NABPR Region-at-Large Call for Papers

CTS/NABPR-RAL 2027 Meeting

Kate Hanch, Southern Methodist University (TX)

khanch@smu.edu

Jason Hentschel

Jason.hentschel@gmail.com

The National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion (NABPR) Region-at-Large invites paper proposals in conversation with the CTS convention theme,  “Mary, Seat of Wisdom: Refuge and Rabble-Rouser.”

What might Baptists discover by attending to Mary beyond the Christmas narrative? What could and does a Protestant Mariology look like? What can Roman Catholic concepts of Mary offer Protestant and Baptist expressions of faith, and vice versa? What stories and histories do Baptists and Protestants need to retrieve and recover to speak of Mary?

We welcome contributions that emphasize ecumenism and retrieval and engage the breadth of methodologies and traditions. 

Possible topics include:

• Mary, Scripture, and Theological Authority: Baptist and Roman Catholic interpretations of biblical texts and relationships among Scripture, tradition, and communal discernment
• Christology: The significance of naming Mary Theotokos, or  “God-bearer,” and the current Protestant retrieval of ancient patristic/matristic texts, conversations, and creeds
• Spiritual Formation, Discipleship, and Baptist Identity: How Mary ’s witness, questioning, and response to God might inform Baptist understandings of vocation and personal faith
• The Magnificat and the Social Gospel: Mary ’s song in Luke 1:46–55 as a resource for examining poverty, power, racial and economic justice, and Baptist traditions of prophetic witness
• Women ’s Voices, Agency, and Ministry: How representations of Mary have supported or constrained women ’s authority; Marian narratives and practices in relation to trafficking, abuse, migration, and grief; trauma-informed readings; the pastoral implications of appeals to obedience, purity, motherhood, and suffering
• Ecumenical Convergence and Continuing Disagreement: Mary in Baptist-Roman Catholic dialogue; questions of Marian doctrine, veneration, intercession, and Christ ’s unique mediation; the reception of ecumenical conversations in congregations and theological education
• Mary in Worship, Art, and Everyday Faith: Mary ’s presence or absence in Baptist preaching, hymnody, visual culture, and congregational practice; dialogue with Roman Catholic devotional life; possibilities for teaching, spiritual formation, and shared Christian witness

We welcome biblical, historical, systematic, ethical, practical, and interdisciplinary approaches, including contributions engaging the social sciences and the arts. Established scholars, emerging scholars, graduate students, alt-academics, pastors and church staff, and scholar-practitioners are invited to submit proposals. Papers may focus on Baptist traditions, sustained dialogue with Roman Catholicism, or communities in which these traditions encounter one another. Proposals focused on questions unrelated to the conference theme will also be considered.

There is also the possibility for virtual/hybrid participation in this section.

Submission information

Proposals should be 250-500 words in length and include a title, the proposer ’s institutional affiliation, and any anticipated AV needs. Send proposals to Kate Hanch (khanch@smu.edu) and Jason Hentschel (jason.hentschel@gmail.com) by December 15, 2026. Scholars will be notified of proposal status by January 15, 2027.