Signs of the Times: Interdisciplinary Responses to Religious Nationalism

2025 Catholic Social Tradition Conference 

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.

Speakers and Schedule

Conference Schedule

Thursday, March 20

6:30 p.m. Arrival and Welcome

7:00-8:30 p.m. Keynote #1 – Panel Conversation: What is Christian Nationalism? 

Anthea Butler, Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought, and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies, University of Pennsylvania

Reggie Williams, Associate Professor of Theological Studies, St. Louis University

Gary Adler, Associate Professor of Sociology, Penn. St. University

Ryan Burge, Associate Professor of Political Science, Eastern Illinois University

8:30 p.m. Reception

Friday, March 21

History and Varieties of Christian Nationalism

7:45 a.m. Continental Breakfast

8:30-10:00 a.m. Keynote #2 – Scriptural and Historical Perspectives on Christian Nationalism 

Speaker:

Drew Strait, Associate Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary 

Respondents:

Kristin Kobes du Mez, Professor of History and Gender Studies, Calvin University/ Research Fellow, Notre Dame Center for Philosophy of Religion, 2024-25

Matthew D. Taylor, Senior Scholar, Institute for Islamic-Christian-Jewish Studies 

10-10:15 a.m. Break

10:15-11:45 a.m. Concurrent Session: Practical Engagement and Educational Contexts in Relation to Religious Nationalism

11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m. Lunch 

Box lunches will be available for those who opted in during registration, and participants will be invited to “lunch with an author” to promote the Center for Social Concerns Catholic Social Tradition Book Series with Liturgical Press

1:15-2:45 p.m. Keynote #3 – Panel on Ideology and Christian Nationalism

Moderator: David Lantigua, Associate Professor of Theology and Co-Director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, University of Notre Dame 

Emilce Cuda, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and Counselor and Professor at CEBITEPAL/CELAM 

Erika Helgen, Associate Professor of Latin American and Latinx Christianity, Yale University 

2:45-3:00 p.m. Break

3:00-4:30 p.m. Concurrent Session: Practical Engagement in Relation to the Social and Political Contexts of Religious Nationalism

4:30-5:15 p.m. Free Time

5:15 p.m. Mass (optional)

6:15 – 7:45 p.m. Dinner

Presentation by the Future of Work after Laudato si’ Group, facilitated by Dan Graff, Professor of the Practice in History, University of Notre Dame

7:45-9:15 p.m. Keynote #4 – Religious Nationalism in Hungary

European Speaker: The Hungarian Context (TBD)

Respondent: 

Clemens Sedmak, Professor of Social Ethics and Director of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies at the Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame

Saturday, March 22

Normative Considerations

7:45 a.m. Continental Breakfast

8:30-10:00 a.m. Keynote #5 – Religious Nationalism: Political and Legal Perspectives

Abdullahi A. An-Naim, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law Emeritus, Emory University School of Law 

10:00-10:15 a.m. Break

10:15-11:45 a.m. Keynote #6 – Living into the Beloved Community

Lerone Martin, 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

Laurie Cassidy, Christian Spirituality Program, Creighton University

Felipe Hinojosa, John and Nancy Jackson Endowed Chair in Latin America & Professor of History, Baylor University

12:15 p.m. Lunch

1:30 p.m. Departure

Conference Registration

Registration for the conference will open in November. Sign up below to be notified when registration opens!

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:

Book your group rate for Catholic Social Tradition Conference

Questions?

Email us at ndcntrsc@nd.edu.

Co-sponsors

Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion, Center for Philosophy of Religion, Center for the Study of Religion and Society, Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, Democracy Initiative, Department of Theology, Ethics Initiative, Institute for Ethics and the Common Good, Kellogg Institute for International Studies, Klau Institute for Civil and Human Rights, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Nanovic Institute for European Studies, Office of Institutional Transformation