidarity: Integrating the
Works of Johann Baptist Metz and Healthcare
Rituals
Aubrey Buster, Emory University
Resolving Violence in the Psalms through Music:
Bernstein and the Chichester Psalms
Daniel Shin, Interdenominational Theological Center
“If I Had a Hammer”: The Imperative of Poetic
Imagination in Hans Frei’s Theological
Hermeneutics
Ashlyn W. Stozier, Claremont Graduate University
Moral Dilemmas of Female Clergy: Artificial
Insemination or IVF
Mike Stoltzfus, Valdosta State University
Spiritual Practices and Coping with the Lived Reality
of Chronic Illness Experience
Todd M. Brenneman, Faulkner University
Making the Bible Real in Our Lives: Max Lucado and
Personality-Driven Hermeneutics
Business Meeting
Business Meeting
8:15–9:30 PM
AAR/SBL Plenary Session
Sandra Hack Polaski, SECSOR Executive Director,
presiding
AAR: Philosophy of Religion II
Theme: Bridging Analytic and Continental
Philosophy of Religion for Religious Studies
Nathan Eric Dickman, Young Harris College,
presiding
Announcement of Student Awards
Presidential Addresses
SBL
David A. Garber, McAfee School of Theology
Bradley Onishi, Rhodes College
Only the Beginning of Philosophy of Religion:
Philosophy, Religion, and the Sacrality of the Secular
3
Alyssa Lowery, Vanderbilt University
Re-Spired by a Common Critique: Philosophy of
Religion and the Recognition of Religious Diversity
Theme: Place-Making: Traps of Privilege and Power
Jefferson Calico, Eastern Kentucky University,
presiding
Caley Howland and J. Aaron Simmons, Furman
University
Thinking with Humility, Living with Confidence:
Engaging Contemporary Philosophy of Religion
Andrew Spencer, Southeastern Baptist Theological
Seminary
Fission and Flourishing: Nuclear Power as an
Ethical Option for Electricity Generation
Paul Gleason, University of Virginia
Two Confessional Philosophers: Stanley Cavell and
Jacques Derrida
Paul York, University of Toronto
An ethical hermeneutics of religion as applied to
climate change and nuclear energy
AAR: Judaism I
Theme: Judaism in the Second Temple Period
Samuel J. Kessler, University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, presiding
Kyle Stokes, Georgia State University
The Social/Ecological Trap of Privilege
Paolo Gauzinni, Barry University
PATCH Market Garden: Urban Gardening Through
the Lens of Theological Aesthetics
Luke Drake, Bradley C. Erickson, and Daniel
Schindler, University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill
Jewish and Non-Jewish Synagogues: The Meaning of
sunagoge in Context
AAR: Religion and Law I and Islam II (Joint
Session)
Theme: Religion, Law, and Islam
Eleanor Finnegan, University of Alabama, presiding
David A. Skelton, Florida State University
Ben Sira’s Reappraisal of Enoch in the Praise of the
Ancestors
James Riggan, Florida State University
Using Tax Law in the Construction of the Early Ibadi
Community
Caryn Tamber-Rosenau, Vanderbilt University
“If We Do Not Entice Her, She Will Laugh at Us”:
Reading the Book of Judith’s Holofernes Queerly
Jeffery Murico, San Diego State University
The Politics of Defining Religion: Questioning the
Social and Legal Status of Islam in America
Michel Fuller, Lee University
Heavenly Ascensions in Early Jewish Apocalypses
Jacob Hicks, Florida State University
Franklin Graham’s Evangelist Crusades into the
Muslim World Considered in the Context of Recent
American Religious History
AAR: Black Cultures in the Study of Religion I
Theme: Womanism, Religion, and the Political
Joseph Winters, University of North Carolina
Charlotte, presiding
Dianna Bell, Vanderbilt University, responding
AAR: Religions in America I and Teaching and
Learning Religion I (Joint Session)
*AV NEEDED*
Theme: Learning Curves: The Challenges of
Teaching about Religions in America
Joshua Fleer, Florida State University, and Monica C.
