Common Places, Contested Spaces: Religion and Theology in Canada and Beyond
Canadian Theological Society Annual Conference 2026
Monday, June 1 – Wednesday, June 3 2026
in association with The Canadian Theological and Religious Studies Forum
St. John’s College at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Click here for paper abstracts
MONDAY, JUNE 1
All sessions will take place in Room 118 unless noted otherwise in the schedule.
Coffee will be available in the Quiet Room (Room 111) starting at 10:00
9:00-9:15 Opening Remarks: Christine Jamieson and Daniel Rempel
9:15-10:05 Individual Paper Presentations #1: Canadian Perspectives on Decoloniality
Moderator: Christina Conroy
· Hidden/Exposed Wounds and Ongoing Crosses in British Columbia: Theology at The Crossing of The Highway of Tears – Michael Morelli
· With Our Home on Native Land(s), Are We a Benevolent Good Samaritan or Global Environmental Robber?: Positionality and Ethical Responsibility in the Canadian Nation-State – Sheryl Johnson
· Decolonial Settler Theology in Canada: An Appreciation – Richard Davis
10:05-10:20 Break
10:20-11:10 Individual Paper Presentations #2: The Work of Integral Ecology
Moderator: Nick Olkovich
· Integral Ecology as Decolonial Praxis: Robert Athickal, Tarumitra, and Indian Catholic Ecological Theology – Clara A.B. Joseph
· A Sacramental and Jewish-Christian Interfaith Approach to Care for Creation: Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ and the Blessing Prayers of the Roman Catholic Mass – Warren Schmidt
· Theology, Black Ecologies, and Canadian Soil – Chanelle Robinson
11:10-11:25 Break
11:25-12:15 DEJ Session #1: Lucy Delgado (University of Manitoba): (Some) Urban Métis Connections to Ceremony, Religion, and Self
Moderator: Fiona Li
CTS is grateful to the Federation for financially supporting this initiative through the EDID Initiatives Fund Fall cycle 2025.
12:15-1:30 Networking Lunch: Daily Bread Café (included in cost of registration)
All members of CTS are encouraged to remain at St. John’s College for the networking lunch.
1:30-2:20 Member Designed Panels 1: “Theopolitics in the Era of the Witness”
Moderator: Timothy Harvie
Panelists: Anupama Ranawana, Christina Conroy, Doris Kieser, Ryan Turnbull
Respondent: Jane Barter
2:20-2:35 Break
2:35-3:25 Individual Paper Presentations #3: Resourcing and Challenging Mennonite Theology and Tradition
Moderator: Michael Buttrey
· Mennonites, Catholics, and Being a Faithful Church: Lessons from the Synod on Synodality – Mykayla Turner (student paper award winner)
· Mennonite (Trans)Masculinity in Conversation – Eliot Chandler Burns
· Re-Storying Mennonite Identity – Catherine Bergs
3:25-3:35 Break
3:35-4:25 Individual Paper Presentations #4: Embodied Epistemologies
Moderator: Christine Jamieson
· Valuing Epistemologies of the Interoceptive Body – Heather Morgan
· This is their bodies, broken for you: Feminist ecotheology and the epistemology of the broken body – Anupama Ranawana
· Embodied Liturgical Experience of Transgender Anglicans – Charlie Scromeda
5:00-6:30 St. John’s College presents the Annual Wilmot Lecture: Justin Stratis (University of Toronto): Misspeaking of God: Modern Apophaticism and the Task of Proclamation (Robert Schultz Lecture Theatre)
Reception to follow in the Galleria
TUESDAY, JUNE 2
9:00-10:10 Individual Paper Presentations #5: Ecologies and/of Relationality
Moderator: Daniel Rempel
· Relational Ruptures: Theology in Contested and Defiled Ecologies – Julianna Phail
· “Ah! There’s Bugs in my Mail”: The Contribution of an Ecological Model of Parasitism to Hermeneutics – Joshua Nightingale
· Refusing to Stand Idly By: Bystander Intervention as an Essential Theological Skill – Alice Candy
· The Common Place of Commonplace Pneumatological Superposition: What we can learn from quantum physics about the Holy Spirit and human relationality – Rob Fennell
10:10-10:30 Break
10:30-12:00 Shared Event – CSCH Presidential Address: Melody Maxwell (Acadia Divinity College), “Called to Serve: Ordained Atlantic Baptist Women, 1976 to 2024” (Room 115)
12:00-1:15 Lunch: Daily Bread Café (included in cost of registration)
1:15-2:05 Member Designed Panels 2: The Production of Theological Knowledge: Ethnographic Theology and the disruption of traditional knowledge hierarchies
Moderator: Natalie Wigg-Stevenson
Panelists: Kristen Blair; Allison Moore; Mike MacKenzie
2:05-2:20 Break
2:20-3:10 Member Designed Panels 3: Theology and Literature: Resources toward the Common Good
Moderator: Ryan Turnbull
Panelists: Paul Dyck; Murray Evans; Jason Peters
3:10-3:30 Break
3:30-4:30 Annual General Meeting
The CTS will provide a light dinner for members following the AGM.
7:00-8:30 Jay Newman Lecture: Niigaan Sinclair (University of Manitoba), “Why Jesus would wear an orange shirt: 5 calls to churches in Canada” (Robert Schultz Lecture Theatre)
The Jay Newman Memorial Lecture in the Philosophy of Religion is offered annually thanks to support from a bequest received from former president of CTS Dr. Jay Newman (1948-2007).
The 2026 Jay Newman Lecture is open to all members of the public, free of charge. Reception to follow in the Galleria, for which all are invited to stay.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4
9:00-10:10 Individual Paper Presentations #6: Contesting, Resisting, Caring
Moderator: Christine Jamieson
• Holy Spirit as Unrest – Don Schweitzer
• Awe Without Language: Care, Meaning, and Contested Space in Long-Term Care – Daranne Harris
• “Blessed Are the Silent”: Dehumanization and Resistance in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale – Jean-Pierre Fortin
• Why Virginia Woolf was Right (and Wrong): Ethical Responsibilities in the Recovery of Voices among the Privileged Minoritized in Theological Dialogue – Amanda Ross
10:10-10:25 Break
10:25-11:15 Individual Paper Presentations #7: AI and the Work of Being Human
Moderator: Michael Buttrey
· Generative AI and the Challenge of Subsidiarity (We are Muppets, not Superheroes) – Jon Coutts
· “Shut up, clanker!”: Speech ethics and the abuse of chatbots – Micah Peters Unrau
· Artificial Intelligence, Catholic Social Teaching, and the Political Theology of Digital Capitalism – Jane Barter
11:15-11:30 Break
11:30-12:30 DEJ Student Panel:
Moderator: Fiona Li
Panelists: Suraj George; Ruth Kause; Heather Morgan
12:30-1:30 Lunch: Daily Bread Café (included in cost of registration)
1:30-2:20 Individual Paper Presentations #8: Space and Place in the Hebrew Bible
Moderator: Josh Zentner-Barrett
· Contested Messages in Another’s Space: Considering the Theological Message of Amos and Micah in Times of Social and Political Unrest – Christopher Lortie
· “By Faith Samson…”: The Manosphere, The Virtue of Faith and the Figure of Christ – Caleb Upton
· Dust, Burial and Ancestors: Death as Homecoming in the Book of Genesis – Nate Wall-Bowering
2:20-2:30 Break
2:30-3:20 Presidential Address: Christine Jamieson, “Three Lodges, One Spoon: Kristeva, Lonergan, and Indigenous Spirituality”
3:20-3:30 Closing Remarks