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The Koinonia Forum

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What is Koinonia Forum?

The Koinonia Forum is an annual graduate conference, held each spring at Princeton
Theological Seminary, dedicated to fostering rigorous academic exchange and
interdisciplinary dialogue among graduate students from institutions across North
America. Organized and coordinated by Ph.D. students from diverse academic
disciplines, the forum provides a unique platform for participants to present their
research, engage in critical discussions, and expand their academic and professional
networks.

In addition to student presentations, the Koinonia Forum features keynote addresses by
leading scholars in Christian and religious studies. Previous keynote speakers include
Dr. Willie Jennings, Dr. Luke Bretherton, Dr. Vincent Lloyd, and Dr. Yii-Jan Lin.

Koinonia Forum 2025

*Important Update on our Keynote Speaker

We regret to inform you that Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, who was scheduled to deliver the keynote address, will be unable to join us due to unforeseen reasons.

However, we are pleased to announce that Professor Atalia Omer has graciously agreed to step in as our keynote speaker. Professor Omer is a Religion, Conflict, and Peace Studies Professor at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. She also recently served as a senior fellow and Dermot TJ Dunphy, Visiting Professor at the Religion, Conflict, and Peace Initiative at Harvard University’s Religion and Public Life program. Her research focuses on religion, violence, and peacebuilding, as well as theories and methods in the study of religion.

Theme: “Religion, Dystopia, and Reimagining Otherwise”

Keynote speaker: Atalia Omer

Title of the Keynote Address: “Weak Messianism’ in Time of Genocide: Resisting Judeo-Christian Temporalities through non-Utopian Decolonial Imagination”

Respondents: Keri Day, Mark Taylor, Mónica Rey

Dates: February 28 – March 1, 2025

Coordinators: Marah Sarji (Theology), Wing Yin Li (Theology), Ken Miyagi (History and Ecumenics), Yudai Chiba (Biblical Studies)

Call for Papers

In what way does religion play a part in forming, sustaining, overturning, and disrupting the narratives of a utopian vision of the world? How do dystopian literature or apocalyptic discourse utilize religious symbols and motifs to unsettle societal structures and categories? What are the religious, theological, biblical, historical, and ethical foundations and praxis that could constructively inform one’s ideological and material resistance in the face of dystopian desolation contoured by imperialism, settler colonialism, capitalism, neoliberalism, and environmental destruction? How do the rise of artificial intelligence and emerging technology further shape our imagination of this dystopian landscape?

The Koinonia Forum is the annual Ph.D. and graduate student conference at Princeton Theological Seminary. We invite paper proposals from current students for this upcoming conference on the theme of “Religion, Dystopia, and Reimagining Otherwise”.

Topics from all disciplines are welcome, including but not limited to:

Decolonial/Postcolonial Studies, Philosophy, Politics, Ethics, Economics, History, Comparative Literature, Practical Theology, Theology, Biblical Studies, Religious Studies, Islamic Studies, Media Studies, Art History, Sociology, Anthropology, Geography, Palestinian Studies, Race and Ethnic Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Ecology. The conference will begin with a Keynote speaker on the evening of February 28th, followed by a reception. Papers will be presented in thematic panels the following day, Saturday March 1st.

Deadline for proposals: December 15, 2024

Notification: January 12, 2025

Please submit a proposal of around 150-200 words to koinonia.forum@ptsem.edu

Download Call for Papers here.

Conference Registration & Schedule

2025 Koinonia Forum is now open for registration.

Registration is free but required for attendance. Should you plan to join our conference, please register here by February 17.