Reed, Louisiana State University, presiding
Ashlyn Strozier, Claremont Graduate University
Womanist Thought as an Approach to AfricanAmerican Women: An Emerging New Category
Kendra Hotz, Rhodes College
Provocative Suffering and Self Care: Womanist
Insights into Medical Fatalism among AfricanAmerican Women in Memphis
Margarita Suarez, Meredith College
Illuminating Cultural, Historical, Economic and
Political Moments in the Religious History of the
Americas
Terrinae Watson, Wake Forest University School of
Divinity
“Who You Callin’ a Bitch?” An Analysis of Nihilism
and Womanism in Set It Off
William Yoo, Columbia Theological Seminary
Pedagogical Intersections and Divergences in a
Presbyterian Seminary Classroom: Adventures in
AAR: Religion and Ecology I
4
Teaching the Histories of Religious Pluralism and
Protestant Formation in the United States
12:00–1:00 PM
Underrepresented Minorities Luncheon
Jenna Gray Hildenbrand, Middle Tennessee State
University, panelist
12:15–1:15 PM
ASOR: Archaeology and the Ancient World II
Theme: ASOR-SE Presidential Address
James Riley Strange, Samford University, presiding
Luke Harlow, University of Tennessee Knoxville,
panelist
John Wineland, Kentucky Christian University
The Karak Resource Project: Recent Work on the
Karak Plateau
Religions in America Business Meeting
SBL: New Testament II/Hebrew Bible/Old
Testament II
Theme: Disability in the Bible
Doug Hume, Pfeiffer University, presiding
Business Meeting
1:15–1:45 PM
AAR/SE Business Meeting
All members of the society are invited
Jeremy Schipper, Temple University
The Overrepresentation of Disability in Biblical
Studies
Bryan Bibb, Furman University, responding
1:45–2:15 PM
SBL/SE Business Meeting
All members of the society are invited
Annie Tinsley, Shaw University, responding
2:30–4:15 PM
AAR: Religion, Culture, and the Arts I
Theme: Creating Religious Identity in Art, Music,
and Culture
Andrew McKee, Florida State University, presiding
AAR/SBL: Bible and Modern Culture II
*AV NEEDED*
Theme: Reading and Interpreting the Texts
N. Samuel Murrell, University of North Carolina—
Wilmington, presiding
Isabelle Kinnard Richman, Virginia Commonwealth
University
Song and Social Movements: Sojourner Truth, a
Case Study
SESSION III
Lawrence Macklem, Independent Scholar
Yahweh Surprised! or, How a Deity Learned to Live
with His Pesky Creatures
Bernadette McNary-Zak, Rhodes College
The Ambiguous Catholicity of Edmonia Lewis
David Priddy, Wake Forest University
Crafty Serpent, Crafty Storyteller: Genesis 3 as a
Performative Story
Brice Bongiovanni, XX
Eleda: A Case Study in Print Media and the Creation
of Lucumi Religious Identity in the United States
Robby Waddell, Southeastern University
The War for the World: A Comparison of Ursula Le
Guin’s The Word for World is Forest, James
Cameron’s Avatar, and John the Seer’s Book of
Revelation
Claudia Allen, Georgetown Divinity
The Holy Oven: Authoritarian Hermeneutics in Toni
Morrison’s Paradise
Tommi Karin Waters, Western Kentucky University
Rhetorical Violence and the Interpretive Tradition of
Revelation
11:00 AM–12:00 PM
Plenary Session
Anne Blue Wills, Davidson College, presiding
Erin Palmer, Vanderbilt Divinity School
“All that is mine is yours”: A Recuperative Reading
of the Elder Son as Cain
Julia Watts Belser, Georgetown University
Beauty, Danger, and Disablement in Rabbinic
Destruction Narratives: Disability Studies and the
Devastation of Jerusalem
AAR: Religions of Asia II
Theme: Divine Creation in Tibetan Tantric
Traditions
Lisa J. Battaglia, XX, presiding
SATURDAY AFTERNOON, MARCH 7
5
Millennial and Religious Worldview: Barbour's
Models of Interaction between Science and Religion
among UVA-Wise Students
*AV NEEDED*
Naomi Worth, University of Virginia
Divine Creation in Dream Yoga: How Seeing Oneself
as a Deity Provokes Access to the Subtle Energetic
Body
Casina Washington and Sarah F. Farmer,
Interdenominational Theological Center
Building Bridges of Hope: The Church’s Role in
