2024 ANNUAL CATA MEETING & CONFERENCE
Call for Papers: “Sustaining Shared Futures”
June 14, 2024: Public Lecture & Panel Discussion
(The Church of St. Mark and St. Peter, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.)
June 15, 2024: Conference & Annual Meeting
The Presbyterian College
3495 University St., Montreal, QC H3A 2A8
Tel. 514-288-5256
www.presbyteriancollege.ca
The Executive of the Canadian-American Theological Association (CATA) welcomes
proposals for papers to be presented at our Annual Meeting to be held on June 15,
2024. The conference will be held at The Presbyterian College, McGill University,
Montreal, but it will be possible for some presenters to present remotely.
In addition, CATA will also host a Friday evening public lecture (7:30 – 9:30 p.m.) at The
Church of St. Mark and St. Peter in Montreal. Click here for more details.
This year, the CATA conference will be offered as a stand-alone conference, separate
from the Canadian Congress of the Humanities & Social Sciences, but offered at the same time and location. Consequently, enrolling in the CATA conference does not
require enrollment in Congress.
Register here if you plan to attend the Friday Public Lecture online.
Keynote Address:
The keynote address will be presented by Dr. Ashoor Yousif and is entitled: Shared Past, Shared Future: Interreligious Engagements, Socio-Political Involvements and Intellectual Partnerships of Middle Eastern Christians in Late Antiquity and Early Medieval Periods.
Dr. Ashoor Yousif is Associate Professor of Christian History at Tyndale University, where he also serves as the Assistant Dean. His teaching portfolio includes multiple universities and seminaries in Canada and the Middle East. His interdisciplinary research focuses on the history of Middle Eastern Christianity, Christian–Muslim Relations, and the Islamic World during the early Abbasid caliphate (750-950 AD). Dr. Yousif is a member of various academic societies, including the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies (CSSS) serving on its Board of Directors. He is an Assyrian-Iraqi Christian, previously a practicing biomedical-electrical engineer before shifting his focus to History and Religious Studies.
An abstract for the keynote address can be found here.
Schedule:
Gather & Refreshments: 8:30 a.m.
Initial Session (Remote, Live): 9:00–9:15: Welcome, introduction, prayer
Chapel: In-person and online
Patrick Franklin & Adrian (or Roland)
Plenary Session: 9:20–10:35
Chapel: In-person and online
Introduction of Speaker: Dr. Robert J. Dean
Dr. Ashoor Yousif, “Shared Past, Shared Future: Interreligious Engagements, Socio-Political
Involvements and Intellectual Partnerships of Middle Eastern Christians in Late Antiquity
and Early Medieval Periods.”
Break: 10:35–10:45
Morning Parallel Sessions (10:45am–12:15pm)
Parallel Session #M1: Theology & Creation Care 1
Chapel (In-person & online)
Moderator: Robert J. Dean
Jonathan Cleland, “Toward a Redeemed View of God’s Creation”
Ian Ritchie, “Dune, Lynn White Jr., & the Role of Religion in Averting Ecocatastrophe”
Jared Sittig, “Heavenly Agents and Care for the Earth”
Parallel Session #M2: Biblical Interpretation and Theological Witness
Library (In-person & online)
Moderator: J. Richard Middleton
Dustin Burlet, “Navigating Eden’s Exegetical Labyrinth(s)”
Joshua Arp, “Human Sin and the Environment: Exegesis and Apologetics”
Meg Giordano, “Truth Belongs to God, but What About Facts? – A Study in Charity and
Public Discourse”
Parallel Session #M3: Scripture and Theology
Classroom (Online presentations + In-person gathering)
Moderator: Rick Wadholm (Patrick Franklin facilitating live room)
Sarah Newman (online), “Psalm 50 as Cultic Prophecy … Revealing the Heart of Yahweh”
David Fuller (online), “Patristic Reception of Genesis 47:13–26: Was Joseph a Wise
Administrator?”
