Members of the Union community will be at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, TX on November 18-21, 2023 for the 2023 Annual Meetings hosted by the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) and the American Academy of Religion (AAR). This annual meeting is the world’s largest gathering of scholars interested in the study of religion.
During the Annual Meeting, Union will host a reception for friends and alums from Union Theological Seminary.
On Sunday, November 19, at 9:00 pm CT at Union’s Reception at the AAR and SBL Annual Meeting at Hyatt Residency San Antonio Riverwalk. Event will require registration.
Below is a list of Union faculty, students, staff, and alums who will participate at the Annual Meeting.
*Alums of Union Theological Seminary
Society of Biblical Literature
Minoritized Criticism and Biblical Interpretation
Sat 11/18 | 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM | Grand Hyatt (GH) – Mission B
Theme: Celebration of Remapping Biblical Studies (SBL Press 2023)
Panelist: Steed Davidson, Society of Biblical Literature*
Panelist: Mary Foskett, Wake Forest University*
SBL Pauline Theology
Sat 11/18 | 5:00 PM–5:25 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 225A
Theme: Paul and Migration
Presenting: Olusola Adegbite, Union Theological Seminary • Welcome the Weak in Trust: Interpreting Rom 14-15 through the Lens of Migration (25 min)
SBL Annual Business Meeting
Sun 11/19 | 7:30 AM – 8:30 AM | Convention Center (CC) – 301B
Presiding: Steed Davidson, Society of Biblical Literature*
Utopian Studies
Sun 11/19 | 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM | Convention Center (CC) – 304A
Theme: Dystopia in Ancient Judean Literature
Responding: Jacqueline Hidalgo, University of San Diego*
Wisdom and Apocalypticism
Sun 11/19 | 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM | Marriot River Center (MRC) – Conference Room 1
Theme: Race and Apocalypticism
Presenting: Jacqueline Hidalgo, University of San Diego* • (Post)Apocalyptic Persistence and the Coloniality of the Apocalypse in the Americas
Writing/Reading Jeremiah
Sun 11/19 | 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM | Grand Hyatt (GH) – Texas Ballroom Salon F
Theme: Writing Feminist Biblical Commentaries
Presiding: Steed Davidson, Society of Biblical Literature*
Synoptic Gospels / Feminist Hermeneutics of the Bible / African Biblical Hermeneutics
Sun 11/19 | 5:00 PM–7:30 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 006A
Theme: Celebrating the Work of Musa Dube
Presiding: Margaret Aymer, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary*
SBL Transmission of Traditions in the Second Temple Period
Theme: Performance and Tradition
Responding: David Carr, Union Theological Seminary
SBL Women Members Breakfast
Mon 11/20 | 7:00 AM–9:00 AM | Grand Hyatt (GH) – Texas Ballroom Salon D
Panelist: Margaret Aymer, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary*
Womanist Interpretation
Mon 11/20 | 9:00 AM-11:30AM | Convention Center (CC) – 216B
Theme: Autobiographical Biblical Criticism or Critical Personal Narrative of Womanist and BIPOC Biblical Scholars
Panelist: Gay Byron, Howard University*
Reading, Theory, and the Bible / Israelite Prophetic Literature / The Book of Isaiah / Biblical Hebrew Poetry
Mon 11/20 | 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM | Marriott River Center (MRC) – Conference Room 17
Theme: Review Panel for Francis Landy’s ‘Poetry, Catastrophe, and Hope in the Vision of Isaiah’
Panelist: Steed Davidson, Society of Biblical Literature*
SBL Performance Criticism of the Bible and Other Ancient Texts
Mon 11/20 | 9:35 AM–9:50 PM | Marriot River Center (MRC) – Conference Room 18
Theme: Performing Philemon: Possibilities and Limitations
