CFP: Women at the Well: Religion, Resilience and Grace

Women at the Well: Religion, Resilience, and Grace

            Carroll College in Helena, Montana, a Catholic liberal arts college, is delighted to request paper abstracts and panel/workshop ideas for an interdisciplinary conference titled “Women at the Well: Religion, Resilience, and Grace” on March 16-17, 2018. The conference, sponsored by members of the Departments of Communication, English, Philosophy, and  Theology, is in loving memory of Dr. Annette Moran, CSJ--Sister of Saint Joseph, theologian, Flannery O’Connor scholar, poet, and mystic--and our beloved colleague, teacher, and friend. Dr. Moran embodied the virtues of resilience and grace as she lived out her own faith and commitments to her communities.

This conference is an opportunity to explore through scholarship and reflection the role of women in various religious, ministerial, and educational contexts and the challenges and tensions marginalized peoples and cultures experience in these same contexts. How do women (and men) experience power in religious and educational institutions? What does feminine authority look like?  How do place and institutional structures affect voice, visibility, and presence of marginalized individuals? If the institutions we inhabit are marked by injustice, how can we operate within these institutions without being complicit? What does it take for marginalized peoples to effect change within religious and educational institutions? Can we find grace in resistance?  Can we find grace in anger?

Some examples of potential topics include, but are not limited to:

·      History of women in religious organizations, in education, and in society (in Helena, in Montana, and beyond)

·      Papers that explore the themes of resilience, power, religion, and grace at the intersection of literature and theology (since Dr. Moran was an O’Connor scholar, essays on Flannery O’Connor are especially welcome)

·      Papers that investigate the roles of power and authority in religious and educational settings

·      Feminist and post-colonial pedagogies in the twenty-first century

·      Women’s experiences in ministry and in educational leadership

·      Race, gender, and spiritualities

We invite papers and panel/workshop ideas from scholars and nonscholars—especially those involved in ministry, faith life, and education.  Send an abstract of your paper or summary of your panel/workshop idea (no more than 300 words) and a short CV/resume to [email protected] by January 8, 2018.  Completed papers will be 15-20 minutes; full panels/workshops will be about an hour and a half each.

We are pleased to announce our conference keynote speaker will be:

Professor Julia Brumbaugh, PhD, Theology, Regis University