Reaching Disconnected Black Youth
John R. B. Campbell, University of Virginia
Mandala Triumphant: The Mahāyoga-Tantra
Hermeneutics of the Pradipoddyotana
SBL: Hebrew Bible/Old Testament III
Theme: Doug Knight and Jack Sasson
Jim West, Quartz Hill School of Theology, presiding
Katarina Turpeinen, University of Virginia
Play of Wisdom – Spontaneous Creation in Rindzin
Gödem’s Dzokchen Anthology
Jonathan Redding, Vanderbilt University
An Economic Ideological Reading of Adapa
Respondent: Rachel Pang, Davidson College
Jennifer Williams, Vanderbilt University
The Woman Wielder of Flames, the Lightning Man,
and The Divine Judge: Engaging and Expanding Dr.
Jack Sasson’s Analysis of Judges 4-5
Business Meeting
AAR: History of Christianity II
Theme: Disabilities and the History of Christianity
XX, presiding
Ellen Lerner, Vanderbilt University
(Re)considering the Israelite Tribe – Manasseh as a
Case Study
Thomas D. Tatterfield, Emmanuel Christian
Seminary
Transformed into Monsters: Image-Bearing and the
Unity of Natures in Gregory of Nyssa’s
Defense of the Poor
Nicholaus Pumphrey, Baker University
Creating a ‘Lack’: A Reexamination of Jack M.
Sasson’s Proppian Model of Ruth
Sychellus Wabomba Njibwakale, Emmanuel
Christian Seminary
The Challenges People with Disability Face in Rural
Kenya: Focus on Bungoma County,
Western Kenya (1946-2013)
SBL: New Testament III
Theme: Readings of Gospel Pericopae
XX, presiding
Zechriah Eberhart, Georgia University
A Memorable Meal Narrative: The Paraenetic
Function of Luke’s Parable of the Rich Man and
Lazarus (Lk. 16: 19-31)
Zane McGee, Emory University
Suffering with the Saints: Disability and Suffering in
the Writings of St. Paul and St. Augustine
BUSINESS MEETING?
Bridgett A. Green, Vanderbilt University
No One is Free until Everyone’s Free: Exploring
Gender and Class Injustice in a Story about Children
(Luke 18:15-17)
AAR: Method and Theory in the Study of
Religion II and Teaching and Learning Religion II
(Joint Session)
Theme: Millennials and Pedagogy
Derrick Lemons, University of Georgia, presiding
Sung Uk Lim, Vanderbilt University
The Politics of Exclusion in John 9:1-41
Shannon Grimes, Meredith College
Including the Nones: A Challenge to Interfaith
Pedagogy
Arthur M. Wright, Jr., Baptist Theological Seminary
at Richmond
The Emperor’s New Loaves: Scarcity and Abundance
in John 6 and 21
Randall Reed, Appalachian State University
Love in the Time of Cholera: Teaching Biblical
Studies to the Millennial “Nones”
Jennifer S. Wyant, Emory University
When Jesus Judges: The Pericopae Adulterae in its
Johannine Context
Witold Wolny, The University of Virginia at Wise
6
Emilee Snyder, Lee University
Lucan Women: Symbols of Role Reversal in the
Kingdom of God
AAR: Religion and Ecology II
Theme: Theology and Ecological Place-making
Jefferson Calico, Eastern Kentucky University,
presiding
Paul S. Ulishney, Johnson University
Martyrdom and Millennial Expectation in the
Apocalypse of Elijah
Beth Ritter-Conn, Belmont University & The School
of Theology of the University of the South (Sewanee)
Making Room for the Taking Place: Ecotheology,
Hospitality, and the Welcoming of Strangers
Erik M. Keane, West Virginia University
The Ascension of Isaiah: Constructing a Space for
Resistance in Apocalyptic Discourse
David Rensburger, Independent Scholar
The Human Place in Creation: Three Views from the
Psalms
4:30–6:00 PM
Kevin Rose, Duke University Divinity School
Eating One’s Fill and Throwing It Up: Food as
Outpouring of Worldview in 14th and 18th Century
Europe
SESSION IV
AAR: Religions of Asia III and ASOR Archeology
in the Ancient World III (Joint Session)
Theme: Place and Pilgrimage
Warner A. Belanger III, Georgia College & State
University, presiding
*AV NEEDED*
Robby Waddell, Southeastern University
The Market God and the Beast: The Economics of
Ecological Place-making in John’s Apocalypse
David Bains, Samford University
Stones and Replicas: Using the Holy Land to
Christianize the American Capital
Business Meeting?
