Talks and Presentations

Refereed Papers

2022. “Popular Receptions of Historical Jesus Scholarship.” Society for Biblical Literature – Denver, Colorado.
2020. “Toward an Anthropology of Prophecy: A Case Study on Mediation, Materiality, and the Failure of Meaning.” International Association for the Study of Religion – Auckland, New Zealand (canceled due to COVID-19).
2019. “History of the Field: A Response to Russell McCutcheon.” North American Association for the Study of Religion – San Diego, California.
2017. “Critique as Horizon, Critique as Specter: Reflections from the Anthropology of Religion.” Roundtable Discussant, Society for the Anthropology of Religion – New Orleans, Louisiana.
2016. “Moving Toward a New Theoretical Framework: Exploring the Concept of ‘Lived Secularism’ in Contemporary Religions.” Implicit Religion, Denton Conference – Sarum College, Salisbury, England.
2015. “Affinity and Intimacy: Representational Economies in Jewish Affinity Christianity.” American Academy of Religion – Atlanta, Georgia.
2015. “Cultivating Rabbinical Christianity: Evangelicals, Messianics, and Redistributed Ethnic Imaginaries.” Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion – Nashville, Tennessee.
2015. “Playing Jewish in Rural Tennessee: A Case Study of Jewish Affinity Christianity and Messianic Judaism.” Southern Studies Conference – Auburn University, Montgomery, Alabama.
2014. “Placing Judaism before Jesus: Rhetorical Constructions of the Proto­Christian Other in Contemporary Evangelicalisms.” Canadian Society for the Study of Religion – Brock University.
2013. “Bible Reading and Bible Rejecting: Negotiating Discursive Identities through Biblical Criticism and Interpretations.” American Academy of Religion – Baltimore, Maryland.
2013. “The Bible and Beyond: Evangelical Material Culture, Experiencing and Exhibiting History.” Canadian Society for the Study of Religion – University of Victoria.
2013. “Experiencing the Bible and Exhibiting History: Translation and Tradition as Evangelical Affect and Material Culture.” Society for the Anthropology of Religion – Pasadena, California.
2012. “It’s Not You, It’s Me: Student-Centered Pedagogy in the Classroom.” American Academy of Religion, Eastern International Region – University of Waterloo.
2012. “Resisting the Post-Secular Public Sphere: Progressive Christianity and the Politics of Secularism.” American Ethnological Society – New York, New York.
2011. “The Cyber-Social Sanctuary: The Performance of the Christian Subject Online and In church.” American Academy of Religion – San Francisco, California.
2011. “Mining the Text: An Anthropological Exploration of the Role of Popular Biblical Criticism in Progressive Christianity.” Society of Biblical Literature – San Francisco, California.
2011. “An Artifact and an Obstacle: Anthropological Explorations of Popular Biblical Criticisms in Contemporary Christianity.” Historical Studies Prandium – University of Toronto Mississauga.

2010. “Hegemonies and Heresies for the Not-So ‘Other’: The Anthropology of Christianity in a North American Context.” American Anthropological Association – New Orleans, Louisiana.
2010. “The Academe, the Author and the Atheist: The Reception of the Study of Religion by Progressive Christians.” American Academy of Religion – Atlanta, Georgia.
2010. “‘Still, Already, Yet’: A Discourse Analysis of Temporal Adverbs in Progressive Christian Communities.” International Association for the History of Religions – Toronto, Ontario.
2009. “When the Sacred Courts the Secular: Representation, Identity and Deconversion Among Atheist Christians.” American Academy of Religion – Montreal, Quebec.
2009. “The City, the Concept and the Classroom: Teaching Lived Religions in North America’s Most Religiously Diverse City.” Canadian Society for the Study of Religion – Carlton University.
2008. “But is it Christian?: Labels and Lived Religion in Post-Christian Communities.” Canadian Society for the Study of Religion – University of British Columbia.
2007. “Tom Harpur and the Sociology of Dissent.” American Academy of Religion, Eastern International Region – University of Waterloo.
2007. “Preaching to the Choir: The Lives and Literature of Agnostic Christians.” Society for the Anthropology of Religion – Phoenix, Arizona.
2007. “Agnostic Christians and the Devolution of Theology?” Centre for the Study of Religion Graduate Student Symposium – University of Toronto.
2006. “Neo-literalism and the drive for ‘intellectual integrity’ in contemporary liberal Christianity.” Canadian Society for the Study of Religion – York University.
2006. “Constructing the Spiritual Enclave: Dispensationalism and Rapture Narratives in Contemporary Christian Fundamentalisms.” Centre for the Study of Religion Graduate Student Symposium – University of Toronto.
2005. “Progressive Christianity in Canada.” Canadian Society for the Study of Religion – University of Western Ontario.
2005. “Memories and Truths: A Discussion of Confessional Narratives in Canadian Literature.” American Academy of Religion, Eastern International Region – McGill University.

