Christianity, Politics, and Power: What must we do?

Beverly Wildung Harrison, the first woman president of the Society of Christian Ethics, taught that the art of Christian social ethics lay in asking critical moral questions that were answered by something we must do. Womanist social ethicist, Katie Geneva Cannon pushed this idea even further by teaching us that authentic Christian ethics results in “doing the work our souls must have.” This lesson has been dear to many who followed in her wake with the knowledge that neither the church nor the academy quite knew what to do with our bodies, our knowledge, our lives, or our hearts.  

As we prepare to gather in our nation’s capital in the midst of a rising white Christian nationalism in the US and a populist turn across the globe; as we wrestle with the implications of AI for human intelligence and well-being; and cry out for justice in the midst of protracted armed violence in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, and Yemen and beyond; as we watch capitalism succeed in creating vast amounts of wealth for the few and climate change for the many – I invite you to join me in asking critical moral questions about what we must do as Christian ethicists in the world today. 

Whether your questions are historical, philosophical, epistemological, methodological, pedagogical, applied, theoretical, or otherwise oriented – I invite you to think with Cannon and Harrison as you bring the critical questions that drive your ethical inquiry to our 2026 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. Beyond your own scholarly questions, I also invite us to think together about what we are called to do as a guild in a world where Christianity is and has been deployed to wield power, allocate resources, and control the bodies and lives of others; where the practice of religion is increasingly marginalized in the academy and in society; where academic jobs are correspondingly fewer and farther between. 

Does the world still need Christian ethics? Do we? I think so. I hope you do too. See you in DC.

Plenary Speaker: Sarojini Nadar

Dr. Sarojini Nadar holds the Desmond Tutu Research Chair in Religion and Social Justice at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. She received her Ph.D. in biblical hermeneutics and gender from the University of Natal and identifies as a transdisciplinary scholar within the fields of gender and religion with a focus on religion and social justice, spanning issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality.

Respondent: Traci West

Dr. Traci West is Professor of Christian Ethics and African American Studies at Drew University Theological School. She received her MDiv. from Pacific School of Religion, her PhD from Union Theological Seminary in NY in Christian ethics. Her work is focused on sexual, gender, and racial justice, gender-based intimate violence, and clergy ethics.

Moderator: Rebecca Todd Peters

Additional information:

Summer Meeting (Aug. 12-14) Expanded

I’m excited to share that in 2025, the SCE is piloting an expansion of our summer virtual meeting program to include the opportunity for members to present their research. Papers presented at the summer meeting will also be eligible for peer review for the JSCE. This new opportunity is being offered as one way to increase access for presentation and publication in the JSCE to our members who may find it difficult to travel to the Annual Meeting in person in January. Members who elect to present in August will have their papers reviewed in August, and considered for publication alongside the papers from the Annual Meeting in January.

With this Call for Proposals, the portal is open for submissions to both the summer meeting and the Annual Meeting in January 2026. When you submit your abstract, you will be prompted to indicate if you wish to present virtually at the Summer Meeting (Aug. 12-14), in person at the Annual Meeting (Jan. 8-11), or either. All submissions will be blind-reviewed at the same time and evaluators will have no knowledge of which meeting venue has been requested.

Call for Proposals: 

Submitting Proposals
All proposals are due Friday March 21, 2025.  Proposals that are submitted after that date will not be eligible for the summer 2025 or January 2026 meetings.  Proposals will be accepted only from members whose SCE dues have been paid.  All the relevant policies governing proposals for papers, panels, and posters are summarized in the document “Submission Guidelines” which is available on the SCE website.

Submit your concurrent session proposals here.
 

Poster Sessions
Posters that include syllabi or content for teaching and learning Christian Ethics, as well as those that include teaching Christian Ethics in non-traditional contexts, are most welcome. If your proposal is selected for this year's meeting, it will not affect your eligibility to submit paper or poster proposals for future meetings. Finally, many universities and colleges provide institutional support for those who are listed in the program as presenters, including those of poster sessions.

Submit your poster proposals here.

Submit your Interest and Working Group proposals here.

Conversation with an Author

Any member of the SCE who has a book published between January 1, 2024 and April 30, 2025 is eligible to submit his or her own book for the Conversation with an Author session. Revised or subsequent versions of a book are not eligible. Authors are responsible for ensuring that facilitators have a copy of the book. Please note that space is limited and will be assigned on a first come, first served basis .

Submit for the Conversation with an Author session here.

Call for Nominations:

Vice President and Board of Directors 

The SCE Nominating Committee is collecting a broad and diverse pool of qualified candidates to consider as potential nominees for the 2026 open Board positions. We are inviting you as members to submit nominees for consideration for the following positions.

• Vice President (four-year term as a part of the Presidential line of succession)
• Board Member (four-year term)
• Board Member - Student (two-year term)

Please use the  the online call for nominations form to submit your nomination(s). You will be able to submit the form more than once. Self-nominations are also permitted.

Deadline for submissions: Monday, March 3, 2025.

*Please note this form is behind the member wall so you will be required to login.

 
Lifetime Achievement Award 
March 21, 2025 is also the deadline for proposing names to the Lifetime Achievement Award Committee.  Click here for more information about the selection committee and the submission process. Send nominations to Emilie Townes who chairs the committee as past president of the SCE, [email protected]. 
 
Nominations for International and Global Scholars 
The International Scholarly Relations Committee (ISRC) seeks to strengthen ties between the SCE and scholars and their institutions from around the world.   

• Two subsidy scholarships are available for international scholars to attend the 2026 annual meeting that include a waiver of the registration fee as well as a $500 stipend to offset the cost of attending the annual meeting.   Applications are due Friday, August 1, 2025.
• Bring a Global Scholar to the SCE Annual Meeting. The Global Scholar receives a waiver of the registration fee, expenses up to $4000, and a guaranteed concurrent session slot. SCE members are invited to nominate scholars from around the world, notably the Global South, to be SCE Global Scholars. . Click here for additional information.

 
Meeting Location:

The 2026 annual meeting of the Society of Christian Ethics will be held January 8-11, 2026 at the Capital Hilton, 1001 16th St. NW, Washington, DC. Phone number: 202-393-1000.