Catholic Social Tradition Conference | Institute for Social Concerns

2025 Catholic Social Tradition Conference

Signs of the Times: Interdisciplinary Responses to Religious Nationalism

March 20–22, 2025 | University of Notre Dame

This 2025 CST conference will remember the 60th anniversary of two significant Vatican II texts, Gaudium et spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World) and Dignitatis humanae (Declaration on Religious Freedom). Released on the final day of Vatican II, these texts together invited serious consideration of the role of the church and other religious communities in relation to the state.

This year’s CST conference takes up Vatican II’s invitation to discern “the signs of the times” and to attend to the roles of church and state within civil society with a view toward the common good. These central CST themes warrant further exploration as Christian and other forms of religious nationalism represent a significant sign of the current time in particular national and international contexts.

This interdisciplinary conference invites historical, constructive, and comparative approaches as we consider the ecumenical, interfaith, and transdisciplinary challenges of religious nationalism.

For example, what is the history of Christian nationalism in the United States and how is it related to similar movements in other parts of the world? What are the scriptural and theological resources available to analyze these expressions of Christian and national identity? To what degree and under what forms are the academy and the Christian churches complicit with the history and recent expressions of white Christian nationalism? What are the possible connections between the reemergence of various forms of religious nationalism with economic changes, poverty, inequality, and environmental degradation? How has the rise of these political ideologies been facilitated by changes in laws and institutional structures? What are the implications of Christian and other forms of religious nationalism for the relationship of religious bodies and the state in civil society? What are the pedagogical challenges across the disciplines in addressing the significance of Christian and religious nationalism? Normatively, what options for constructive engagement and responses emerge from our shared consideration of these questions?

Call for Papers

Deadline: November 1, 2024

Proposals for concurrent sessions that address the foregoing questions and related issues from a particular disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspective are welcome. Especially encouraged are those proposals exploring the practical issues arising in educational contexts and in various social and political contexts. For example, proposals might address responses to religious nationalism in religiously affiliated educational institutions, the influence of technological changes on the dissemination of religious nationalist ideas, or the present-day nationalist discourses in inter-religious spaces nationally and/or internationally.

Both individual paper and panel proposals are welcome.

Acceptance of proposals will be communicated by December 1, 2024.

SUBMIT PROPOSAL

Speakers and Conference Schedule

All events are located in the Notre Dame Conference Center at McKenna Hall on Notre Dame Avenue unless otherwise noted.

Thursday, March 20

6:30 p.m.	Arrival and Welcome, Room 215-216
7:00–8:30 p.m.	Keynote #1 – Panel Conversation: What is Christian Nationalism? Moderator: Margaret Pfeil, Ph.D., Teaching Professor, Department of Theology and Institute for Social Concerns, University of Notre Dame Anthea Butler, Ph.D., Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies, University of Pennsylvania Reggie Williams, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Theological Studies, St. Louis University Gary Adler, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology and Criminology, Penn State University; Affiliated Scholar, Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, University of Southern California Ryan Burge, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science, Eastern Illinois University
8:30 p.m.	Reception, 2nd Floor Atrium
9:00–9:15 p.m.	Optional Communal Meditation Time, Room B01

