Professor Rebecca Todd Peters presented “Beyond the Abortion Imaginary” in the Ethics section; Associate Professor Ariela Marcus-Sells presented “A New Vision” for Teaching Islam in the Pedagogy section; and Assistant Professor Andrew Monteith presented “Eugenics, Religion, and Biological Theories of Morality” in a joint History of Christianity/Religions in America section.

Five Elon students who are part of the Multifaith Scholars program at Elon presented papers from their ľĂľĂČČ research including: Ashley Burnett whose paper, “Creation and Curation: The Narrative of Festival Culture” was mentored by Lecturer Kathleen Crosby in the English Department; Claire Przybocki whose paper “Catholic Nationalism and Muslim Migrants in Poland” was mentored by Professor Brian Pennington; Bethany Marzella whose paper “Between Conflict and Coexistance: Intra-Islamic Relations in Iraq” was mentored by Associate Professor Sandy Marshall in History and Geography; Jasper Serenity Myers whose paper “’Honestly, I wish I were dead’: On Death, Desire, Divine Inspiration, and Sappho’s Poetic Perversion of Eros” whose co-mentored by Professor Kristina Meinking in Classical Studies and Professor Lynn Huber in Religious Studies; and Daniel Scheff whose paper “Mirror, Mirror: Srivaishnava Women’s Reflections of Self Through a 9th Century Hindu Saint” was mentored by Professor Amy Allocco.

Jasper Serenity Myers, double-major in Religious Studies and Classical Studies received the Outstanding Undergraduate Research Paper award for her paper on Sappho’s poetry which included original translations.

The article draws on fourteen interviews that Peters completed with women who terminated wanted, second trimester pregnancies after a poor fetal diagnosis. The deeply complex and complicated situations of women who have abortions are almost completely erased from public discussions about abortion. The politicized and hostile nature of the abortion debate combined with the stigma associated with having an abortion often means that women who have abortions are silent about their experiences.

Peters’ research seeks to both document and amplify the voices and experiences of women and families who end pregnancies. In this article, Peters focuses on the epistemological question of “how do we know what we know?” in order to examine and interrogate who and what are considered sources of wisdom and knowledge that inform our ethical thinking about abortion. Peters argues that the experiences and bodily knowledge of the people who have abortions are an essential source of moral wisdom that can help us think in more complex ways about the moral questions associated with continuing or ending a pregnancy when fetal anomalies are discovered.

While these interviews helped inform Peters’ latest book, “Trust Women: A Progressive Christian Argument for Reproductive Justice,” this article is the first in-depth analysis of this set of interviews and their focus on second trimester abortions of wanted pregnancies contributes to an under-examined constituency in the abortion debate in the US.

The deadline for applications is Monday, March 15, 2021, at 5 p.m.

We have a very generous pool of funds available be awarded against next academic year’s tuition and expenses (i.e., 2021-2022) and so we encourage all of you to apply. Professor Toddie Peters would be happy to answer any questions about the process or the application—feel free to email her (rpeters@elon.edu) at any point before the deadline.

The Auburn/CrossCurrents Research Colloquium, which has been offered for more than 30 years, brings together “fellows” (scholars of religion, sociologists, clergy, artists, activists and others) to work collaboratively on in-depth scholarly exploration of commonalities and differences. By creating an environment conducive to research, open reflection and scholarly inquiry, participants are encouraged to bridge the divide between scholarship and activism and to learn from each other by examining differing perspectives and questions that people bring from their different fields and social locations. 

This year marks the first addition of a senior scholar to the program. Peters was invited to serve in this role based on her expertise in the area of women's reproductive health, rights and justice.

At the Colloquium, fellows spend the month of July in residence in New York, pursuing individual research as well as gathering as a group for focused and facilitated discussions. 

Peters highlighted the importance of progressive religious voices in the public debate for three reasons. First, the dominant voices opposing abortion are traditionalist Christians promoting a narrow theological position that is not shared by all Christians. Second, 65 percent of women who have abortions claim a religious affiliation and so pregnancy, childbearing and abortion are important spiritual and moral issues for many people of faith. Third, with 45 percent of infants and toddlers in the country living in or near poverty and 75 percent of women who have abortions falling in the low-income/poverty range – childbearing and supporting healthy families is a justice issue for faith communities.

Faith leaders at the Convening went together to participate in the StopTheBans protest rally that was held in the afternoon at the Supreme Court.

In the chapter titled “The Mystification of Capitalism and the Misdirection of White Anger,” Peters argues that the obsession with capitalism has blinded many Americans to the ways in which neoliberal capitalism has created an increasing gap between the rich and the poor. Because this mystification disallows people from blaming capitalism for their economic and social woes, disaffected white Americans have looked around for other scapegoats. Peters argues that Trump’s appeal was largely a result of these circumstances.

The volume was edited by Juan M. Floyd-Thomas, associate professor of African-American religious history at Vanderbilt University and Anthony B. Pinn, professor of religious studies at Rice University and includes a wide-ranging set of chapters focused on examining the role of religion in the public sphere in the contemporary United States.

The lecture was based on Peters’ recent book, “Trust Women: A Progressive Christian Argument for Reproductive Justice” (Beacon Press, 2018), in which she argues “the starting point of our ethical conversation about abortion should be women’s lives” yet the problem we face in this country is “our failure to trust women to act as rational, capable, responsible moral agents.”

In addition to the lecture, Peters visited with faculty and students and was a guest in Associate Professor Christine Pae’s religion class that was reading her book, “Solidarity Ethics: Transformation in a Globalized World.”

The Goodspeed Lectureship was endowed with funds donated to Denison by the brothers Edgar Johnson Goodspeed (1871-1962) and Charles Ten Broeke Goodspeed (1869-1949), both of whom graduated from Denison in the Class of 1890. The Lectureship is named after Edgar Goodspeed, who was a scholar of Greek and the New Testament, and one of the most important American Biblical scholars of the 20th century.

After Trayvon Martin’s death and the acquittal of his killer, theologian Kelly Brown Douglas was plagued by the questions: 

“Why is it becoming increasingly acceptable to kill unarmed black children?”

“Why are they so easily percevied as a threat?”

“How are we to keep our black children safe?”

She writes, “As the mother of a black male child, I find these to be urgent questions. The slaying of Trayvon struck a nerve deep within me. After Jordan [Davis], then Jonathan [Ferrell], then Renisha [Marie McBride] I was practically unnerved. I knew that I had to seek answers. This book reflects my search for those answers.”

Please join us on Thursday to hear how Dr. Douglas answered those questions and to engage in dialogue about the crisis that continues to shape our public sphere.

This event is co-sponsored by Religious Studies; Truitt Center; African-African American Studies; Poverty and Social Justice; and the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture and Society.

Associate Professor Toddie Peters made two plenary presentations at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Poverty, Wealth, and Ecology North American Forum in Calgary, Alberta the week of Nov. 6-11.

The event is the fifth in a series of regional forums that the WCC is holding around the world to consider the intersections of between the global economy and current environmental crises. Scholars, activists, and church leaders gathered in each region to examine how these issues played out in each particular context (Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and North America).

Peters and Canadian scholar John Hiemstra were asked to help frame a North American theological context in which to consider issues of globalization, the economic crisis and environmental problems. Her presentation, “Towards a North American Contextual Theology,” helped set the stage for the week-long conversation. Peters also made a second presentation titled “Considering Solidarity Economics as a New Economic Paradigm.” This work is part of her current book project in which she is developing an ethic of solidarity.