The Center for the Study of Rhetoric, Race, and Religion Virtual Works in Progress Summer Symposium
The Center for the Study of Rhetoric, Race, and Religion will hold its first virtual Works in Progress Summer Symposium on July 29, 2025. This interdisciplinary symposium aims to foster dialogue and collaboration among scholars exploring the intersections of rhetoric, race, and religion. This symposium will offer a supportive space for researchers at any stage of their project, from initial ideas to emerging findings, to share, receive feedback, and refine their work in a collegial setting.
Below is the preliminary schedule for the one-day symposium.
Registration:
$25.00 for CSR3 members
$50.00 for non-members
Note: Registration also includes membership
To register for the symposium, click here.
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Schedule of Presentations
July 29, 2025
ALL TIMES ARE CST
8:30am-9:00am-Opening Remarks
9:00am-10:15am
Panel One
Chair: TBA
Raedorah C. Stewart, Independent Scholar
Abstract:
This study examines how African American religious communities navigate the tension between traditional theological language and evolving gender inclusivity through congregational rhetoric. The central research questions investigate: How do religious leaders strategically employ gendered language to maintain doctrinal authenticity while fostering inclusive worship environments? What rhetorical strategies emerge when congregations attempt to balance scriptural fidelity with progressive gender theology? How does the metaphorical framing of divine femininity function as both a theological statement and a community identity marker?
Abstract:
This study examines how African American religious communities navigate the tension between traditional theological language and evolving gender inclusivity through congregational rhetoric. The central research questions investigate: How do religious leaders strategically employ gendered language to maintain doctrinal authenticity while fostering inclusive worship environments? What rhetorical strategies emerge when congregations attempt to balance scriptural fidelity with progressive gender theology? How does the metaphorical framing of divine femininity function as both a theological statement and a community identity marker?
Employing critical discourse analysis and ethnographic observation, this research analyzes sermon transcripts, liturgical materials, and congregational discussions from twelve progressive faith communities across diverse denominational backgrounds. The methodology combines rhetorical criticism with participant observation to examine how language choices reflect and shape community values around gender and spirituality.
Current findings reveal three primary rhetorical strategies: strategic ambiguity that allows for multiple interpretations of divine gender, explicit reclamation of feminine divine imagery, and hybrid approaches that alternate between traditional and inclusive language, depending on the liturgical context. Preliminary analysis suggests that successful inclusive rhetoric often employs gradual linguistic shifts rather than abrupt theological departures, allowing congregations to evolve their understanding while maintaining institutional continuity.
This ongoing research contributes to understanding how religious rhetoric functions as both a preservation and a transformation mechanism, revealing the complex negotiations between tradition and progress in contemporary faith communities. The study's implications extend beyond religious contexts to broader questions of how institutions manage ideological evolution through strategic language use.
Rohan Samuels, Kairos University
Abstract:
Abstract:
This project explores how Black Pentecostal sermons function as rhetorical acts of epistemic resistance and reclamation in response to Enlightenment-era constructions of race and knowledge. Grounded in the broader dissertation titled Postmodernity and the Reclamation of Racialized Knowledge: Epistemological Shifts in Subaltern and Decolonial Epistemologies Since the Enlightenment, this work-in-progress examines how preaching within Black Pentecostal traditions subverts dominant logics of Western epistemology by centering Spirit-embodied knowledge, testimony, and ancestral memory.
The central questions driving this research are: How does Black Pentecostal preaching reclaim and transmit racialized knowledge that has been historically marginalized? In what ways does the sermonic event function as both a theological and epistemological intervention? How might rhetorical analysis of sermons offer insight into a broader decolonial epistemic project?
Methodologically, this study employs a rhetorical-critical approach, incorporating decolonial theory, poststructural critiques of knowledge production, and close textual analysis of sermons from Afro-Caribbean and African American Pentecostal preachers. These sermons are analyzed not only for content but for form, performance, and context, paying particular attention to improvisation, communal response, and embodied authority.