Friday, March 21

History and Varieties of Christian Nationalism

7:45 a.m.	Continental Breakfast, 2nd Floor Atrium
8:30–10:00 a.m.	Keynote #2, Room 215-215 The Bible and Human Security: Why Biblical Interpretation Matters for Challenging Christian Nationalism Moderator: David Lincicum , Associate Professor of Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity, Department of Theology, University of Notre Dame Speaker: Drew Strait, Associate Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary Respondents: Kristin Kobes du Mez, Ph.D., Professor of History and Gender Studies, Departments of History and Gender Studies, Calvin University; Research Fellow, Center for Philosophy of Religion, University of Notre Dame Matthew D. Taylor, Ph.D., Senior Scholar, Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies
10:00–10:15 a.m.	Break
10:15–11:45 a.m.	Concurrent Session #1: Practical Engagement and Educational Contexts in Relation to Religious Nationalism Room: 206 Not Built For Us: Anti-Catholic “Non-Sectarianism,” Public Education, and the White Christian Nationalist Movement, in 1840s New York City and Today, Stephen McNulty, undergraduate student in Political Science and Religious Studies, Yale University Becoming Messiah: Catholic and Native Experience in the United States, Thomas Elbourn III, PhD candidate in Theological Ethics, Theology Department, Boston College The Voices We Raise; The God We Praise, Patrick Flanagan, Chair & Associate Professor, Theology & Religious Studies, St. John’s University (NY) Room: 207 Book Challenges in K-12 Catholic Schools: Responding to the Signs of the Times, Mary-Kate Sableski, Ph.D., Leary Chair for Innovation in Education, Health, and Wellness, Teacher Education, University of Dayton Countering Christian Nationalism and Appropriation of “Tradition” by Catholic Fascist Movements, Joan Braune, Ph.D., Lecturer, Philosophy Department, Gonzaga University and David M. Gides, Ph.D., Professor of Theology, Theology Department, University of Providence Room: B01 Surprising counter-movements: Latin American immigrant and Latino religious communities contributing to and challenging Christian nationalism, Felipe Hinojosa, Ph.D., John and Nancy Jackson Endowed Chair in Latin America and Professor of History, Baylor University; Janna Hunter Bowman, Associate Professor of Peace Studies and Christian Social Ethics, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary; João B. Chaves, Assistant Professor of the History of Religion in the Américas, Department of Religion, Baylor University and Carlos Castaneda, Community Organizer, Movimiento Cosecha Room: 205 Situating and Responding to Global Ethnoreligious Nationalisms across Diverse K-12 Schools and Curriculum, Mary M. Juzwik, Professor, Departments of Teacher Education and English, Michigan State University; Joel E. Berends, Assistant Professor, Teacher Education, Michigan State University; Esther Prins, Ph.D., Professor, Lifelong Learning and Adult Education Program, Pennsylvania State University; Katie Ward, M.Ed., M.T.S., Coordinator, American Indian Catholic Schools Network Teaching Fellows Program, Department of Elementary Education, Holy Cross College, Ph.D. Student, Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education, Michigan State University; Laura Yares, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Department of Religious Studies, Michigan State University; Deborah J. Margolis, Middle East & Religious Studies Librarian, Michigan State University Libraries, Michigan State University and Kati Macaluso, Ph.D., Academic Director, ACE Teaching Fellows M.Ed. Program and Associate Teaching Professor, Institute for Educational Initiatives, University of Notre Dame Room: 202 Promoting a Participatory, Inclusive Just Wage Economy as a Challenge to Exclusion, Dan Graff, Ph.D., Director, Higgins Labor Program of the Institute for Social Concerns; Professor of the Practice of History, Institute for Social Concerns; Department of History, University of Notre Dame, along with students and collaborators from Notre Dame’s Just Wage Research Lab Room: 204 Engaging Christian Nationalists as a Mission Field, Rev. Caleb E. Campbell, Founder, Disarming Leviathan Ministries “A Person Too Broadminded:” Politics, Research, and the Repugnant Other, Jackson Wolford, Doctoral Student in Moral Theology and Christian Ethics, Theology Department, University of Notre Dame Toward an Abolition and Reconstruction Theology of Democracy, Alex Mikulich, Ph.D., Director, Other Ways Collaborative Room: B02 Platforming Extremism: How Social Media Shape Christian Nationalism, Mark Douglas, J. Erskine Love Chair of Christian Ethics, Columbia Theological Seminary Technology, Extremism, and Healing in the US, Israel, and Palestine, Lisa Schirch, Richard G. Starmann Professor of Peacebuilding and Technology Studies, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame Christian Nationalism’s Digital Support System: Unregulated Social Media Algorithms, Anna Floerke Scheid, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Theology, Duquesne University
11:45 a.m.–1:15 p.m.	Lunch Lunch will be available in the 2nd Floor Atrium for those who opted in during registration, and participants will be invited to “lunch with an author” of the Institute for Social Concerns CST Book Series.
1:15–2:45 p.m.	Keynote #3, Room 215-216 Panel on Ideology and Christian Nationalism Moderator: David Lantigua, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Theology and Co-Director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, University of Notre Dame Emilce Cuda, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Theology, Theology Department, Loyola University Chicago; Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and Counselor and Professor at CEBITEPAL/CELAM Erika Helgen, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Latin American Christianity, Yale Divinity School, Yale University
2:45–3:00 p.m.	Break
3:00–4:30 p.m.	Concurrent Session #2: Practical Engagement in Relation to the Social and Political Contexts of Religious Nationalism Room: 206 An Ethic of Sojourn: Latino/a Responses to Christian Nationalism, Dominion Theology, and the Seven Mountain Mandate, Daniel Montañez, Ph.D. Candidate in Theology, Ethics, and Philosophy, Boston University The Doctrine of Common Grace: The Promise and Limits of Kuyper’s Idea on Religious Pluralism, Perdian Tumanan, Ph.D. Candidate in Constructive Theology and Christian Ethics, Theology and Religious Studies Department, Villanova University Conspiracy Talk and Ungoverning in the Political Theology of the New Apostolic Reformation, Stephen Waldron, Research Fellow, Center for Philosophy of Religion, University of Notre Dame Room B01: The Cross and Conflict: Does Christian Nationalism Impact Protest Dynamics?, Joel Day, Ph.D., Managing Director, Notre Dame Democracy Initiative, University of Notre Dame Room: 202 A Better Worldview Will Not Undo Christian Nationalism: Seeking Critical Hope in Complex Identities, Rev. Jacob Alan Cook, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics; Co-Director, The Shalom Collaboratory, Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Eastern Mennonite University Religious Fundamentalism, Extreme Economic Inequality, and Neoliberal Society, Ilsup Ahn, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Philosophy, North Park University A Place of Our Own: Christian Nationalism, Climate