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Conference on Christianity and Literature

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Southeastern Conference on Christianity and Literature
April 19-21, 2018

Keynote Speaker:
Christina Bieber Lake

Christina Bieber Lake Dr. Christina Bieber Lake is the Clyde S. Kilby Professor of English at Wheaton College and author of Prophets of the Posthuman: American Literature, Biotechnology and the Ethics of Personhood (Univ. of Notre Dame Press, 2013). Dr. Bieber Lake is also the author of the book The Incarnational Art of Flannery O’Connor and many articles which have appeared in Books & Culture and elsewhere.

Secondary Keynote Speaker:
David S. Hogsette

David S. Hogsette Dr. David S. Hogsette is the Writing Program Director and Professor of English at Grove City College. He has authored Writing That Makes Sense: Critical Thinking in College Composition and E-Mails to a Young Seeker: Exchanges in Mere Christianity. His articles on Coleridge, Romanticism, and Frankenstein have appeared in Christianity and Literature, Studies in Romanticism, and Romanticism on the Net, and his latest book chapter exploring the prog band Rush as contemporary Romanticists will appear in the book Rock and Romanticism: Blake, Wordsworth, and Rock from Dylan to U2.

Registration Fee: $75

Register Online View Schedule


Everyone attending the conference must register. This includes undergraduates. All who attend sessions, give papers, preside over sessions, or take part in panels must register. Questions regarding registration should be directed to Roger Stanley, rstanley@uu.edu. Registration fees are $75.00 for both graduate students and faculty.

  • Pre-registration registration closes on April 5.
  • Registration fees are not refundable after April 5.
  • On-site registrants pay a $10.00 late fee.
  • Each presenter (with the exception of undergraduate students) is required to become a member of CCL. Memberships are $48.00 annually. This membership process is distinct from conference registration and is not handled by Union University (though we will check this against the national membership rolls shortly before the conference). Membership includes print and online subscription to Christianity and Literature. Do this via SAGE

Pre-Registration

Register Online Those using online registration must pay by credit card (Visa, MasterCard, or Discover). The system e-mails you a confirmation that your registration request was received. If you do not receive the expected confirmation email message, you probably are not registered. Please direct questions to rstanley@uu.edu. Please be sure that all information is complete and correct.

Payment

We can accept Visa, MasterCard, and Discover for credit card payments, but we cannot process American Express or electronic transfer of funds.

Only checks or money orders in US dollars made payable to Union University are accepted. Any checks or money orders sent in currencies other than US dollars will be returned. All charges are due at the time of registration. Receipts are issued at the conference. Mail checks to:

Roger Stanley
1050 Union University Dr.
Box 1852
Jackson, TN 38305

Pre-Registration Packets

Pre-registered attendees will find their packet of conference materials, including a receipt, available for pickup at registration in the Grant Center upon arrival.

Late Registration

Conference attendees may register upon arrival but are assessed a $10.00 late registration fee.

Refunds

Refunds for registration fees will be made only with notification of cancellation by April 5. No refunds will be made after that date.

Undergrads Only - on-campus housing in dorms for reduced fee

Please visit the link below to find Union rates for accommodations in the Jackson area.

Campus Travel Management

Theme: Of ‘Gods and Monsters’: Shelley’s Frankenstein Two Hundred Years On

The primary theme of the convention will be a celebration of the bicentennial of the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Union University itself envisions a campus-wide, interdisciplinary commemoration for the calendar year, though the focus for this conference will be, as always, on the intersection of theology and fiction. Within the Frankenstein motif, possible topics and areas of interest include:

  • Mary Shelley’s legacy in contemporary science fiction
  • Creation: Human, subhuman and posthuman
  • Narrative frames and the voice of the marginalized
  • Science, technology, and the limitations of knowledge
  • Maternity and paternity
  • Idealized vs. “monstrous” femininity
  • “Singularity” in terms of AI vs. human intelligence
  • Revisions of Frankenstein in movies/pop culture

Schedule

All conference sessions and meals held in the Carl Grant Events Center unless otherwise noted

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Thursday, April 19, 2018
6-6:45 p.m.Registration and Reception, with Dessert and Coffee
6:45-7 p.m.Introductions and Welcome
Dr. David Malone, Associate Professor of English and Department Chair, Union University
7-8:15 p.m.Session A: Grant Center 1
From the Saxons to the Victorians: An Undergraduate Journey through British Literature
Moderator: Roger Stanley, Union University
  • "The 'Bridge' Christianity of Beowulf." Hunter White, Lee University
  • "The Unexpected Monster: Chivalry and Morality in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Ariel Dinkins, Charleston Southern University
  • "The Crown Among the Thorns." Anna Brandt, Charleston Southern University
  • "Imagination, Nonsense, and Mathematics in Victorian Literature." Natalie Schuler, University of Mobile

