1. BIBLICAL STUDIES

Conveners: Bruce Birch & Richard Thompson

Presentations:

Appler, Deborah. “Working for the Common Good: Joseph and Pharaoh’s Relationship as an Example of Interfaith and Secular Cooperation.”
Bidnell, David. “Patrons and Clients.”
Birch, Bruce C. “Insiders, Outsiders, Adversaries and Allies: David’s Retreat and Return in 2 Samuel 15:1–16:14; 19:9–43” (published in Sacred Spaces: The E-Journal of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors 9 [2017].
Bowen, Nancy R. “Encounters with/in the Biblical Text and Today.”
Day, Linda. “Relationships across Difference in Early Jewish Narratives.”
Ferrer, Pablo Manuel. “Romans 12–15 as a Communitarian Reflection on Subjectivities.”
Grinter, Thomas. “The Joseph Story and Interfaith Dialogue in Black Churches.”
Harland Davies, Catrin. “Being, Becoming and Behaving: Developing Christian Identity and Chaplaincy in a Plural World.”
Howe, Chrissie. “‘Life in All its Fullness’: Irenaeus’ Transformative Theology within a Methodist Framework.”
Samuel, Calvin T. “‘Pursue peace with everyone and the holiness without which none shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14).’ Do Wesleyans Read Scripture through the Lens of the Book of Hebrews?”
Shin, SuJung. “A ‘Polyphonic Hero’ David as the ‘Unfinalizable Other’: Rereading the Story of David outside of a Structured System of Language in the Books of Samuel.”
Thompson, Richard P. “Making/Taking Her Place in the World: The Church among Others in Acts 16–19.”
Tong, Sin Lung. “Uncanny World, Uncanny Self: Re-imagining the Encounters with the Gibeonites (Joshua 9–10), the Sleepers and the Mainlanders through the Lens of Homi K. Bhabha.”
Winslow, Karen Strand. “Enfolding Others: Social Holiness in the Bible and Biblical Interpretation” (published as “Welcoming Strangers: Social Holiness in the Bible and Biblical Interpretation,” in N. Crawford, et al., eds., Holy Imagination: Thinking About Social Holiness [Lexington, KY: Emeth Press, 2015], 5–20).
Works, Carla Swafford. “Slave of Christ, Slave to All: Lessons from the Apostle Paul.”

Other Participants/Responders in Group:

Anderson, Cheryl (gave plenary address)
Sembiring, Jonsen

2. WESLEY/METHODIST HISTORICAL STUDIES

Conveners: Russell Richey & Ulrike Schuler

Presentations:

Anderson, Christopher J. “Making Muslims: American Methodists and the Framing of Islam” (published as “Making Muslims: Framing Islam in the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,” Methodist History 54 [2016]: 117–34).
Bruno, Daniel A. “The Alliances of Methodism to Defeat the Old Colonial Order Related to Church and State in Argentina, 1880–1890” (published as “Mission Outside the Walls: The Alliances of Methodism to Defeat the Old Colonial Order Related to Church and State in Argentina, 1880–1890,” Methodist History 52 [2014]: 197–206).
Coitinho Machiarena, Mirtha Elizabeth. “When History Teaches Us to think Theologically: The Case of the Methodist Church in Uruguay.”
Collins, Kenneth J. “John Wesley’s Engagement with Islam: Exploring the Soteriological Possibilities in Light of a Diversity of Graces and Theological Frameworks” (published in The Path of Holiness, Perspectives in Wesleyan Thought in Honor of Herbert B. Mcgonigle, edited by Joseph Cunningham [Lexington, KY: Emeth Press, 2014], 175–96).
Dickerson, Dennis C. “Methodism, Pacifism, and Gandhian Nonviolence in the Civil Rights Movement: The Principles and Praxis of James M. Lawson, Jr.” (published as “James M. Lawson, Jr.: Methodism, Nonviolence, and the Civil Rights Movement,” Methodist History 52 [2014]: 168–86).
Forsaith, Peter S. “Adam Clarke: Wesleyan Syncretist?”
Khawsiama, Khin Maung Yee. “John Wesley’s View of Salvation as Liberation: A Perspective of Dukkha-Ridden People in Myanmar Context.”
Kisker, Scott. “Methodist Abroad: Matthew Simpson and the Emergence of American Methodism as a World Church” (published in Methodist History 53.1 [2014]: 4–20).
Lau, Sie-Ngiu (Thomas). “Wesleyan Communities and the World Beyond Christianity.”
Lunn, Julie. “Becoming Truly Human: Charles Wesley’s Understanding of Sanctification as Human Maturity and its Implications for 21st Century Ministry.”
Maddox, Randy L. “‘Anticipate Our Heaven Below’: The Emphatic Hope and Abiding Tone of Charles Wesley’s Eschatology” (published in Proceedings of the Charles Wesley Society 17 [2013]: 11–34).
O’Brien, Glen. “Methodist Encounters with Other Religious Traditions in ‘The Southern World’” (published in Australian Journal of Mission Studies 8:1 [June 2014]: 42–52).
Potter, Claire. “The Influence of Danish Missionaries to India on Susanna Wesley’s Methods of Education and Inspiration, and the Subsequent Influence on John Wesley” (published in Methodist History 52 [2014]: 148–67).
Prakash, P. Surya. “Karimnagar Diocese 133 Years and Beyond: Church of South India Karimnagar Diocese, A Story of Transformation (1879–2012).”
Renders, Helmut. “The Wesleyan Religio Pectorum in its Relation to the Brazilian ‘Cordial’ Religion: Between Adaption to the Dominant Cultural Matrix and thorough Enculturation.”
Schuler, Ulrike (and Paul W. Chilcote). “Methodist Bible Women in Bulgaria and Italy” (published in Methodist History 52 [2014]: 94–113).
Streiff, Patrick P. “John William Fletcher’s Shaping of Wesleyan Theology in its Approach Beyond Christianity” (published in Methodist History 52 [2014]: 78–93).
Wellings, Martin. “‘A Much-Needed Tract for the Times’ or ‘An Extremely Dangerous Book’?: James Hope Moulton’s Religions and Religion (1913)” (published in Studies in Church History 51 [2015]: 322–33).