Currently, this project is in the analytical phase, with preliminary findings suggesting that Black Pentecostal preaching serves as a dynamic site of epistemic reimagining—what I term “epistemic rupture”—where theological discourse challenges colonial categories and affirms Afro-diasporic epistemologies. This paper represents an early articulation of the project’s rhetorical dimensions and invites scholarly dialogue around the intersections of race, religion, and rhetoric in the homiletical tradition.
Allie Qiu, Boise State University
Abstract:
In the African American prophetic tradition, many rhetors use anger to name and transform injustice. I call this “holy anger,” or anger felt and expressed in response to injustice. My paper explores the holy anger that drives Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. As the most widely taught speech of the Civil Rights Movement, it is commonly sanitized and depoliticized. Quotes are pulled from the end of the speech, where King articulates his dream. I would argue that anger necessarily precedes the dream, and the dream cannot exist without it.
First, I draw on the work of Audre Lorde, bell hooks, and King himself to theorize anger as an indispensable emotion for recognizing injustice, a positive emotion to be processed both individually and collectively, and a rhetorical tool that moves audiences to imagine alternatives to existing realities. Then, I explore King’s use of holy anger and alternative vision in “I Have a Dream.”
To conclude, I consider how these concepts can inform our pedagogy. Drawing on Stenberg’s idea that “emotive responses” and “compassion and love [are] essential ingredients for critical work” in the writing classroom, I suggest that teaching holy anger and alternative vision can invite students to engage, both intellectually and affectively, with texts and issues that matter to them, helping them to imagine more just futures in their own writing.
Panel Two
Chair: Tom Fuerst, Memphis Theological Seminary
Annette Madlock, Independent Scholar
Abstract:
Good Vibrations: Kwanzaa – The Mystic Power of Signs, Symbols, and Language investigates how Kwanzaa’s ritual artifacts, linguistic forms, and cosmological principles function as dynamic semiotic systems that generate communal identity and transformative energy. Drawing on the Law of Vibration, this study conceptualizes the Nguzo Saba and the Kwanzaa rituals as vibratory processes through which symbols (e.g., Adinkra Symbols, the Kinara, Maize, and Unity Cup) resonate with participants’ intentions, fostering collective unity and agency.
By integrating theories of Visual Rhetoric and Semiotics, the essay analyzes how color, form, and spatial arrangement in Kwanzaa displays articulate and reinforce the Nguzo Saba (seven principles). A sociolinguistic lens reveals how the deployment of Swahili terminology—such as Umoja, Kujichagulia, and others—acts not only as lexical choices but also as performative invocations of Nommo, the African concept of the generative power of the spoken word. Through discourse analysis of Kwanzaa ceremonies, participant interviews, and close readings of ritual texts, the research reveals how language serves as both a symbol and a catalyst, producing social realities that align with African cosmological belief systems.
Methodologically, the study employs an interdisciplinary framework, combining qualitative ethnography with semiotic and rhetorical analysis to trace how Kwanzaa’s signs and symbols operate within broader cultural and historical contexts. Findings demonstrate that Kwanzaa’s aesthetic and linguistic elements coalesce into a cohesive, vibrational rhetoric that mobilizes community-building, cultural memory, and social activism. By situating Kwanzaa at the intersection of semiotics, sociolinguistics, and African cosmology, this essay contributes a novel theoretical model for understanding how ritualized sign systems generate affective resonance and social change.
A Womanist Approach to Food Justice
Sights and Sound Systems: Communicating Reggae Sound System Knowledge Through Visual Media Representation
Kyle Chitwood, University of Memphis
Ashley Woodson, Wayne State University
Abstract:
Womanist theology is a method of reflection that seeks to understand the Divine through the experiences of Black women and girls. The kitchen is a sacred site in womanist literature, but many Black girls in Generation Alpha organize their lives around food outside of the home. In this paper, I use womanist principles to build knowledge about Black girls, food citizenship, and snackification (the global trend toward smaller, more individualized meals). I recognize Black women and girls’ leadership in food justice campaigns, including the Black Panther Party’s People’s Free Food Program led by Ruth Breckford and Erika Huggins and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) championed by Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, as womanist precedents for protecting girls’ time to eat.