Schedule

  • 4:00 p.m. Check-in available for Erdman Center guests Erdman Center Lobby
  • 5:00 p.m. Koinonia Forum Registration Opens. Wright Library Lobby
  • 6:30–8:00 p.m. Keynote Address: Atalia Omer. Responses: Keri Day, Mark Taylor, Mónica Rey. Theron Room, Wright Library
  • 8:00p.m. Wine Reception Wright Library Lobby

  • 7:30–8:30 a.m. Breakfast. Erdman Center Lobby
  • 9:00–10:20 a.m. Panel 1. Theron Room, Wright Library
    Literature, Sacred Texts, and Dystopia
    • Allie Bass, Princeton Theological Seminary
      “Dystopia All Over Again: Using the Ancient Poetry of Isaiah to Address New
      World Crises”
    • Sarah Adegbite, Harvard University
      “Recovering A ‘Vitalist Politics’ through Sacramental Theology”
    • Beulah Gullion, Wake Forest Univeristy
      “Dystopia and Quaker Witness: Joan Slonczewski’s Vision of Resistance and
      Renewal”
  • 10:20–10:30 a.m. BREAK
  • 10:30–11:50 a.m. Panel 2. Theron Room, Wright Library
    Christian “Utopian” Visions in (Neo)Colonialism and National Policies
    • Ben Menghini, University of Toronto
      “The Book Your President Reads: Theological Speech, Neo-Colonial Utopias,
      and Postliberal Theopolitics in the Second Trump Administration”
    • Casey Smith, Princeton Theological Seminary
      “Nuclear Families: Responsible Parenthood and the Population Explosion”
    • Fellipe dos Anjos-Pereira, Drew University
      “The Falling Sky as Cosmopolitical Warfare”
    • Sangeon Kim, Princeton Theological Seminary
      “The Korean Christian Right and the Militarized Terminology”
  • 12:00–1:00 p.m. LUNCH. Wright Library Lobby
  • 1:00–2:20 p.m. Panel 3. Theron Room, Wright Library
    Apocalyptic, Disruption, Resistance
    • Karis Ryu and Hope Chang, Yale University
      “Stories from the Apocalypse: (Re)Subjecting the Asian American Body”
    • Jeffrey Ng, Harvard University
      “Religious Symbols in a Secular City: Reimagining Resistance in Hong Kong’s
      Protests”
    • Gavin Chase, Princeton Theological Seminary
      “Death and its Afterlife: Exploring Heterotopia with Womanist Christology,
      Postmortem Violence, and Ecological Re-Composition”
    • Asia Lerner-Gay, Emory University
      “Violence in Prophetic Imagery: A Postcolonial Perspective”
  • 2:20–2:30 p.m. BREAK
  • 2:30–3:50 p.m. Panel 4. Theron Room, Wright Library
    Indigenous Wisdom for Resistance and Reimagination
    • Adriana Tunliu, Claremont School of Theology
      “Sacred Landscapes, Sacred Lives: Reclaiming Timorese Identity in the Face of
      Neoliberal Dystopia”
    • Lucy Pulamau, Boston University
      “The Future With(out) Animals”
    • Emma Ceruti, University of Toronto
      “Doing and Undoing: Trickster Discourse and the Reimagination of Disability
      Theology”
    • Nathan Samayo, Princeton Theological Seminary
      “LANDBACK! Wetiko, and Settler-Colonial Psychosis”
  • 3:50–4:00 p.m. BREAK
  • 4:00–5:20 p.m. Panel 5. Theron Room, Wright Library
    Hope? Dystopia and Radical Reimagination
    • Samuel Cole-Osborn, Boston University
      “A Theology of Stochastic Hope”
    • Marisa Hulstine, University of Denver
      “Healing from “End Times” Christian Zionism: Imagining Possibilities of
      Reaching Collective Liberation”
    • Yaheli Vargas-Ramos, Drew University
      “Utopia of Liberation: Hinkelammert for diagnosing, Alves for dreaming”
    • Reyner Budiman, University of Toronto
      “Unsettling the Future: Technology, Theology, and Theopoetics in Rubem
      Alves”
  • 5:20–5:30 p.m. Closing Remarks and Announcements. Theron Room, Wright Library

Download Schedule Here.