Tom McCollough, Centre College
The Architecture of Resistance and Autonomy: The
Synagogue at Khibet Qana (Cana of Galilee) and
Byzantine Christian Pilgrims
AAR: Religions in America II
Theme: Religion in Contemporary American
Communities
Joshua Fleer, Florida State University, and Monica C.
Reed, Louisiana State University, presiding
*AV NEEDED*
Lee M. Jefferson, Centre College
The Impact of Pilgrimage on Cross Iconography:
A Re-Examination of the “Maltese” Cross at
Pilgrimage Sites in Palestine
Lucas Wilson, Vanderbilt University
Collective Effervescence in Social Dancing and
Worship Services at Liberty University: A
Sociological Case Study
Jay Valentine, Rutgers University
The Multiple Modes of Sanctification of Sacred
Space: An Analysis of the Holiness of Buddhist
Pilgrimage Destinations
Matthew Coston, Florida State University
Finding Religion in the Production of Conspiracy
Theories
AAR: Philosophy of Religion III
Theme: (Dis)Ability in Believing, Experiencing, and
Being
J. Aaron Simmons, Furman University, presiding
Rebekka King, Middle Tennessee State University
Cultivating Rabbinical Christianity: Evangelicals,
Messianics, and Redistributed Ethnic Imaginaries
Tamara J. Van Dyken, Western Kentucky University,
Respondent
Benjamin W. McCraw, University of South Carolina
Upstate
Cognitive Disability and the Epistemology of Faith
AAR: Undergraduate Student Research II
Theme: Gender and Apocalyptic
Roger Sneed, Furman University, presiding
Peter Capretto, Vanderbilt University
James and Heidegger on the Boundaries of Lived
Experience in the Study of Religion
Laura Krueger, Furman University
It’s More Than “Playing the Harlot”: Ezekiel 23 in
its Historical Context
Tracey Mark Stout, Bluefield College
From Onto-theology to the Good beyond Being:
God without Being and the Divine Names Tradition
7
Patrick D'Silva, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill
“His injustice guides all kinds of Justice”:
Discerning Rumi’s Theory of Justice in the Masnavi
Business Meeting
AAR: Constructive Theologies I
Theme: Theological Anthropologies
Jessica Wong, Duke University, presiding
Aydogan Kars, Vanderbilt University
Sufism and Islamic Theology in the Study of Religion:
A Genealogy of God’s Transcendence
Daniel Ray, Duke University Divinity School
What has Biblical Interpretation to Do with
Theological Anthropology? An Examination of the
Relationship between Theological Interpretation of
Scripture and Theological Anthropology
Sarra Tlili, University of Florida
An Inadequate Model: Stewardship and Islamic
Environmentalism
Joelle A. Hathaway, Duke University Divinity
School
Maximus the Confessor on Humanity’s Role in the
Unification of Creation and its Contemporary
Relevance for Placemaking
Business Meeting
AAR: Ethics, Religion, and Society III
Theme: Ethics, Conflict, and Inter-religious
Response
Mike Stoltzfus, Valdosta State University, presiding
Heidi M. Tauscher, Emory University
Religious Methods to Facilitate Inter-Faith Dialogue
Between Israelis and Palestinians
Elizabeth O’Donnell Gandolfo, Furman University
Human Vulnerability and the Negatively Known
Humanum: A Challenge to the Theological
Anthropology of Edward Schillebeeckx
Maurisa Zinira, Florida International University
Laity for Religious Dialogue: Sunni-Shi’a Dialogue
in Indonesia
Travis Ryan Pickell, University of Virginia
The Flourishing of the Elderly
BUSINESS MEETING?