Abstract:
Womanist theology is a method of reflection that seeks to understand the Divine through the experiences of Black women and girls. The kitchen is a sacred site in womanist literature, but many Black girls in Generation Alpha organize their lives around food outside of the home. In this paper, I use womanist principles to build knowledge about Black girls, food citizenship, and snackification (the global trend toward smaller, more individualized meals). I recognize Black women and girls’ leadership in food justice campaigns, including the Black Panther Party’s People’s Free Food Program led by Ruth Breckford and Erika Huggins and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) championed by Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, as womanist precedents for protecting girls’ time to eat.
Using ethnographic data on Black girls’ experiences with food in Saginaw, Michigan, I demonstrate how snackification has implications far beyond the personal convenience of deciding when to eat. Neoliberalism, as manifested through hustle culture, results in busyness that justifies snackification, removes Black girls from fellowship tables, and erodes soul and civic ties. I argue that Black women’s faith traditions demand a vision of food justice that keeps Black girls close to the fires that feed them.
Kyle Chitwood, University of Memphis
The essay examines how a reggae sound system crew conveys Rastafari knowledge through visual media representations. Rooted in the framework of Global Black Rhetorics (GBR), I argue that disseminating Black knowledges, rhetorics, and literacies to broader mediated audiences necessitates rhetors, texts, and genres that intersect various media in facilitating the circulation of those knowledges.
Specifically, Kebra Ethiopia Sound System, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, intersects film and social media to facilitate the circulation of knowledge generated by reggae sound system culture and Rastafari. I make this argument by situating interdisciplinary research on reggae sound systems within the frameworks of GBR, before conducting a visual and textual analysis of Kebra Ethiopia’s Boiler Room set on YouTube. I conclude with theoretical and practical implications that emphasize the need to explore and utilize mindful intersections of media that impactfully represent Black knowledges and place them in dialogue with other diasporic traditions.
12:00pm-12:45pm
"You Can't be a Christian and Vote Democrat": Progressive Policies, Conservative Candidates
Andre E. Johnson, University of Memphis
Abstract:
1:30pm-2:45pm
Panel Three
Chair: Tom Fuest, Memphis Theological Seminary
Preaching (Un) Forgiveness
E. Michelle Ledder, Independent Scholar
Abstract:
I currently sit on both opposite sides of the Death Penalty. On the one hand, I had a teacher/student first-hand relationship with Kelly Gissendaner before she was murdered by the State of GA. She attended my class at two Georgia State Prisons, and I held independent study classes from across a locked, gated door. I served as her final project advisor before her graduation, which I attended. I was devastated when she was executed.
On the other hand, I have no mercy for Dylan Roof: the white man whose vile subterfuge allowed him to sit with nine clergy and lay members of Emanuel AME Church and, in response to their hospitality and graciousness, murdered them in cold blood. In the fullness of my AME ordination, I wish the Death Penalty upon him, without remorse, without hesitation, without guilt.
Just A Little Prayer and Faith: An Examination of Symbolic Convergence Theory and Corporate Prayer
Carl Frederick Hill, University of Memphis
Abstract:
Symbolic Convergence Theory suggests that within an organizational structure, a fantasy chain and rhetorical vision create an ideology that the organization can rally behind. That is, the fantasy chain is an ideological statement that arises from an overexaggeration of reality. Subsequently, SCT allows organizations to create cohesive bonds through a hyperbolic lens of real-life events. Olufowote suggests that SCT could be a guiding theory that continues to shape how organizations function.