Refugees, and the Right to Private Property, Kelly S. Johnson, Ph.D., Fr. Ferree Chair of Social Justice and Associate Professor, Religious Studies Department, University of Dayton Room: 205 Russia, Islam and the Secularization of Religion in the Service of Nation-building and Geopolitics, Pavlo Smytsnyuk, Petrach Fellow, Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University Pope Francis, Engaged Buddhism, and Religious Nationalism, John Sniegocki, Professor of Religious Ethics and Co-Director, Institute for Spirituality & Social Justice, Department of Theology, Xavier University The Role of Religious Pluralism in the Promotion of Religious Harmony Among the Monotheistic Religions, Sajjad Ali Raeesi, Director, Institute Islamic Studies, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Pakistan Room: 204 “Natural Law and Religious Nationalism: A Match Made in Heaven?”, Dennis J. Wieboldt III, J.D./Ph.D. Student, Law School and Department of History, University of Notre Dame William Penn and the Birth of a Christian Nation: Quakerism and Pennsylvania as “Holy Seeds” of Christian Nationalism, Augustus Fuller, undergraduate student in Peace and Global Studies with a concentration in Religious Pacifism, Religion Department, Earlham College Addressing Christian Nationalism in Mainline Protestant Churches, Brian Kaylor, President & Editor-in-Chief, Word&Way Room: 207 Religious Nationalism in the Balkans, Jusuf Salih, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Religious Studies Department, University of Dayton Purifying Memory, Preserving Truth: Catholic Principles for Memorial Justice in Poland, Zachary Taylor, Doctoral Candidate in Religious Ethics, University of Chicago Divinity School Re-presentations of the Spanish Civil War as a Microcosm for Religious Nationalism’s Construction of an Idealized Past, Patricia K. Tillman, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor, Department of History, University of Maryland Global Campus Room: B02 Interrogating the Intersections of Christian Zionism and White Christian Nationalism from a Global Perspective, Atalia Omer, Ph.D., Professor of Religion, Conflict, and Peace Studies, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, The Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame; Mimi Kirk, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University; Roger Baumann, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Director of Peace and Justice Studies, Sociology & Social Work/Peace and Justice Studies, Hope College; Adi Saleem Assistant Professor, Department of Romance Languages & Literatures and Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, University of Michigan; Joshua Lupo, Ph.D., Assistant Director of Contending Modernities, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, The Keough School of Global Affairs; Daniel Bannoura, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Theology, University of Notre Dame
4:30–4:45 p.m.	Break
4:45–6:00 p.m.	Concurrent Session #3 Room: 202 Beginnings and Evolutions: Case Studies on the Lives of Religious Nationalism in Interactions Between ‘Abrahamic’ Religions, Mohammad Meerzaei, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Middle Tennessee State University; Dr. Andrew R. Polk, Professor of Religious History, Department of History, Middle Tennessee State University; Dr. Adam DJ Brett, International Research Associate, American Indian Law Alliance and Instructor, Middle Tennessee State University Room: 204 Hacked Orthodoxy: A Layperson Explains How The Technology Of Social Media And Misinformation Drives Religious Extremism, Rev. Wes Dillon, Senior Minister and Co-Leader and Church Planter, 4 Rivers Church Room: 205 Are Christian Nationalist movements a type of Christianity? If so, what kind is it and what theology does it promote?, Ludger H. Viefhues-Bailey, Ph.D., Chair of the Philosophy Department Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Gender, and Culture, Department of Philosophy, Le Moyne College Re-evangelizing Missions: The American Frontier of the Traditional Catholic Movement, Edward Zamorano Ablang, Ph.D. Student, Peace Studies and History, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and the Department of History, University of Notre Dame Room: 207 The Politics of Possession: The Rise of Demonic Discourse in Society and Politics, Joseph Wiinikka-Lydon, Senior Researcher, Intelligence Project, Southern Poverty Law Center Religious Rationalization of the “Other”: A Focus on the Ethiopian 2020 – 2022 Civil War, Geleta Tesfaye Berisso, Ph.D. Student, Peace and Theology, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame and Andrew DeCort, Ph.D., Writer and Director, The Institute for Faith and Flourishing Room: 206 Lessons from Lemuel’s Momma: The אֵשֶׁת חַיִל, Healthy Masculinity, Toxic American Masculinity, and Guiding Young Men to Spiritual Maturity, Ron Clark, D.Min., Director Agape Community Ministries and Instructor, Department of Religion, George Fox University Schleiermacher on Historical Progress and the Christian State, Kevin M. Vander Schel, Associate Professor, Religious Studies Department, Gonzaga University Room: B01 Does religious belief fuel the far right in Europe? A qualitative case study among Flemish voters, Valerio Aversano, Doctoral Student, Research Unit of Theological and Comparative Ethics, KU Leuven and Ellen Van Stichel, Ph.D., Associate professor of Christian Social and Political Ethics, and Director of the Centre of Catholic Social Thought, at Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven, Belgium Room: B02 Pursuing An Anti-racist Spirituality in a Season of White Christian Nationalism’s Resurgence, Tobin Miller Shearer, Ph.D., Professor of History and African-American Studies, Departments of History and African-American Studies, University of Montana and Regina Shands Stoltzfus, Ph.D., Professor of Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies, Depart of Religion, Justice, and Society, Goshen College
6:00–6:15 p.m.	Break
6:15–7:45 p.m.	Dinner, Smith Ballroom, The Morris Inn Presentation by the Vatican-sponsored Future of Work, Labour AFter Laudato Si’ (FOWLS) Project, facilitated by Dan Graff, Ph.D., Director, Higgins Labor Program of the Institute for Social Concerns; Professor of the Practice of History, Institute for Social Concerns; Department of History, University of Notre Dame, along with members of the FOWLS Project from across the Americas
7:45–9:15 p.m.	Keynote #4, Room 215-216 Panel on Religious Nationalism in Europe Moderator: Suzanne Mulligan, Ph.D., Professor of the Practice, Institute for Social Concerns, University of Notre Dame Ellen Van Stichel, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Christian Social and Political Ethics, and Director of the Centre of Catholic Social Thought, at Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven, Belgium Ferenc Hörcher, Ph.D., Philosopher and Historian of Political Thought, Professor of Politics and Government and Director, Research Institute of Politics and Government, Ludovika University of Public Service, Senior Fellow and prior Director of the Institute of Philosophy, HUN-REN Respondent: Clemens Sedmak, Ph.D., Professor of Social Ethics and Director of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies at the Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame
9:15–9:30 p.m.	Optional Communal Meditation Time, Room B01