Matthew Charlton, Vanderbilt University
Sharing Space: Philosophical and Theological
Resources for Sharing Sacred Space among the
Religions
AAR: Black Cultures in the Study of Religion II
Theme: Post-blackness, the Post-human, and the
Prophetic
Jamil Drake, Emory University, presiding
Nicolas Krause, Duke University Divinity School
Agony and the Augustinian Tradition: Pluralism,
Difference, and Friendship in the Earthly City
Sam (Kip) Elolia, Emmanuel Christian Seminary
Bearing Witness: The Prophetic Pragmatism of
Cornel West and President Obama’s Policies
SBL: Hebrew Bible/Old Testament IV
Theme: Open Call
Jim West, Quartz Hill School of Theology, presiding
Julius Crump, University of Chicago
The Public and Christian Political Realism: Towards
Establishing Grounds for Holding Obama
Accountable
David Schreiner, Asbury University
Torn Garments and History: Rethinking a Hezekian
History
Joseph Winters, University of North Carolina
Charlotte, responding
Carson Bay, Florida State University
Old Greek Daniel’s Chronology: Papyrus 967 and
Nebuchadnezzar’s Second (?) or Twelfth (?) Year
NEED TO REPLACE THIRD PAPER
BUSINESS MEETING?
Ralph Hawkins, Averett University
The Translation of the Phrase ‫ ַר ְעעְמ דַ עְו ןֵקָ ז‬in Josh
AAR: Islam III
Theme: Sufism, Islamic Theology, and the Study of
Religion
Julianne Hammer, University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, presiding
6:20-21
AAR: Method and Theory in the Study of
Religion III
Theme: Undergraduate Research
8
Laura Ammon, Appalachian State University,
presiding
Labels and their Discontents: Psychiatric Labeling in
the Era of the DSM, Identity, and the Ethics of
Agency
Duke Dyer, Appalachian State University
Paul: Mark's Source for the Form and Function of
Jesus' Miracles
BUSINESS MEETING?
Erin Graybeal, King University
Teaching a Judeo-Christian Worldview to a Diverse
Student Population
6:00–7:00 PM
Graduate Student Roundtable and Reception
Theme:
Bhakti Mamtora, University of Florida, moderating
Savannah Simpson, Appalachian State University
Exalting the Angelic Jesus
7:00 PM
Special Event
Location TBA
Panel and Group Discussion of Reading the Bible
Ethically: Recovering the Voice of the Text (Brill,
2014) by Eric Douglass, presented by the Bible &
Modern Culture section
Jacob Smithee, Appalachian State University
How Mark Made Jesus in Paul’s Image
AAR: Religion, Culture, and the Arts II
Theme: Contests and Constructions of Cultural
Identities in America
Cara Burnidge, University of Northern Iowa,
presiding
Brian Mooney, Johnson & Wales University,
presiding
Introduction: Who Speaks for the Author?
Monica Reed, Louisiana University
“They Lived, Saith Leo, Like Beasts”: African Travel
Narratives and Identity Formation in Colonial
America
Panelists:
N. Samuel Murrell, University of North CarolinaWilmington
Who Interprets Whom?