Critical Heroric Rhetoric in White Evangelical K-12 Curriculum
This study proposes critical heroic rhetoric as a theoretical framework for understanding how religious institutions communicate hero systems—narrative and symbolic structures that help adherents mitigate existential anxiety by performing culturally defined heroic roles. Specifically, this study will explore how white American evangelicalism crafts hero systems that, while mitigating participants' existential anxiety, also function to maintain institutional and cultural power. Through a rhetorical analysis of K–12 evangelical curricula, this project explores how communication practices within American evangelicalism construct these hero systems, particularly under the guise of “biblical worldview” formation. The study critiques how such rhetoric reinforces existing power structures while advancing communication theory by mapping the mechanics of worldview reinforcement and death anxiety management in educational contexts. This study is currently in the early stages of textual analysis.
4:30pm-5:45pm
Panel Five
Chair: Andre E. Johnson, University of Memphis
Porch Theology: A Sacred Framework of Proximity, Presence, and People
Marco McNeil, Independent Scholar
Abstract:
In this presentation, I offer a reimagined theological paradigm rooted in the lived experiences of Black and Brown communities. Rather than emerging from academic ivory towers, Porch Theology is grounded in everyday communal spaces—particularly the porch—as sacred thresholds where divine encounter, dialogue, and healing unfold. This framework resists abstraction and reclaims embodied wisdom, sacred presence, and communal storytelling as a theological method. Structured around five core principles—sacred dialogue in common spaces, embodied wisdom and intergenerational exchange, theological proximity over abstraction, a communal sense of God’s movement, and a theology of presence—Porch Theology centers relational, participatory, and justice-oriented ministry. It draws from scriptural witness (e.g., Luke 24, John 4, Acts 10), prophetic theological voices (James Cone, Howard Thurman, Willie Jennings), and the memories of marginalized communities as sacred texts.
Castro in the Sanctuary: Faith-Based Diplomacy and the Rhetoric of Reconciliation in Cold War Cuba
Abstract:
This work-in-progress examines the overlooked intersection of Black Liberation Theology, diplomatic rhetoric, and Cuban religious politics through the lens of Fidel Castro's unprecedented 1984 church visit to Havana's Carey Methodist Church. Invited by Rev. Jesse Jackson during a prisoner release mission, Castro—a self-proclaimed atheist who hadn't attended worship in 27 years—entered the sanctuary in military uniform, marking a pivotal moment in both U.S.-Cuba relations and Cuban church-state dynamics.
12:00pm-12:45pm
"You Can't be a Christian and Vote Democrat": Progressive Policies, Conservative CandidatesAndre E. Johnson, University of Memphis
In 2024, a majority of voters re-elected Donald Trump as President of the United States. Not only did the voters elect Trump as President, but they also gave Republicans majorities in the House and Senate. While many viewed this as an utter rejection of Democrats and their policies, a closer examination of the election results reveals a different story. In several states that voted for conservatives up and down the ballot, many of the same voters supported "progressive" initiatives and policies, such as a "Constitutional Right to have an Abortion" or to "Make Reproductive Decisions," "Legalize Recreational Marijuana," "Increase Minimum Wage," and "Require Sick Leave."
For this works-in-progress presentation, I ask the question, "Why did voters elect candidates that are diametrically opposed to these polices while at the same time in the same election, support these polices?" While there may be several answers to the question, one I suggest is that conservatives have successfully framed Democrats as "demons" and "devils" who work against the plans of God.
1:30pm-2:45pm
Panel Three
Chair: Tom Fuest, Memphis Theological Seminary
E. Michelle Ledder, Independent Scholar
Abstract:
I currently sit on both opposite sides of the Death Penalty. On the one hand, I had a teacher/student first-hand relationship with Kelly Gissendaner before she was murdered by the State of GA. She attended my class at two Georgia State Prisons, and I held independent study classes from across a locked, gated door. I served as her final project advisor before her graduation, which I attended. I was devastated when she was executed.
On the other hand, I have no mercy for Dylan Roof: the white man whose vile subterfuge allowed him to sit with nine clergy and lay members of Emanuel AME Church and, in response to their hospitality and graciousness, murdered them in cold blood. In the fullness of my AME ordination, I wish the Death Penalty upon him, without remorse, without hesitation, without guilt.