Responding: Olusola Adegbite, Union Theological Seminary
SBL Religions of Israel and Judah in Their West Asian Environment
Mon 11/20 | 11:00 AM–11:15 AM | Grand Hyatt (GH) – Presidio B
Theme: Book Panel: Esther Hamori: God’s Monsters: Vengeful Spirits, Deadly Angels, Hybrid Creatures, and Divine Hitmen of the Bible (Broadleaf, 2023)
Responding: Esther Hamori, Union Theological Seminary
SBL Mind, Society, and Religion: Cognitive Science Approaches to the Biblical World
Mon 11/20 | 1:00 PM–1:20 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 206B
Theme: Review of Daniel O. McClellan, YHWH’s Divine Images: A Cognitive Approach (SBL Press, 2022)
Panelist: Esther Hamori, Union Theological Seminary
Archaeology of Religion in the Roman World / John’s Apocalypse and Cultural Contexts Ancient and Modern
Mon 11/20 | 1:00 PM-3:30 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 207B
Theme: Revelation and Material Religion in the Roman East: Honoring the Work of Steven J. Friesen
Panelist: Jacqueline Hidalgo, University of San Diego*
SBL Pentateuch / Genesis / Book of Deuteronomy
Mon 11/20 | 1:35 PM–1:50 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 006A
Theme: Women and Critical Methodologies in the Study of the Pentateuch
Panelist: David Carr, Union Theological Seminary
SBL Intertextuality and the Hebrew Bible
Tue 11/21 | 10:50 AM–11:17 AM | Convention Center (CC) – 214C
Theme: Open Session
Presenting: Elikplim Zanthia, Union Theological Seminary • Reconstructing Genealogy: Matthew’s Rereading of the Hebrew Bible (27 min)
American Academy of Religion
North American Paul Tillich Society
Fri 11/17 | 4:00 PM–5:30 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 214D
Theme: North American Paul Tillich Society Annual Meeting
Presiding: Lisa M. Cataldo, Fordham University*
Panelist: John Thatamanil, Union Theological Seminary
Psychology, Culture, and Religion Unit
Fri 11/17 | 3:30 PM–6:00 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 214D
Panelist: Pamela Cooper-White, Union Theological Seminary
Theological Education Committee
Sat 11/18 | 9:00 AM–11:00 AM | Grand Hyatt (GH) – Goliad
Theme: Committee Meeting
Presiding: John Thatamanil, Union Theological Seminary
Mysticism Unit
Sat 11/18 | 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM | Grand Hyatt (GH) – Crockett D
Theme: What Counts as a “Mystic”?
Presenting: Joy R. Bostic, Case Western Reserve University • Vital Union, Multivocality, and Generativity in Africana Mystical and Popular Culture
Academic Relations Committee, Graduate Student Committee and Teaching Religion Unit
Sat 11/18 | 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM | Convention Center (CC) – Stars 4
Theme: Preparing for Careers in Teaching Religion
Presenting: Hannah Hofheinz, Phillips Exeter Academy* • Finding Your Way Into Independent Secondary Schools as a Scholar of Religion
Bonhoeffer: Theology & Social Analysis Unit & Niebuhr Society
Sat 11/18 | 9:00 AM–12:00 PM | Marriott River Center (MRC) – Grand Ballroom – Salon G
Theme: The Revolutionary Gospel: Paul Lehmann, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Reinhold, Niebuhr in the Context of Union Theological Seminary
Presenting: Gary Dorrien, Union Theological Seminary • Threads of Friendship and Theological Contention: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Paul Lehmann
Presenting: Andrea C. White, Union Theological Seminary • Strangers and Gates: Barth, Niebuhr, Cone, and Lehmann
Religions, Medicines, and Healing Unit
Sat 11/18 | 9:00 AM-11:00 AM | Convention Center (CC) – 301C
Theme: Decolonial Strategies: Indigenous Healing Justice Reform
Presenting: Jeannine Hill Fletcher, Fordham University* • Spiritual Capital for Healing the Historic Trauma of White Supremacy
Christian Systematic Theology Unit