Finbarr Curtis, Georgia State University
Louisa May Alcott and theSpiritual Life of Flowers
Douglas A. Hume, Pfeiffer University
(De)facing the Author’s “Voice”: Ethical
Responsibility in Reading Narratives
Charles McCrary, Florida State University
Light and Shadows: Circuit Riders, Con
Men, and the Politics of Authenticity
Finbar Benjamin, Oakwood University
When Texts Speak
AAR: Women, Gender, and Religion II
Theme: Religious Legitimacy and the Gendered
Subject: Text, Norm, and Practice
XX, presiding
Eric Douglass, Randolph-Macon College, respondent
Should I Defend Myself or the Author?
Suzannah Kimbrel, University of North Carolina at
Charlotte
Queering Identities in Jewish Law
7:15–8:45 AM
Section Chairs Breakfast
XX, presiding
SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 8
Alexandra N. Carroll, The George Washington
University
Finding, Losing, Surviving: Memoirs of Escaping
Church and Confronting Women’s Religious
Experience
8:00–11:00 AM
Registration
Book Exhibits
AAR: Judaism II
Theme: Rabbinic and Contemporary Judaism
Michael Fuller, Lee University, presiding
Courtney VanLacy, Southern Methodist University
Sisters in Spirit: How Spiritual Healing Empowered
Holiness and Spiritualist Women in the Nineteenth
Century
John Mandsager, University of South Carolina
The Rabbinic Estate and the Roman Villa: Jewish
Agricultural Space in the Judaean Hills
Katye Stone, Vanderbilt University
9
Nicholas Schaser, Vanderbilt University
Adam, Israel, and Intertextuality in Genesis Rabbah:
Toward a Contextual Approach to Rabbinic Midrash
The Necessity of Subjectivity in Interreligious
Dialogue
AAR: Religions in America III
Theme: Book Review: Candy Gunther Brown, The
Healing Gods: Complementary and Alternative
Medicine in Christian America
Joshua R. Patterson, University of Georgia
Myth and Fiction: Literary Analysis of a Modern
Passover Commemoration
Samuel J. Kessler, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill
At the Temple in Leopoldstadt: Adolf Jellinek and
Politics of Jewish Immigration in 1850s Vienna
Joshua Fleer, Florida State University, and Monica C.
Reed, Louisiana State University, presiding
Panelists:
Dennis C. Dickerson, Vanderbilt University
Leif C. Tornquist, University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill
Rebekka King, Middle Tennessee State University
Lawrence Snyder, Jr., Western Kentucky University
AAR: Method and Theory in the Study of
Religion IV
Theme: Millennials and Religion
Randall Reed, Appalachian State University,
Presiding
Candy Gunther Brown, Indiana University,
responding
Laine Walters Young, Vanderbilt University
Commitment and Cohabitation in the Millennial
Generation: Initial Indications of Relational
Reframing and Implications for the Future of Trust
AAR: Islam IV
Theme: Conversations in Islamic Studies: American
Islam
Ben Hardman, University of Southern Mississippi,
presiding
Lucas Wilson, Vanderbilt University
Collective Effervescence in Social Dancing and
Worship Services at Liberty University: A
Sociological Case Study
Julianne Hammer, University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill
Opening Remarks
Shenandoah Nieuwsma, UNC-Chapel Hill
Fearing Youth: Thoughts about the Millennial
Generation and America's Religious Landscape
Sher Afgan Tareen, Florida State University
Black Islam and the Subversion of American Civil
Religion: 1960-1979
Business Meeting
Ken Chitwood
Dreams of al-Andalus: Narratives of Conversion and
Identity Reconstruction among Latina/o Muslims in
the U.S.
AAR: Philosophy of Religion IV and Religions of
Asia IV (Joint Session)
Theme: Philosophy of Religion and Religious
Diversity
Alyssa Lowery, Vanderbilt University, presiding
Eleanor Finnegan, University of Alabama
Contradictory Capitalism: American Sufi Farms,
Spirituality, and New Kinds of Community
Stephen Dawson, Lynchburg College
Many Religions, Many Modes of Inquiry: Why the
Global Philosophy of Religion Needs a Theory of
Comparison
Julianne Hammer, responding
AAR: Religion, Culture, and the Arts III
Theme:
Michael Graziano, Florida State University, presiding
Sean MacCracken, University of Virginia
Taste the Rainbow: Buddhist and Shaiva Esotericism
Approached through Emic Epistemologies as
Spectrum, not Binary
Elizabeth Scott, Florida State University
William Blake’s “Enoch Drawings,” Illustrations for
an Absent Book?