Saturday, March 22

Normative Considerations

7:45 a.m.	Continental Breakfast, 2nd Floor Atrium
8:30–10:00 a.m.	Keynote #5, Room 215-216 Religious Nationalism: Political and Legal Perspectives Moderator: Jean Porter, Ph.D., John A. O’Brien Professor of Theology, Department of Theology, University of Notre Dame Abdullahi A. An-Naim, Ph.D., Charles Howard Candler Emeritus Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
10:00–10:15 a.m.	Break
10:15–11:45 a.m.	Keynote #6, Room 215-216 Living into the Beloved Community Moderator: Keona Lewis, Ph.D., Professor of the Practice, Office of the Provost and Institute for Social Concerns Lerone Martin, Ph.D., Martin Luther King, Jr. Centennial Professor and Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Stanford University
11:45 a.m.–12:15 p.m.	Concluding Thoughts from Our Designated Listeners, Room 215-216 Laurie Cassidy, Ph.D., Christian Spirituality Program, Creighton University Felipe Hinojosa, Ph.D., John and Nancy Jackson Endowed Chair in Latin America & Professor of History, History Department, Baylor University
12:15 p.m.	Lunch, 2nd Floor Atrium
1:30 p.m.	Departure

Conference Registration

Registration is now open. Registration closes February 15, 2025.

Location

All sessions of the conference will be in McKenna Hall, located on the beautiful campus of the University of Notre Dame.

Hotels

Blocks of rooms have been reserved under “Catholic Social Tradition Conference” at The Fairfield Inn by Marriott – Notre Dame and The Morris Inn.

To book at The Morris Inn: Guests can make their reservations by using the booking link below or calling the reservations line at 574-281-9988. When calling, guests will need to mention the “Catholic Social Tradition Conference” to receive our pricing.The Morris Inn Booking Website:
https://book.passkey.com/e/50892996

To book at The Fairfield Inn, use the link below or call the hotel at 574-234-5510. Reference the “Catholic Social Tradition Conference” to receive our pricing. The Fairfield Inn Booking Website:

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