Sat 11/18 | 12:30 PM–2:30 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 221A
Theme: Finitude, Ambiguity, Loss: Theologies of Creation Between Alienation and Reincarnation
Presiding: Andrea C. White, Union Theological Seminary
Special Session
Sat 11/18 | 12:30 PM–2:30 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 221C
Theme: Sisters in the Wilderness – Honoring the life and scholarly legacy of womanist theologian Delores Williams and the 30th Anniversary of the publication of Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist Godtalk (Orbis, 1993)
Panelist: Joy R. Bostic, Case Western Reserve University*
Panelist: Adam Clark, Xavier University*
Panelist: Teresa Delgado, St. John’s University*
Panelist: Lorena Parrish, Wesley Theological Seminary*
Panelist: JoAnne Marie Terrell, Chicago Theological Seminary*
Panelist: Linda Thomas, Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago*
Science, Technology, and Religion Unit
Sat 11/18 | 3:00 PM–4:30 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 220 – Cantilever
Theme: Author Meets Critics: Donovan Schaefer’s Wild Experiment: Feeling Science and Secularism After Darwin
Panelist: John Thatamanil, Union Theological Seminary
Tillich: Issues in Theology, Religion, and Culture Unit
Sat 11/18 | 5:00 PM–6:30 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 217B
Theme: Paul Tillich and Delores Williams in Dialogue
Panelist: Ban Htang, Union Theological Seminary
Panelist: JoAnne Marie Terrell, Chicago Theological Seminary*
Panelist: Joy R. Bostic, Case Western Reserve University*
Panelist: Lorena Parrish, Wesley Theological Seminary*
Panelist: Eboni Marshall Turman, Yale University*
Panelist: Teresa Delgado, St. John’s University*
Constructive Muslim Thought and Engaged Scholarship Seminar
Sat 11/18 | 5:00 PM–6:30 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 005
Theme: Institutional Possibilities and Limits for Constructive Muslim Thought
Panelist: Jerusha Rhodes, Union Theological Seminary
Academic Relations Committee and Applied Religious Studies Committee
Sat 11/18 | 5:00 PM-6:30 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 217C
Theme: Envisioning Career Futures: A Workshop for PhDs and Graduate Students
Panelist: Hannah Hofheinz, Phillips Exeter Academy*
Evangelical Studies Unit
Sun 11/19 | 9:00 AM–11:00 AM | Marriott River Center (MRC) – Conference Room 13
Theme: Author Meets Critics: The Other Evangelicals (Eerdmans, 2023)
Presiding: David P. Gushee, Mercer University*
Responding: Isaac Sharp, Union Theological Seminary
Religion and Ecology Unit, Religion and Human Rights Unit, and Women of Color Scholarship, Teaching, and Activism Unit
Sun 11/19 | 9:00 AM–11:00 AM | Grand Hyatt (GH) – Crockett C
Theme: Resilience, Decolonization, and Mitigation in Religious Communities’ Work for Environmental Justice
Presenting: Ban Htang, Union Theological Seminary • A Kachin Feminist Theology of E/co-becoming: Towards Deeper Solidarity
Africa Diaspora Religions Unit, Mysticism Unit, and Queer Studies in Religion Unit
Sun 11/19 | 9:00 AM-11:00 AM | Convention Center (CC) – 007D
Theme: Mysticism: Creativity, Synthesis, Marginality, and Embodiment
Presenting: Joy R. Bostic • Africana Mystical Cultures and Material Vitality: Cultural Aesthetics, Technologies of Adornment and Being Alive
Status of Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession Committee and Status of Women in the Profession Committee
Sun 11/19 | 11:15 AM–1:30 PM | Convention Center (CC) – Hemisfair 2
Theme: Women’s Mentoring Lunch
Panelist: Su Yon Pak, Union Theological Seminary
Christian Systematic Theology Unit
Sun 11/19 | 12:30 PM–2:30 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 217A
Theme: Non-Contrastive Transcendence and the Creative Agency of God