For me, Roof abdicated his right to life when he killed my AME family. My opposing views on the Death Penalty represent only one entry point into my wrestling with forgiveness and unforgiveness. Christians often point to “the Bible” as evidence enough to mandate forgiveness as the (only) Christian thing to do. However, I don’t believe that is so. I believe there is biblical rhetorical evidence suggesting that unforgiveness can be faithful, righteous, and even divine. (Whether my take on the Death Penalty falls into that category is another story.) I’d like to explore the depths of what it means to Preach Unforgiveness as faithful when Preaching Forgiveness is anything but.
Ascension Reimagined: Incel Sainthood as Reward for Gendered Violence
Bread, Bodies, and the Budget: Rhetoric of Black Resistance from the Pulpit to the Public Square
This project explores the rhetorical strategies Black faith leaders deploy in response to the moral and material violence represented by the passage of the federal budget, specifically the defunding of safety net programs, i.e., Medicaid and SNAP, to fund mass deportation and detention, and the impact on vulnerable people. Centering the deadly Budget that dismembers the body politic, as both a policy and theological crisis, this project asks: How do Black religious leaders and organizers in faith contexts construct a moral counter-narrative in an era of rising authoritarianism? What theological frameworks anchor their resistance? And how does this rhetoric from pulpits in Black prophetic traditions inform public discourse and political organizing?
Grounded in womanist theology and Black prophetic traditions, the project analyzes a collection of movement artifacts, including sermon excerpts, protest liturgies, op-eds, and statements from faith-based organizations, engaging rhetorical criticism and public theology to examine how sacred language is wielded to expose, lament, resist, and contest for power.
Currently in the data collection and analysis phase, this work emerges from my own participation in the public square and organizing campaigns of resistance in the current political context. It is both scholarship and praxis. By amplifying how Black clergy and organizers invoke sacred texts, embodiment, and ancestral memory to confront death-dealing policies, this project contributes to ongoing conversations about race, religion, and the rhetorical construction of justice in contemporary America.
Diana Humble, University of Memphis
As the norms of mainstream society slowly shift away from unquestioning patriarchy, not all individuals have followed suit. A rising number of incel (involuntarily celibate) men are committing violent acts against normies (who incels resent being able to “ascend” (i.e., leave inceldom by having sex)) as punishment for being othered. One of the most infamous incidents of incel violence came at the hands of Elliot Rodger in Isla Vista, California. Today, Rodger is posthumously referred to as “Saint ER” on incel forums for the violence he committed on his self-proclaimed “day of retribution.” Rodger is far from the only incel saint: Saint Hamudi (incel content creator), Saint Cho (Virginia Tech shooter), Saint Lépine (Canadian antifeminist mass murderer), and Saints Harris and Klebold (Columbine school shooters) are also referenced within incel forums.
In this presentation, I argue that the incel community appropriates Christian terminology as a way to self-soothe and legitimize violence. By positioning themselves as followers of a religion rather than people struggling with a life circumstance, incels are absolving themselves of personal responsibility for failing to fit into society. Declaring this religious moral superiority reinforces the fallacy that incels are being unjustly denied status, sex, and influence by modern feminism. Since they feel unable to ascend through romantic or sexual contact, incels created a new form of ascension: incel sainthood. By awarding violence with sainthood status, incels are setting the standard that gendered violence is a valid reaction to practices that go against their “religion.”
Cassandra Gould, Eden Theological Seminary
This project explores the rhetorical strategies Black faith leaders deploy in response to the moral and material violence represented by the passage of the federal budget, specifically the defunding of safety net programs, i.e., Medicaid and SNAP, to fund mass deportation and detention, and the impact on vulnerable people. Centering the deadly Budget that dismembers the body politic, as both a policy and theological crisis, this project asks: How do Black religious leaders and organizers in faith contexts construct a moral counter-narrative in an era of rising authoritarianism? What theological frameworks anchor their resistance? And how does this rhetoric from pulpits in Black prophetic traditions inform public discourse and political organizing?
