Pandemic and Religion

Religion and Pandemic

Virtual Graduate Student Conference

COVID-19 has drastically altered life in almost every way, including religious life. Religious gatherings have been restricted, worship has shifted online to significantly reshaped formats,听hospital chaplaincy faces new challenges, complaints of infringed religious liberty have emerged, churches have actively subverted mask or social-distancing orders, and the future of in-person worship might be forever changed.

Join the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life for its first graduate student conference exploring the impact of COVID-19 on religion in the United States. Graduate students from seventeen institutions across the nation will present papers from multiple disciplines addressing issues arising now, in the midst of COVID's impact, as well as issues linked to past pandemics and possible future issues arising from COVID's lasting influence on religion in the U.S. context.

Date: Saturday, February 27, 2021
Time: 8:45am - 3:30pm

Registration via our website is now closed. Please send registration requests to Zac Karanovich:听robert.karanovich@bc.edu

Conference Flyer

鈥 Deborah Ann Wong, Duke Divinity School:
鈥淟iturgy in Lockdown: Expanding the Notion of Church鈥

鈥 Edmund Lazzari, Marquette University:
鈥淰irtual Catholicism?: An Anthropological and Sacramental Critique鈥

鈥 Dominic Pigneri, The Catholic University of America:
鈥淚s the Laity Non-Essential?: Clericalism and Mass Suspension for COVID-19鈥

鈥 Tyler J. Fuller, Boston University:
鈥淪ocial Distancing During the Last Supper: Catholic Emotions, Sacramental Adaptation, and Authority During the COVID-19 Pandemic鈥

鈥 David C. Quackenbos, Duke Divinity School:
鈥淟oving God and Neighbor: Reflections on Martin Luther鈥檚 Whether One May Flee from a Deadly Plague (1527)鈥

鈥 Emily Nelms Chastain, Boston University School of Theology:
鈥淭hree Simple Rules: How Birmingham Methodists Conveyed a Wesleyan Theological Framework and Reframed Their Practices to Save Lives from Both Cholera and Influenza鈥

鈥 Derek Uejo, Duke Divinity School:
鈥淢apping Martyrological Language: The Martyrdom of Polycarp and The Life of St. Francis in Conversation with American Christian Uses During the COVID-19 Pandemic鈥

鈥 Ranana Dine, University of Chicago Divinity School:
鈥淎 Portent and a Wonder鈥: Tzara鈥檃t, Leprosy, and Its Contemporary Jewish Metaphors鈥

鈥 Nick Mitchell, Loyola University Chicago:
鈥淩esponsibility鈥檚 Roots: Looking at and beyond Iris Marion Young鈥檚 Social Connection Model in the Time of Coronavirus鈥

鈥 Wade Casey, Loyola University Chicago:
鈥淧andemic and Wealth: A Theological Exploration鈥

鈥 Jack Barsody, Yale Divinity School:
鈥淐OVID, Fratelli Tutti, and the Rise of OnlyFans: How a Pandemic Has Magnified a Digital Throwaway Culture鈥

鈥 Dawrell Rich, Drew University:
鈥淢asking a Shouting People: The Impacts of COVID-19 on the Black Church Experience鈥

鈥 Lucy Ballard, Harvard University:
鈥溾楢 Scourge in Our Ummah:鈥 Wellness and Racial Liberation in U.S. Muslim Pandemic Responses鈥

鈥 Danny Ballon, Emory University:
鈥淩eligion as the Most Favored Nation: COVID-19 and the First Amendment at the Supreme Court鈥

鈥 Anthony Harrison, Boston College:
鈥淚ndividual Liberty and the Common Good: COVID-19 Orders and Civil Disobedience鈥

鈥 Leonardo D. Mendoza, Loyola Marymount University:
鈥淩eligious Liberty and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Ignoring Social Responsibility in the Name of Freedom During a Public Health Crisis鈥

鈥 Kristoff Reese Grosfeld, Princeton Theological Seminary:
鈥淩eading Karl Barth in the COVID-19 Era: What Even Is Freedom?鈥

鈥 Anna Holleman and Joseph Roso, Duke University:
鈥淐ongregational Preparedness on the Eve of COVID-19鈥

鈥 Andrew Gertner Belfield, Kelly Kossar, Laurel Marshall Potter, Elli Pripas, Boston College & Hebrew College:
鈥淏asic Human Communities: An Interreligious Alternative to Zoom Worship in the Era of COVID鈥

鈥 James P. Ferus, S.J., Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University:
鈥淩eframing Liturgical Discourse: Exploring Parish Online Programs in a Time of Pandemic鈥

鈥 Nicholas D. Sawicki, Fordham Law:
鈥淜icking & Screaming: The Catholic Church鈥檚 Innovation Problem in the Time of COVID-19鈥