Stephen Swan (online), “Jesus, Did You Know? Christ’s Divine Omniscience and Human
Ignorance Considered in Light of the Partitive Exegesis of Gregory Nazianzus”
Lunch Break: 12:15–1:30pm
Plenary Session: 1:30–1:55pm: CATA Business Session (AGM)
Afternoon Parallel Sessions (2:00–3:30pm)
Parallel Session #A1: Ecclesiology and Ministry
Chapel (In-person & online)
Moderator: Patrick Franklin
Robert J. Dean, “Recontextualizing Contextual Preaching”
Michael Anderson, “Retrieving the Idea of ‘Great Church’ for Evangelical Ecclesiology”
Dion Gingerich, “The Theological Importance of Simplicity for Community Formation in
Early Anabaptism”
Parallel Session #A2: Theology & Creation Care 2
Library (In-person & online)
Moderator: J. Richard Middleton
Camille-Constance Curet: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Nature: The ‘Zest of Life’ amidst the Anthropocene
Taina Chan, “Christian Response to the Ecological Crises” (via Jonathan Edwards)
Christian Clement-Schlimm: “A Biblical Livity?: Food Systems, Evangelicalism, and
Rastafarian Ital Diets”
Parallel Session #A3: Theological Ethics & Practical Theology
Classroom (Online presentations + In-person gathering)
Moderator: TBD
Rick Wadholm (online), “Bonhoeffer Meets Macchia: The Pentecost of an Embodied
Christological Ethic”
Joel Tejedo (online), “Megachurches and Public Life”
Anugrah Brij (online), “Water Pollution in India: An Eco-Ethical Evaluation”
Break: 3:30–3:45
Afternoon Parallel Sessions (3:45–5:15pm)
Parallel Session #A4: Theology and the Knowledge of God
Chapel (In-person & online)
Moderator: Robert J. Dean
Chris Barrigar: “Cognitive Science of Religion and God’s Two Principles of Natural
Theology According to C. Stephen Evans”
Amanda Ross, “For the Love of the Earth: Questions of Transcendence and Difference in
God/World Relations”
Michael Brain, “Reforming the Trinity: Aseity of the Son & Calvin’s Theological Procedure”
Parallel Session #A5: Practical Theology
Classroom (In-Person & Online)
Moderator: Dustin Burlet
Matthew Lortie, “Power Brokers in Post-Christendom: The Pastor and Operative Power”
Theo Camara, “The Problematic Carbon Oligarchy: A Missiological Response”
Lee Beach, “Theological Reflection and Congregational Discernment”
A PDF version of the schedule can be found here.
The abstracts for the papers being presented can be found here.
Call for Papers:
CATA encourages submission of high-quality papers on any topic of theological
relevance to the church. Graduate students, post-docs, independent scholars, and pre-
tenured faculty are invited to submit papers for the CATA Student and Early Career
Paper Competition.
Special consideration will be given to papers that deal with the theme “Sustaining
Shared Futures.” However, topics that fall outside of the specific theme will also
be given strong consideration. The main theme, “Sustaining Shared Futures,” lends
itself to several possible sub-themes, such as the following:
- Theological reflection addressing the climate crisis / ecological concerns and
issues - Theological reflection addressing cultural and political division and polarization
- Theological reflection on the changing demographics of Canada (immigration,
multiculturalism) impacting our shared future - Theological reflection on the changing religious composition of Canada (and the
twin trends of secularization and religious pluralism via immigration) - Theological reflection on science-faith dialogue and integration
Papers for the CATA meeting should be scholarly but not highly specialized
presentations of 20–25 minutes, aimed at an audience of scholars from across the
spectrum of theological disciplines. We are interpreting “theological reflection” to
include: biblical studies; theological readings of Scripture; historical, systematic,
philosophical, moral, and pastoral theology; and theology that engages culture, the
church, and other academic disciplines. Proposals from graduate students are
enthusiastically welcomed.
Proposals should be approximately 250 words in length. Please prepare them for blind
review and submit as an email attachment, accompanied by a short CV in a separate
file. To facilitate anonymous review of proposals, please include your name, institutional
affiliation, contact information, and the title of your proposal in the body of your email.
In addition, graduate students, post-docs, independent scholars, and pre-tenured faculty
are invited to indicate “Submission for Paper Competition” in their email. Of these,
submissions that are accepted for presentation at the conference (according to the
same criteria by which all papers are accepted) will be concurrently considered for the
competition.
All proposals should be submitted electronically by March 1, 2024 to the address
below in Word or PDF format. Please entitle your email “CATA 2024 Paper Proposal.”
For those intending to enter the Student and Early Career paper competition, proposals
are due on January 31, 2024 and then finalized, full-text papers must be submitted by
March 31, 2024.
Papers chosen for participation will be notified by the end of March. The winning paper
will be published in CATA’s journal, the Canadian-American Theological Review, and its
author will receive a congratulatory monetary gift.
Email conference paper proposals to:
Dr. Patrick Franklin
President, Canadian-American Theological Association
pfranklin@tyndale.ca