Grounded in womanist theology and Black prophetic traditions, the project analyzes a collection of movement artifacts, including sermon excerpts, protest liturgies, op-eds, and statements from faith-based organizations, engaging rhetorical criticism and public theology to examine how sacred language is wielded to expose, lament, resist, and contest for power.
Currently in the data collection and analysis phase, this work emerges from my own participation in the public square and organizing campaigns of resistance in the current political context. It is both scholarship and praxis. By amplifying how Black clergy and organizers invoke sacred texts, embodiment, and ancestral memory to confront death-dealing policies, this project contributes to ongoing conversations about race, religion, and the rhetorical construction of justice in contemporary America.
3:00pm-4:15pm
Panel Four
Chair: Kyle Chitwood, University of Memphis
Panel Four
Chair: Kyle Chitwood, University of Memphis
Carl Frederick Hill, University of Memphis
Abstract:
Symbolic Convergence Theory suggests that within an organizational structure, a fantasy chain and rhetorical vision create an ideology that the organization can rally behind. That is, the fantasy chain is an ideological statement that arises from an overexaggeration of reality. Subsequently, SCT allows organizations to create cohesive bonds through a hyperbolic lens of real-life events. Olufowote suggests that SCT could be a guiding theory that continues to shape how organizations function.
As a result, this paper aims to apply SCT to a Christian congregation as an organizational entity. Corporate prayer typically occurs during a Christian worship service or gathering. The primary purpose of corporate prayer is to unify the community in a single voice and a unified petition to the Divine. Since corporate prayer is a communal act, the effect of the message and the outcome of corporate prayer should be considered. That is, measurable information on how prayer persuades or invokes the presence of the Divine is a theological construct that garners most prayer attention. In this case, however, this paper seeks to consider the effects of corporate prayer, considering the production of SCT’s fantasy chain and rhetorical vision.
This paper raises the question: How can corporate prayer build and sustain a Christian congregational community, considering the belief in God to act on behalf of the congregation/community? Ultimately, fantasy chain and rhetorical vision are not meant to produce only ideologies for the Christian community to be out of touch with reality. However, this model of utilizing corporate prayer as a means of galvanizing the congregation through faith can have a positive impact on community relationships. This paper is currently in the research stage.
Contesting The First/Third World Binary in Religious Multicultural Discourses: The Case of Filipino Catholic Missionaries in Japan
Jason Bartashius, Independent Scholar
Abstract:
This study aims to analyze discourses produced by missionaries challenging, I argue, the First/Third World (racial) binary that potentially impacts relations between Filipino Catholics and their Japanese co-religionists. Specifically, I demonstrate how actors contrast their imagining of Japanese society as secular with a strong divorce culture with the Catholic(ized) Philippines nation-state where divorce is not a legal option. Furthermore, a sharp contrast is seen between the depiction of the institutional church in Japan as sterile and bureaucratic and the portrayal of Filipino Catholics embodying spiritual vitality.
Jason Bartashius, Independent Scholar
Abstract:
This study aims to analyze discourses produced by missionaries challenging, I argue, the First/Third World (racial) binary that potentially impacts relations between Filipino Catholics and their Japanese co-religionists. Specifically, I demonstrate how actors contrast their imagining of Japanese society as secular with a strong divorce culture with the Catholic(ized) Philippines nation-state where divorce is not a legal option. Furthermore, a sharp contrast is seen between the depiction of the institutional church in Japan as sterile and bureaucratic and the portrayal of Filipino Catholics embodying spiritual vitality.
To understand this dynamic, I employ Benedict Anderson’s discussion of Jose Rizal’s concept of “the spectre of comparisons” to illustrate how Filipinos residing in Tokyo, the capital of a former colonizer, are “able to ridicule the metropolis from the same high ground from which, for generations, the metropolis had ridiculed the natives.” These discursive strategies might be viewed as responses to discrimination against Filipinos in Japan in general and, in particular, a rationalization for a more multicultural church.
