May 1, 2026

8:00-9:15 am Registration, Coffee, and Welcome in MacKay Lobby

Coffee & Pastries in MacKay Main Lounge

9:15-10:45 am Paper Session I

Formation of Research Units & Coworking Units — Stuart 1

• Join some of the leadership team to learn about forming Research Units and Coworking Units.

Justice & Peace — Stuart 2

• "Temporal Belonging in an Immigrant Buddhist Community" Xianfeng Shi
• "Can the Subaltern Speak of Within Judaism?: Assessing the Place of Korean Biblical Scholars in Jewish-Christian Relations of Biblical Studies" Jiihn Ahn
• "Partners on the Journey: Intergenerational Storytelling and Knowledge Transmission in Religious Peacebuilding" Moira Ujda

Political Theology & Philosophy of Religion — Stuart 3

• "Discourse, Power, and Theopolitical Eschatologies" JT Martin
• "Typology of Inquiry: Identifying Question Categories for Religious Connection" Jon Brammer
• "Progressivism and Religion in William James and Ralph Barton Perry" Walter Scott Stepanenko

Spiritual Formation — Stuart 4

• "Beyond Hyper-Cognitive Discipleship: Rethinking Spiritual Formation for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities" Andrew Barron
• "The Perception of Leader Identity: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Interfaith Hospital Chaplains" Zachary Wooten
• "Contemporary Fundamental Theology and the Catholic University" Craig A. Baron

Religion & Education — Stuart B17

• "Reimagining Confident Pluralism in Anglo-American Citizenship Education: A Systematic Review of the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., 1988-2025" Christian Hansen
• "Teaching Religion in the Public Sphere: Lessons from a Middle School-University Partnership in Knox County, Tennessee" Erin Darby and Michael Naparstek
• "Religious and Spiritual Meaning-Making in Public Universities' Teacher Education Programs: Examining the Case of Catholic Pre-Service Teachers" Katie Ward

11:00-12:30 pm Paper Session II

Undergraduate Presentations — Stuart 1

• "Poetry, Prophecy, and Liberation: Allen Ginsberg in the Wake of the Hebrew Prophets" Maya Gerstenbluth
• "St. Augustine and 'Notes from the Underground" Gianna Vidal Mendoza
• "Transoceanic Ritual: Sacred Waters and the Hindu Diaspora Between India and the Caribbean" Dylan Budhu

Religion & Technology — Stuart 2

• "Formational AI over Explainable AI: A Missiological Critique of Algorithmic Governance" Dohyung Cha
• "Hugh Hefner's god: It's Funny 'cause it's True? Playboy Comics, Puritans and the Bible" Daniel C. Gunn
• "I Saw it On TikTok: Christian Leadership On TikTok" Zachary Carl Wooten

Contemporary Systematics & Law — Stuart 3

• "Christian Theology and American Law" Robert E. Alejandro
• "Confined, Not Crucified: Carcerality as Theological Metaphor for the Black Woman's Experience in America" Jennifer Nelson
• "Seeing through Screens Darkly: Augustine and the Anthropology of the Digital Manosphere" Isaac Bryden

Job — Stuart 4

• A Dramatic Reading from the Book of Job John Lafferty

Religion & Education Stuart — B17

• "The Bible and Public Education: Current Issues" Mark Chancey and Steven Green

12:30-1:45 pm Lunch ($15.46 including 6.7% sale tax) Credit Card only

1:45-3:15 pm Paper Session III

Volunteer Interest Meeting — Stuart 1

• and by Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84076102776?pwd=sqfwwL4AKWahqeaGsCh4RMUKR44CRe.1

• Meeting ID: 840 7610 2776 / Passcode: 033553

Scripture & Archaeology — Stuart 2

• "Ancient Near East Gods: Bulls & Lions" Ilona Rashkow
• "Pneumatic Missiology in Practice: Applying Philip's Samaritan Mission to the Modern Church" Seung Kwon Yang
• "Sanctifying the Assembly by Becoming the Beloved Community (The Case of Ephesus)" Michael D. Royster

Patristics — Stuart 3

• "Loneliness and the Ascent of the Soul: Prayer and the Discernment of Isolation and Solitude as Vice and Virtue" Theodore Grey Dedon
• "Prayer and its Efficacy according to Iamblichus" Sergey Trostyanskiy
• "Gregory Palamas. Holy Hesychia: The Stillness that Knows God" Conrad Fischer

Psychology & Religion — Stuart 4

• "Cruciformity and Vulnerability: The Parallels between Psychology and Christian Spirituality" Elizabeth Woodard
• "When the Unspeakable Becomes the Unknowable: Apophatic Theology as a Pathway of Healing" kai glenney
• "The Burning Contemplative Heart: Affect as Central (not Distal) to Christian Spirituality and the Formative Process" Ryan G Erbe

Religion & Education — Stuart B17

• Author-Meets-Critics Panel on Justine Ellis's "The Politics of Religious Literacy: Education and Emotion in a Secular Age" Daniel de Nido

3:30-5:00 pm Research Unit Sessions

The following sessions are open to anyone interested in getting involved in existing Research Units

Religion in the Americas Working Group — Stuart 1

Queer Studies Working Group — Stuart 2

Jewish Studies Working Group — Stuart 3

Religion & Education Working Group — Stuart 4