Panelist: Andrea C. White, Union Theological Seminary
Feminist Theory and Religious Reflection Unit and Sacred Texts, Theory, and Theological Construction Unit
Sun 11/19 | 12:30 PM–2:30 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 303A
Theme: Fattening the Field: Fat Studies and Religion
Panelist: Jorge Rodriguez, Union Theological Seminary
Religion and Ecology Unit
Sun 11/19 | 12:30 PM–2:30 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 005
Theme: Practical Ecotheology: Engaging the Work of Our Hands On-The-Ground
Presenting: Shalomita Kristanugraha, Union Theological Seminary • Transformed by Wildness: Advocating Outdoor Experiential Education as Spiritual Formation in Seminaries
Open and Relational Theologies Unit and Pragmatic and Empiricism in American Religious Thought Unit
Sun 11/19 | 12:30 PM – 2:30 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 221A
Theme: Religion and Democracy in the Age of Wokeness
Panelist: Monica Coleman, University of Delaware*
Religions, Borders, and Immigration Seminar
Sun 11/19 | 3:00 PM–4:30 PM | Grand Hyatt (GH) – Bonham E
Theme: Theologies of Migration: Embodiment, Race, and Journeys at the Margins
Presenting: Yarilynne Regalado, Union Theological Seminary • Abel’s Body Made Into Being: A Chaplain’s Role to (Re)member Migrant Bodies
Class, Religion, and Theology Unit
Sun 11/19 | 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM | Grand Hyatt (GH) – Republic A
Theme: Not Only of Our Hands: The Multitude of Labor
Presiding: Ken Estey, Brooklyn College*
Innovations in Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care Unit
Sun 11/19 | 5:00 PM–6:30 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 304B
Theme: Innovations in Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care
Presenting: Miriam Tohill, Union Theological Seminary • Is This Night Different? Critical Reflection on Jewish Carceral Chaplaincy at a Rikers Island Passover Seder
Karl Barth Society of North America
Sun 11/19 | 5:00 PM–6:30 PM | Marriott River Center (MRC) – Conference Room 8
Theme: Karl Barth in Dialogue
Presiding: Andrea C. White, Union Theological Seminary
Theology Without Walls Group
Sun 11/19 | 5:30 PM–6:30 PM | Marriott River Center (MRC) – Conference Room 8
Theme: Theology Without Walls Group Planning Meeting
Presiding: John Thatamanil, Union Theological Seminary
Psychology, Culture, and Religion Unit
Sun 11/19 | 5:00 PM-6:30 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 220 – Cantilever
Theme: Psychology, Culture, and Religion: Works in Progress
Presiding: Lisa M. Cataldo, Fordham University*
Interreligious and Interfaith Studies Unit
Sun 11/19 | 5:00 PM-6:30 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 217B
Theme: Interreligious Dialogue: Borders and Transgressions
Presiding: Jeannine Hill Fletcher, Fordham University*
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Sun 11/19 | 9:00 PM–11:00 PM | Hyatt Regency (HR) – Blanco
Theme: Union Theological Seminary Alum & Friend Reception
Theology Without Walls Group
Mon 11/20 | 9:00 AM–11:30 AM | Grand Hyatt (GH) – Bowie A
Theme: What Would A Systematic Theology Without Walls Look Like?
Presiding: John Thatamanil, Union Theological Seminary
Moral Injury and Recovery in Religion, Society, and Culture Unit
Mon 11/20 | 5:00 PM-6:30 PM | Convention Center (CC) – 302B
Theme: The Question of Agency in Moral Injury
Presenting: Kristine Chong • Moral Injury and Collective Resilience in the South Korean Context: History, Resonances, and Possibilities
Psychology, Culture, and Religion Unit
Tue 11/21 | 8:30 AM | 10:00 AM | Convention Center (CC) – 303A
Theme: Psychological and Religious Perspectives on Borders, Margins, and Crossings
Presiding: Lisa M. Cataldo, Fordham University*