Jeff Miller, University of Memphis
Panel Five
Chair: Andre E. Johnson, University of Memphis
Marco McNeil, Independent Scholar
Abstract:
In this presentation, I offer a reimagined theological paradigm rooted in the lived experiences of Black and Brown communities. Rather than emerging from academic ivory towers, Porch Theology is grounded in everyday communal spaces—particularly the porch—as sacred thresholds where divine encounter, dialogue, and healing unfold. This framework resists abstraction and reclaims embodied wisdom, sacred presence, and communal storytelling as a theological method. Structured around five core principles—sacred dialogue in common spaces, embodied wisdom and intergenerational exchange, theological proximity over abstraction, a communal sense of God’s movement, and a theology of presence—Porch Theology centers relational, participatory, and justice-oriented ministry. It draws from scriptural witness (e.g., Luke 24, John 4, Acts 10), prophetic theological voices (James Cone, Howard Thurman, Willie Jennings), and the memories of marginalized communities as sacred texts.
Porch Theology insists that real theology happens not in polished sermons but in porch conversations, where questions are asked, grief is held, stories are exchanged, and presence is offered. It challenges churches to move from performative ministry to relational rootedness, from programs to people, and from proclamation to presence. Ultimately, Porch Theology is a call to return to the community—to listen, to linger, and to love. It redefines ministry as showing up and staying, where transformation begins not in pulpits but in porches. It is a theology that decentralizes power and re-centers the lived, collective, and sacred experience of everyday people.
Cathryn Stout, Candler School of Theology at Emory
My research interrogates how Jackson's prophetic witness and faith-based diplomatic rhetoric created space for dialogue where traditional diplomacy had failed. Drawing on archival materials, Cuban episcopal documents, and testimonies from participants, including theologians James Cone and Noel Leo Erskine, I analyze how Jackson's grounding in Black Liberation Theology enabled him to navigate the rhetorical divide between Castro's anti-colonial ideology and Christian reconciliation narratives.
The project employs rhetorical analysis alongside theological and historical methodologies to explore three central questions: How did Jackson's theological rhetoric transcend political boundaries to facilitate unprecedented dialogue? What role did the adaptive nature of Cuban religious culture play in enabling this moment of reconciliation? How did this encounter reshape subsequent church-state relations in Cuba? Currently in revision stages, this research challenges existing scholarship's political focus by foregrounding the theological dimensions of diplomatic engagement. It contributes to understanding how religious rhetoric can serve as a bridge across ideological divides, offering insights into the potential of faith-based diplomacy for addressing contemporary international tensions while illuminating the resilient and adaptive nature of Cuban religious identity.
Christine Fox, Memphis Theological Seminary
Abstract:
This project interrogates the rhetorical evolution of Christianity from its early roots in ancient Israel to its deployment in contemporary nationalist and fascist movements around the world, particularly in the United States. Rooted in feminist, womanist, and liberationist critique, the project will explore how Christianity—particularly in the Western world—has been historically weaponized to uphold systems of patriarchy, white supremacy, and imperial power, often in direct contradiction to the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Drawing from a variety of disciplines and sources, I aim to examine pivotal mistranslations in and harmful interpretations of sacred texts, tracing their impact on Christian doctrine and belief, particularly in relation to gender, race, authority, and dominion over the Earth.
At the heart of my inquiry is the erasure of the Divine Feminine from Christian theology and practice—a suppression that has enabled a dominator model of society to flourish under the auspices of religion. I argue that this erasure is not coincidental but is central to the co-opting of Christianity by imperial forces throughout history, from the Roman Empire to present-day white Christian nationalism in the U.S.
This early-stage work-in-progress seeks to contribute to the discourse on rhetoric, race, and religion by uncovering how theological misreadings and patriarchal, white supremacist, and classist interpretations have laid out and propagated structures of domination. In recovering suppressed narratives, such as the apostolic authority of Mary Magdalene, I aspire to point toward an alternative vision of Christian life rooted in partnership, mutuality, and liberation—what Jesus called “life, and life more abundantly.”
5:45-6:00pm-Closing Remarks