Call for Papers: AAR Practical Theology Group

Many APT members and friends are affiliated with the American Academy of Religion. The Call for Papers for the AAR’s Annual Meeting has now been posted, and the AAR’s Practical Theology Group has the following call (pasted below). You can find the Call, and submission information, online here.
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2015 Practical Theology Group Call for Papers
The Practical Theology Group encourages paper proposals in all areas of practical theological research. This year we especially welcome papers on the following topics.
Intersectionality. How can practical theology illuminate and take into account the intersections and power dynamics between forms or systems of oppression, domination, and discrimination? In what way can practical theology help trace and support the origins of theories of intersectionality theory in the scholarship and resistance of African American women? How are religion and theology exacerbating and/or ameliorating the tensions of intersectionality? We especially welcome papers that demonstrate how such power dynamics are played out in practice/empirically in theological education, congregations/churches, and other organizations.
Mass incarceration. Practical theology cultivates resistance to the dehumanizing process of incarceration. Through its engagement of the prison industrial complex, practical theology offers critiques of systemic issues that lead to mass incarceration and creates avenues to enfranchise the lives of incarcerated persons. How can practical theological scholarship explicate the complex problems of U.S. mass incarceration? In what ways can practical theological methods and values be seen implicitly or explicitly in the work of those already addressing the prison industrial complex? How does practical theology address and challenge the practice of mental health care in prisons? How might practical theology promote the transformation of entire systems, human resilience, and resistance? In what ways are theological education, research, and curricula addressing the enfranchisement of incarcerated individuals in systems that deny them personhood?
Postcolonial methodology and analysis. How might practical theological scholarship reveal, counter, or offer alternatives to logics of empire? What values and limits of postcolonial theory can be identified for practical theological scholarship? Additionally, how are various postcolonial discourses informing current practical theological research and the theory and practices of the sub-disciplines?
Transformations in theological education. This quad-sponsored panel (History of Christianity; Latina/o Religion, Culture and Society; Practical Theology; Transformative Scholarship and Pedagogies) takes its starting point from the just-published third volume on theological education in North America by historian Glenn Miller. The volume, Piety and Plurality (Cascade Press, 2014), covers the tumultuous period between 1960 and today. [The previous volumes, which Dr. Miller has been at work on since the 1970s, are Piety and Intellect (the Colonial era up to the Civil War) and Piety and Profession (1870-1970). We welcome papers engaging ways to understand both the diversification of places of theological education as well as multiplication of theologies and pedagogies used which force rethinking the landscape of North American theological education in its broadest sense. We are especially interested in theological education at the popular level, including Bible Institutes, but also base communities, and independent networks and institutes. Of special interest are theological educational developments within Pentecostal and Latino/a traditions, and mega-church-based models. We also seek examples of theological education rooted in transformative pedagogies, experiential learning, or other alternative models for theological education.
Valuing the Study of Religion. As AAR President Tom Tweed describes his choice for the 2015 Presidential Theme, we welcome proposals for papers in practical theology that “consider how religion and the study of religion is valued—and devalued—in public spaces, including but not only in legislatures, schools, prisons, courtrooms, hospitals, airports, news media, the state department, the military, the arts, and popular culture. [Also,] “looking at our own practices, how [do] we enact epistemic, moral, and aesthetic values in our research, teaching, and public outreach?”
Complexities and challenges of “work/life balance.” As suggested by the Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession (SWP) of the AAR, proposals are invited for practical theological papers on issues such as: “the academic industrial complex, the two-body problem and relationships, being single as well as couple normativity, heteronormativity, the ways institutions package “ability,” managing expectations amid diverse cultural and institutional contexts, perfectionism, power in the academy, navigating unwanted advances, competition and solidarity between senior and junior scholars, making visible the unwritten and unspoken rules, negotiating our current economic climate and job strain, a clarity on what “balance” even means and how one separates “work” and life,” as well as critical reflections on paid and unpaid labor.” Visit https://www.aarweb.org/worklife-balance-project for more information about SWP’s work/life balance project.
Successful proposals will: demonstrate theoretical clarity and methodological transparency, including researcher self-reflexivity and show how theoretical claims are related to a particular practice and/or are based on field research. Presenters are urged to “teach” their papers and to use innovative, interactive formats and multimedia presentations as appropriate. We welcome prearranged paper sessions (generally preferable to prearranged roundtables). Please provide separate abstracts for each paper and formulate a panel that represents diversity of perspective (for example, race/ethnicity, gender, academic seniority and discipline).