Other Participants/Responders in Group:

Abrahams, Ivan
Campbell, Ted
Cape, Kim
Gibson, William (gave plenary address)
Macquiban, Tim
Williams, Robert

3. THEOLOGY AND ETHICS

Conveners: Dion Forster & Sergei Nicolaev

Presentations:

Anderson, Sheryl. “Towards a Methodist Theology of Marriage in the 21st Century.”
Bentley, Wessel. “Prophetic Witness: The Role of the Church in Building a Better South Africa” (published as “Methodism and Transformation in South Africa: 20 years of Constitutional Democracy,” (HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 70, No 1 [2014]
Bryant, Barry E. “Wesleyan Communities and the World Beyond Christianity: ‘Kairos Palestine: A Moment of Truth for Methodists’?”
Corbin, Christopher. “Wesley Unplugged: A Wesleyan Evaluation of the Digital Media Revolution.”
Dube, Jimmy G. “‘When They Slay Me Tomorrow, Please Bury Me Here Next to My Brother’: African Spirituality as Subversive Memory.”
Field, David N. “The Prevenient and the Penultimate: Towards a Methodist Theology of the Political for Twenty-First Century.”
Forster, Dion. “God’s Kingdom and the Transformation of Society.” Published in Dion Forster and Wessel Bentley (eds). Between Capital and Cathedral: Essays on Church-State Relationships, 77–92. Pretoria: University of South Africa, 2012.
Hill, Matthew N. “A Point of Commonality: How the Wesleyan Concept of Perfection Connects to Sociobiology” (developed into book: Evolution and Holiness [Downer’s Grove, IL: IVP-Academic, 2016]).
Ilesanmi, Simeon O. “Wesleyan Social and Political Ethics in the Age of Globalization: A Comparative Study from an African Perspective.”
Loyer, Kenneth M. “Dignity, Justice, and Flourishing within the Human Family: Methodist Theology and the Enrichment of Public Discourse and Life” (published in Wesleyan Theological Journal 49.2 [Fall 2014]: 170–86).
McBratney, Sam. “Significantly Ordinary: A Reappraisal of Wesleyan Social Ethics in the 21st Century.”
Meeks, M. Douglas. “Wesleyan Contributions to Life with Other Religions.”
Nascimento, Amos. “Wesleyan Theology and Methodist Education in a Postsecular Society”
Nausner, Michael. “In Which Way Should the World Still Be Our Parish? Toward a Postcolonial Wesleyan Theology of Migration.”
Ochoa Lonji, Jorge Alberto. “Guidelines Featuring Wesleyan Theology, a Damaged Society to Rebuild.” (English). “Pistas que ofrece la Teología Wesleyana para reconstruir una sociedad deteriorada.” (Spanish)
Oviedo, Pablo Guillermo. “A Globalised and Fragmented World is my Parish: Ecumenical and Political Challenges Facing our Wesleyan Theology.” (English) “Un mundo globalizado y fragmentado es mi parroquia”. Desafíos ecuménicos y políticos a nuestra teología wesleyana. (Spanish)
Park, HiRho Y. “Practices of Ministerial Leadership of Korean-American United Methodist Clergywomen: Toward a Wesleyan Ecclesiology in a Global Context.”
Park, Jong Chun. “A New Reading of the Story of Atonement in Dialogue with Julia Kristeva’s Maternal Semiology of the Abject / the (M)other.”
Reisman, Kimberly D. “Restorative Witness—Evangelism and Reconciliation: A Wesleyan Theological Exploration.”
Thaarup, Jørgen. “Wesleyan Communities and the World Beyond Christianity.”
Wheeler, Sondra. “Wesleyan Precedents for Regarding, Honoring, and Collaborating with People Outside Christian Faith, and with Structures and Institutions that are Secular in Nature.”