Anil Mundra, University of Chicago Divinity School
Argument, Agreement, and Authority in Classical
Jain Epistemology
Elizabeth Pope, University of Georgia
Adam Sweatman, Florida State University
10
The Poem as Icon: Reading Theopoetics in T.S.
Eliot’s The Waste Land
Walling the Waters of Chaos: King Adulyadej
Bhumibol as a Centripetal Source of Thai Identity
Troy Wellington Smith, Florida State University
"The old hunchback!”: Ely Houston, The Outsider's
Kierkegaardian Prosecutor
Pamela Gutermuth, Elon University
Mapping Buddhism in Rural America
Justin Brown, Elon University
Sadhus, Sacrality, and Scams: Reflections on Gender
and Hindu Renunciation at the Sri Venkateswara
Temple in Cary, N.C.
AAR: Religion and Law II
Theme: Religion and American Law
Michael Graziano, Florida State University, presiding
Andy McKee, Florida State University
Administrating the Cherokee to Civilization: Savage
Laws and the Making of Domestic, Depending
Nations
ASOR: Archaeology and the Ancient World IV
Theme: Archaeology, Texts, and Contexts
Jennie Ebeling, University of Evansville, presiding
*AV NEEDED*
Jeff Gottlieb, Florida State University
Avoiding the Slippery Slope: A Suggested Principle
for RFRA Exemptions
Nancy Mason, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
State University
Bethsaida in the Gospels: A Dynamic Portrait
Gaylen Leverett, Liberty University
The Bible and the Constitution: Reading Methods,
Relevance, and Authority
Jacob Dunn, University of Georgia
Exploring the Possible Mycenaean-Aegean Origin of
the “Midianites” and Their Painted Wares
Joan Wooten, Union Presbyterian Seminary
John Calvin's View of Civil Law in Relation to the
Church
Rachel Nabulsi, University of Georgia
Comparative Notes on Some Funerary Inscriptions
from Israel, Aram, and Phoenicia
Finbarr Curtis, Georgia Southern University,
Responding
Frederick L. Downing, Valdosta State University
ISIS and ASOR: The Intersection of War and
Cultural Heritage
AAR: Teaching and Learning Religion III
Theme:
Reginaldo Braga, Interdenominational Theological
Center, presiding
*AV NEEDED*
SBL: New Testament IV
Theme: Open Call
Kathy Barrett Dawson, Independent Scholar,
presiding
Ryan Korstange,
The Pedagogical Value of Carefully Defining the
Term “Religion” in Textual Survey Courses
James Barker, Rhodes College
Eyewitness Testimony and Canonical Prejudice: Oral
versus Scribal Approaches to the Gospels.
Erin Graybeal,
Teaching a Judeo-Christian Worldview to a Diverse
Student Population
Business Meeting
Jason Robert Combs, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill
Reading Reversal in the Markan Passion: Psalm 22
as ‘Inverted Quotation’ in Mark 15
AAR: Undergraduate Student Research III
Theme: Religion and Cultural Identity
Lynn Huber, Elon University, presiding
Blake A. Jurgens, Florida State University
Is it Pesher? Revisiting the Relationship between the
Epistle of Jude and the Qumran Pesharim
Robert Cremins, University of Tennessee Knoxville
Gender and Sex Construction in Late Antiquity
Gary A. Staszak, St. Mary’s Seminary and University
Tobit and John: Exploring the Concept of Divine
Retribution and Disability
Tyler J. Jones, Maryville College
Sheldon Steen, Florida State University
11
Myth and Resistance: Revelation 12 as Catachresis
12