Religious Internationalism at the Conference on Faith and History

Lauren Turek

To follow on Andrea L. Turpin’s helpful recent post about Women & Gender presentations at the upcoming Conference on Faith and History, I would like to highlight presentations that will have some bearing on religion and international relations, broadly conceived. This includes panels or papers that touch on U.S. foreign policy, diplomacy, religious internationalism, foreign missionary work, war and society, and the like.

The Conference on Faith and History will hold its 31st biennial meeting on October 4-6, 2018 in Grand Rapids, MI. The theme of the conference is “History and the Search for Meaning,” and the full conference schedule is available here.

Panels and papers of particular interest to scholars of religion and internationalism include the following:

Thursday, October 4Session 2: War, the Environment and the Fallout of Violence
Chair: William Katerberg, Calvin College

Papers:

• “Environmental Impact of the Civil War in Syria,” Kincaid Wurl, Southern Adventist University
• “The National Park Service and the Story of the Buffalo National River: A Social Case Study of Environmentalism,” Coplea Donley, John Brown University
• “The Inhibitions of War and Violence on Sustainable Development,” Karyn Ashley Spirek, Huntington University
• “Khmer Rouge: A Traumatized Kingdom,” Jamie Conrad, Huntington University

Session 3: Making Peace and Ending Wars
Chair: Douglas Howard, Calvin College

Papers:

• “Pol Pot’s Cambodia and Social Mechanism Used for Genocide,” Ellie Lawson, Huntington University
• “The Iraqi High Tribunal’s Disruption of Nuremberg Legacy of Post-Conflict Justice,” Adele Duval, Eastern Nazarene College
• “Peace for Cambodia?” Alexandra Seleyman, Huntington University

Session 8: Rebuilding in Europe from Rome to the Cold War

Papers:

• “Controlling Their Emotions: How the Political Establishment Felt About Churchill,”Holly Holton, Huntington University
• “The Practicality of Morality in International Politics: Vaclav Havel and the Larger World,” Paige Hungar, Covenant College
• “Vaclav Havel: Building Democracy in a Post-Communist World,” Madison Morin, Eastern Nazarene College
• “For the Good of Res Publica: Civic Virtue in the Roman Republic,” David Engstrom, Trinity International University

Session 10: Building and Rebuilding through Development, Human Rights, and Diplomacy
Chair: Kelli McCoy, Point Loma Nazarene University

Papers:

• “Rethinking Models of International Development,” Malachi Wise, Huntington University
• “The Failure of Diplomatic Relations between the United States and Japan,” Alana Bates, Huntington University
• “A Communist Economic Miracle?” Alec Boyd-Devine, Huntington University
• “Effectiveness of HUMINT in the Middle East,” Jordan Hayley, Liberty University

Session 14: American Foreign Policy and the Cold War
Chair: William Katerberg, Calvin College

Papers:

• “Neither Saints nor Simpletons: Harry Truman, Anti-Catholicism, and the Nomination of a Vatican Ambassador,” Christopher Estep, Eastern Nazarene College
• “FDR, Churchill, and the Future of Postwar Indochina, 1940-1943,” Taylor Holliday, Huntington University
• “Before Vietnam: Understanding the Initial Stages of US Involvement in Southeast Asia,” Jacob Mach, Bowling Green State University & Cedarville University
• “India’s Complications with the Cold War,” Sarah Nelson, Point Loma Nazarene University

Session 15: History, War and Politics in England
Chair: Lisa Clark Diller, Southern Adventist University

Papers:

• “The Steel Wall of England: The Curious Case of the English Knight during the Hundred Years’ War,” Mitchell Gehman, Liberty University
• “Churchill’s Reign of Regrets: A Study of Wartime Leadership,” Claire Harvey, Huntington University
• “The Politics of Terror: The British Cabinet and the Strategic Bombing Campaign of 1918,” Perry Colvin, Auburn University

Friday, October 5Session 13: Christian Mission in the Non-Western World
Chair: Joel Carpenter, Calvin College

Papers:

• “E.H. Broadbent and Brethren Missions to Russian Turkestan, 1900 and 1908,” William Wood, Point Loma Nazarene University
• “Faith and Friendship: The ‘affective cosmopolitanism’ of Charles Freer Andrews (1871-1940),” Bernardo Michael, Messiah College
• “Harriet Newell’s Conversion to Usefulness: Understanding the Memoir that Contextualized American Women in Mission,” Hannah Nation, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

Comment: Joel Carpenter, Calvin College

Session 14: Missionary Anxieties: Doubt, Empire, and Commerce in Nineteenth-Century British Missions
Chair: Jason Bruner, Arizona State University

Papers:

• “‘Extending a Superior Light Farther than the Roman Eagles Ever Flew’: The Clapham Sect’s Influence in India,” Ryan Butler, Baylor University
• “‘Why Doest Thou Thus?’ Suffering, Failure, and Providence in Nineteenth-Century British Missionary Documents,” Kelly Elliott, Abilene Christian University
• “Python Buys Sheep’s Farm: Using Non-British Sources on West African Christianity, 1850-1900,” Paul Grant, University of Wisconsin–Platteville

Comment: Jason Bruner, Arizona State University

Saturday, October 6Session 34: “And He Must Win the Battle”: God and Nation in Twentieth Century England, Germany and the United States
Chair: Erik Benson, Cornerstone University

• “The Power of a Hymn: Choral Singing Defining National Identity,” Ruth Dewhurst, Georgia State University
• “Theodore Roosevelt’s Religious Support for World War I,” Benjamin Wetzel, Taylor University
• “’Massive Retaliation’: Power and Morality in John Foster Dulles’ World,” John Wilsey, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Comment: Erik Benson, Cornerstone University

Session 38: Roundtable on Dale Van Kley’s Reform Catholicism and the International Suppression of the Jesuits in Enlightenment Europe
Chair: Katherine van Liere, Calvin College

Participants:
Jeffrey D. Burson, Georgia Southern University
Andrea Smidt, Geneva College
Daniel Watkins, Baylor University
Comment: Dale Van Kley, Ohio State University Emeritus

Session 44: Christianity and Secularism in the Twentieth-Century United States
Paper:  “Catholic Conscience Language in the Secular Human Rights Revolution, 1970-1985″
Peter Cajka, University of Notre Dame

Session 50: Roundtable: New Perspectives on Religion in American Internationalism
Chair: Gale Kenny, Barnard College

Participants:
Emily Conroy-Krutz, Michigan State University
Mark Edwards, Spring Arbor University
Lauren Turek, Trinity University
Daniel Hummel, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Comment: Audience

Looking forward to seeing those of you who be attending the conference next week!

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