Invited Papers, Responses and Lectures

2023. Respondent, “The New Heretics: Skepticism, Secularism, and Progressive Christianity by Rebekka King: Author Meets Respondents Session.” American Academy of Religion – San Antonio, Texas.
2023. “New Books Live: Discussion on Rebekka King’s The New Heretics.” New Books on Secularism, Gender, Law, and Politics: Nonreligion in Late Modern Societies (Zoom).
2023. Roundtable Discussant, “Possible Roles, if any, of a Scholar of Religion Regarding Promotion of Public Knowledge and Understanding of Religion.” Canadian Society for the Study of Religion – York University, Toronto
2022. “Losing My Religion: Locating Gender Scripts in Deconversion Narratives.” Women’s and Gender Studies Research Series, Middle Tennessee State University
2022. “Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, and Parabiblical Literature: Doing Biblical Exegesis During the Biblical Era.” Honors College Lecture Series, Middle Tennessee State University.
2021. “The Historical Jesus in Praxis.” Society for Biblical Literature – San Antonio, Texas (canceled due to COVID-19).
2017. “Using Thick Descriptions and Ethnographic Analysis.” Construction of Christian Identities Seminar, Society for Biblical Literature – Boston, Massachusetts.
2017. “State of the Field: The Religious Studies Department.” North American Association for the Study of Religion – Boston, Massachusetts.
2017. “Memory, Representation, and Political Conflict: A Case of Buddhist Monks in Southern Thailand.” Honors College Lecture Series, Middle Tennessee State University.
2017. “An Intentional Interloper: Constructing Kinship in Jewish Affinity Christianity.” Religion Here and Now Lecture Series – Rhodes College, Memphis.
2016. Response to Marla Frederick, Gabriel Acevedo, Randy Styers, and James Spickard, “Rethinking Theory, Methods and Data: A Conversation between Religious Studies and Sociology of Religion.” American Academy of Religion – San Antonio, Texas.
2016. “Proportional Prosperity: Class, Language, and Philosemitism in American Evangelicalism.” American Religions Lecture Series – University of North Carolina, Charlotte.
2015. Response to Matt Bagger, “Of Cognitive Science, Bricolage, and Brandom.” North American Association for the Study of Religion – Atlanta, Georgia.
2015. Respondent, Religion(s) and Neoliberalism Panel, Marxist Section. American Sociological Association, Chicago, Illinois.
2015. Roundtable Discussant, Candy Gunther Brown’s The Healing Gods: Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Christian America. Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion – Nashville, Tennessee.
2013. “Performing and Analyzing Bi-national, Multireligious Civic Identities: A Case study of Toronto, Canada.” International Research Network on Religion and Democracy – Notre Dame University, Beirut, Lebanon.
2012. “Christianity after Christ: Performing Deconversion Narratives and Progressive Christianity.” Centre for Ethnography Lecture Series – University of Toronto-Scarborough.
2011. “Talking Textualities: Approaches to and Appropriations of Historical Data by Progressive Christians.” Christianities Seminar – University of California, San Diego.
2011. “Charting the Eschatological Other: A Study of Language and Identity Construction in Progressive Christianity.” – London School of Economics, London, England.
2011. Participant, The Religion and Diversity Project/Religion et Diversité Team Meeting, “Hot Spots: Exploring Sites of Contention.” University of Ottawa.
2011. “The Resolve to Disbelieve: Tracing a Genealogy of Skepticism in Canadian Protestantism.” Center for the Study of Religion and Society Lecture Series – University of Victoria.
2010. “A Faithful Heresy: Linguistic Analysis of Eschatological Adverbs for Progressive Christians.” Religion Colloquium – University of Toronto.
2010. Response to Joel Robbins, “Keeping God’s Distance: Sacrifice, Possession and the Problem of Religious Mediation.” Religion, Culture, Politics Jackman Working Group – University of Toronto.
2008. “The Gospel of Thomas and Other Gnostic Texts.” RLG241: Early Christian Writings –University of Toronto.
2008. Roundtable Discussant, “The Study of Religion in the Public Sphere.” Centre for the Study of Religion Graduate Student Symposium – University of Toronto.

Professional Development Workshop Facilitation, Papers, and Panels

2022. Panelist, “Teaching Religion on the Ground: A Profile of Teaching in Religion Departments.” Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion (online conference).
2021. Panelist, “What Can I Do With A Religion Major?: Professional Development for Undergraduates.” American Academy of Religion – San Antonio, Texas (online conference).
2021. Panelist, “Examining Why and How We Teach Religious Competency: Real World Applications.” Canadian Society for the Study of Religion (online conference).
2021. Panelist, “Writing your Dissertation.” University of Toronto, Department for the Study of Religion, Toronto, Ontario (online workshop).
2020. Panelist, “Strategies for Creating Successful Religion Programs.” American Academy of Religion (online conference).
2020. Guest Lecture, “Writing your Dissertation.” University of Toronto, Department for the Study of Religion, Toronto, Ontario – (canceled due to COVID-19)
2020. Workshop Facilitation, “Incorporating Transferable Skills in Liberal Arts and Basic and Applied Sciences Courses.” Learning, Teaching, and Instructional Technologies Center – Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
2019. Workshop Facilitation, “Navigating the Politics of Academia.” North American Association for the Study of Religion – San Diego, California.
2018. Workshop Facilitator, “Identity in the Classroom,” Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning at the American Academy of Religion, Denver, Colorado.
2018. Panelist, “Religious Studies in the Public Sphere: Public Engagement and Community-Centred Scholarship.” Canadian Society for the Study of Religion – Regina, Saskatchewan.
2017. Workshop Leader, “Digital Media and Communications.” Academic Relations and Leadership Committee, American Academy of Religion – Boston, Massachusetts.
2015. Roundtable Discussant, “Being the Change: The Civic Learning Faculty Learning Community at MTSU,” 2015 ADP/TDC/NASPA Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana.
2014. Workshop Facilitation, “Introducing Theory in the Classroom.” North American Association for the Study of Religion – San Diego, California.
2011. Roundtable Discussant, “Pedagogy for Graduate Students.” Canadian Society for the Study of Religion – University of New Brunswick.