Friday, April 20, 2018

Friday, April 20, 2018
8-8:30 a.m.Registration
8:30-9:45 a.m.Session B: Concurrent Panels
  • Grant Center 1
    "The Monster Close to Home: A Survey of Undergraduate Research at Union University."
    Moderator: Janna Chance, Union University
    • "The De Lacy Delusion: Mary Shelley in Dialogue with William Godwin." Emily Johnson, Union University
    • "Seek First Tranquility: Frankenstein and the Domestic." Lillie Salazar, Union University
    • "Double Trouble: Examining the Doppleganger in Frankenstein." Anna Cook, Union University
    • "Heroic Nature: Is There or Is There Not a Hero in Frankenstein?" Grant Weingart, Union University
  • Grant Center 3
    Creativity and Work
    Moderator: Jordan Carson, Baylor University
    • "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Dorothy Sayers' The Mind of the Maker: The Image of God and Creative Science." Laura E. Rutland, Gannon University
    • "Monsters at Work: Frankenstein, Artificial Intelligence, and Work." Jacob Shatzer, Union University
    • "Free Stones and Captive Men: The Tower of Babel and Cormac McCarthy's The Stonemason." Jay Beavers, Union University
9:45-10 a.m.Business Meeting, Grant 1
Regional Representative Carissa Turner Smith presiding
10-10:50 a.m.Union University Chapel Service with Christina Bieber Lake
Penick Academic Center, Savage Memorial Chapel
11-12:15 p.m.Session C: Concurrent Panels
  • Grant Center 1
    The Human and the Monstrous in Science Fiction and Fantasy
    Moderator: Stephen Schuler, University of Mobile
    • "The Purpose and Consequences of Male Perspective in Frankenstein." Shea McCollough, Union University
    • "The Time Travel of Liturgy in Connie Willis's Doomsday Book." Carissa Turner Smith, Charleston Southern University
    • "There Be Monsters Here": Monstrous Landscapes of the Medieval World and the Heart in Kazuo Ishiguro's The Buried Giant." Richard Rankin Russell, Baylor University
  • Grant Center 3
    Postsecular Morality and Community
    Moderator: Rich Gray, Montreat College
    • "We Are What We Love: The Education of Desire and the Origins of the Monstrous." Todd Edmonson, Milligan College
    • "Redefining Bountyland: George Saunders and the Gift of Humanity." Jordan Carson, Baylor University
    • "The Ecclesiastical Spirit: William James, Charles Taylor, and (Post) Secularism." Josh Privett, Georgia State University
12:25 p.m.Presidential Greetings, Dr. Dub Oliver, Union University
Grant Center 2
12:30-2:15 p.m.Buffet Lunch, followed by
"That Hideous Progeny: Frankenstein and Mary Shelley's Conversations with Science, Domesticity, and Romanticism." David S. Hogsette
Introduction by Dr. Janna Chance, Associate Professor of English, Union University
2:30-3:45 p.m.Session D: Concurrent Panels
  • Grant Center 1
    Frankenstein and Ethics
    Moderator: Patricia Hamilton, Union University
    • "Created Creators and Created Orders: the Ethical Downfall of Frankenstein." Abigail Thigpen, Biola University
    • "Prometheus Redicivivus: Frankenstein, Transhumanism, and Scientific Hubris." C. Ben Mitchell, Union University
    • "From the Waters of Babylon: Frankenstein, Transhumanism, and Cosmology." Ben Parks, St. Louis University
  • Grant Center 3
    Of Mystics, Redeemers, Messiahs, and Rebels: Representative Undergraduate Research
    Moderator: Carissa Turner Smith, Charleston Southern University
    • "Rebellion Against the 'Hand of God': Hawthorne's 'The Birthmark.'" Haley Tanguay, Charleston Southern University
    • "Scientific Mysticism: Victor Frankenstein's Bergsonian Vitalism." Grant Brown, Swarthmore College
    • "The False Messiah and the Signifying Monkey." Makayla Jenkins, Lee University
    • "Naming the Divine: The Redemption of Language in the Works of Roger Williams." Garrett Mikulka, Lee University
4-5:15 p.m.Session E: Concurrent Panels
  • Grant Center 1
    Good vs. Evil Within
    Moderator: Chad Schrock, Lee University
    • "The Divine Right Defined Wrong in Richard III." Mackenzie Oberndorfer, Lee University
    • "Ogres and Devils: W.H. Auden's Monsters." Stephen J. Schuler, University of Mobile
    • "Fragile and Monstrous Masculinity in David Foster Wallace's Brief Interviews with Hideous Men." Jonathan Sircy, Charleston Southern University
  • Grant Center 3
    Humanizing the Marginalized
    Moderator: Richard Rankin Russell, Baylor University
    • "The Gothic Myth in Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl." Loren Warf, Baylor University
    • "To Mean What Once We Said: Richard Wilbur Mediates 'The Fourth of July.'" William C. Tate, Covenant College
    • "Femininity, Depravity, and Dangerous Knowledge in Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna's Falsehood and Truth." Janna Chance, Union University
5:45-7:00 p.m.Banquet Dinner, Grant Center 2
Greetings from Dr. John Netland, Union University Provost
7 p.m.Plenary Session: "The Monstrous Sins of Victor Frankenstein." Christina Bieber-Lake, Keynote Speaker
Introduction by Dr. C. Ben Mitchell, Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy, Union University

Saturday, April 21, 2018

Saturday, April 21, 2018
8-8:45 a.m.Late Registration
Breakfast
8:45-10 a.m.Session F: Concurrent Panels
Skeptical Saturday I: Nineteenth Century Crises of Doubt
Moderator: Jason Crawford, Union University
  • "'A Faith Inconceivable': Mary Shelley's Early Novels in Context." Amanda Himes, John Brown University
  • "Paradise Abandoned: Frankenstein and Shelley's Literary Conception of Spiritual Death." Trevor B. Williams, Vanderbilt University
  • "Emily Dickinson's Poems on Christ." Rich Gray, Montreat College
10:15-11:30 a.m.Session G: Concurrent Panels
Skeptical Saturday Reprised: Twentieth Century Crises of Doubt
Moderator: William E. Tate, Covenant College
  • "Graceless: Science and Faith in Gabriel Marcel's La Grace." Michial Farmer, Crown College
  • "Monstrous Reformations: H. F. M. Prescott's The Man on a Donkey." Chad Schrock, Lee University
  • "'Who Do You Say I Am?' Identity and Religion in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead." Laura MacGowan, University of South Carolina