Other Participants/Responders in Group:

Blake, Chris
Josgrilberg, Rui de Souza (gave plenary address)
Lancaster, Sarah
Lord, Gerald D.
Wood, Andrew

4. PRACTICAL THEOLOGY

Conveners: Karen Westerfield Tucker & Robin Knowles Wallace

Presentations:

Albin, Tom. “The Spiritual Vision and Mission of E. Stanley Jones, Evangelist.”
Caygill, Mary. “The Trouble with Normal: What Difference Does a Theology of Disability Make?”
Cope, Rachel. “The Sanctifying Nature of Religious Dreams and Visions.”
Jebanesan, Albert Wilfred. “The Context of Theological Education and Ministerial Formation in Sri Lanka: Some Challenges.”
Knowles Wallace, Robin. “‘Universal Redemption’ and ‘Catholic Love’.”
Lowry, J. Michael. “Answering the Why: Reclaiming the Past for the Future.”
Manskar, Steven W. “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself: Holiness of Heart and Life as Precursor to Interfaith Dialogue.”
Mellor, G. Howard. “Holiness and Harmony: A Wesleyan Recipe for Contemporary Spirituality from the Perspective of Hong Kong, China.”
Nyengele, M. Fulgence. “African Spirituality and the Wesleyan Spirit: Implications for Spiritual Formation in a Multicultural Church and Culturally Pluralistic World.”
Oliveto, Karen P. “A Jew, a Buddhist and an Atheist Walk into a Methodist Church ….”
Orton, Andrew (and Todd Stockdale). “Missional Engagement? The Practical Theology and Ethics of ‘Good Practice’ for Deacons in the Methodist Church in Britain” (published as “The Contemporary Nature of Diaconal Ministry in British Methodism: Purposes and Processes of Good Practice.” Theology and Ministry 2.4 [2013]: 1–19; and incorporated into Making Connections: Exploring Methodist Deacons’ Perspectives on Contemporary Diaconal Ministry [Durham: Sacristy Press, 2014]).
Peterson, Brent. “Life Through Denial: A Comparison of the Holy Seasons of Jewish Teshuvah and Yom Kippur, Christian Lent, and Islāmic Ramadan.”
Phillips, L. Edward. “Risky Food and Eucharistic Hospitality: What Should Christians Tell Adherents of Other Religions about Participation in Holy Communion?”
Sanders, Shaun. “The Baptismal Liturgy as a Tool for Mission and Engagement: A Discussion with the British Methodist Worship Book 1999.”
Simeone, Maria Inés. “A Glance into Liturgy and Worship in an Interreligious Group in Uruguay Today.”
Siuhengalu, Tevita M. “Living the 2nd Commandment in a Multi-cultural Context.”
Smith, Kathy. “Mental Health: The Hidden Community.”
Thaarup, Charlotte. “How Can Christian Spiritual Practices Engage with Spiritual Practices of Non-Christian Communities?”
Tucker, Karen B. Westerfield. “The Trinitarian Shape of Methodist Worship and Interfaith Liturgical Participation.”
Withrow, Lisa. “Seeking Meaningful Discourse through Disruption of the Center/Margin Dichotomy.”

Other Participants/Responders in Group:

Maenzanise, Beauty (gave plenary address)

5. MISSIONS AND EVANGELISM

Conveners: Stephen Gunter & Phil Meadows

Presentations:

Bounds, Christopher. “Wesleyan Eschatological Implications for the Church’s Engagement with Other Religions” (published in Aldersgate Papers: Theological Journal of the Australasian Centre for Wesleyan Research 11 [June 2015]: 10–32).
Carter, Kenneth H. Jr. “‘God Hath Bid All Humankind’: Generous Orthodoxy and Our Mission with Gay and Lesbian Persons in the United Methodist Church.”
Cox, Joanne. “Challenging Leadership: A Methodist Perspective on Fresh Expressions Today.”
Eberhart, Timothy R. “Sustaining the Planetary Household: Methodist Contributions to an Ecological Economy.”
Gunter, W. Stephen. “China: A Case Study in ‘The Second Coming of World Christianity’.”
Hartley, Benjamin L. “‘For the Relief of Human Suffering’: The Methodist Committee for Overseas Relief in the Context of Cold War Initiatives in Development, 1940–1968” (published in Methodist Review 6 [2014]: 27–68).
Heath, Elaine A. “Welcoming the Stranger: A Case Study of New Day Communities in Dallas, Texas.”
Jackson, Thomas (“Jack”). “Methodism at the Round Table: E. Stanley Jones’s Practice of Conversations with Non-Christian Communities as a Model for Wesleyan Mission in a Plural World.”
Jones, Arun W. “Methodists Encountering North Indian Religions in the 19th Century.”
Meadows, Philip. “Mission-Shaped Discipleship in a Virtual World.”
Oden, Amy G. “‘Engaging Non-Christians Seriously and Constructively’: Academic Inquiry as Means of Grace.”
Pope-Levison, Priscilla. “Fissures in Chicago Methodism in the Progressive Era: Three Mission Strategies.”
Poultney, David. “Becoming More Vile: The Possibilities of a Strategy of Intentional Displacement for Methodist Missions.”
Souza, José Carlos de. “‘I have no authority from the Word of God to judge those without’: Religious Plurality in Wesleyan Perspective.”
Stone, Bryan. “Competing for Space in the World: Evangelism and Narratives of Pluralism” (incorporated as a chapter in The Ethics of Evangelism: Christian Witness in Pluralistic Contexts (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2017).
Wesley, Cindy. “Migrants and Mission: Understanding Issues of Culture and Identity in Migrant Communities.”
Wingeier-Rayo, Philip. “A Wesleyan Theology of Missions: A Re-Reading of John Wesley through his Encounters with People of Non-Christian Faiths.”

Other Participants/Responders in Group:

del Rosario, Romeo
Mulrain, George
Skuce, Stephen (gave plenary address)

6. ECUMENICAL AND INTERRELIGIOUS

Conveners: Gillian Kingston & Robert Gribben

Presentations:

Chapman, David. “Receptive Ecumenism and Interreligious Relations: What can Methodists Learn from Roman Catholic Teaching on Interfaith Dialogue?”
Charlton, Matthew W. “Sharing Space: Philosophical, Theological, and Wesleyan Resources for Sharing Sacred Space amongst the Religions.”
Clutterbuck, Richard. “A Reason to Believe: How Does the Wesleyan Theological Tradition Contribute to a Contemporary Defence of Christian Faith?”
Colón-Emeric, Edgardo A. “‘All the people of the world are human’: The Indigenous Question, Wesley, and Las Casas.”
Dharmaraj, Glory E. “Edinburgh 1910 World Missionary Conference and Edinburgh 2010 Compared with Specific Focus on Interfaith Relations.”
Gribben, Robert. “Faith and Unity in the World Methodist Council: An Issue of Ecumenical Integrity.”
Henry-Crowe, Susan T. “Chaplaincy in a Multi-Faith World: A Case Study.”
Kingston, Gillian. “The Notion of Covenant as Ecumenical Instrument” (published as “Covenant as Ecumenical Instrument,” in Paul McPartland and Geoffrey Wainwright, eds., Oxford Handbook on Ecumenics [Oxford University Press, 2017]).
Lee, Peter K. H. “Creation Renewed: Heaven-Earth-Humanity. A Journey in Wesleyan-Orthodox-Confucian Theological Interculturation.”
Mahendran, Arumugam Rajaretnam. “Co-operating rather than Conquering: The Importance of Interreligious Dialogue from an Asian perspective.” (paper not posted)
Meade, Joan Delsol. “Methodist Education and Sociopolitical Development in Montserrat.”
Moore, Mary Elizabeth. “Encountering Difference: A Life-Giving Methodist Theology.”
Numrich, Paul D. “The United Methodist Church’s Struggle with Evangelism in Its Approach to Other Faith Communities.”
Sano, Roy I. “How Do You Expect Me to be a Christian without being a Buddhist?”

Smith, Jennifer H. “Buildings and Breaking: Holiness, Methodist Identity, and Interfaith Awareness in Contemporary Southall, London.”
Steinwert, Tiffany L. “A Legacy of Holiness: Toward a Wesleyan Praxis of Interreligious Engagement in Higher Education.”
Tan, Malcolm T. H. “Wesleyan Resources for a Dangerous Inter-Faith World: Making the Case for Evangelical Peace Making—A Singaporean Methodist’s Perspective.”
Voigt, Christof. “Christianity beyond Secularism.”
Wainwright, Geoffrey. “‘The Church: In and For the World’: A Wesleyan and Methodist Reading of the WCC Faith and Order Convergence Document ‘The Church: Towards a Common Vision’ (2012–13).”

Other Participants/Responders in Group:

Sembiring, Jonsen
Shastri, Hermen (gave plenary address)
Stubbens, Neil Adrian
Thompson, Bruce