| S22-239 The Hermeneutics of Participation: Missional Interpretation of Scripture and Readerly Formation, by Greg McKinzie (Cascade, 2025) 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM 11/22/2025 Liberty B (Second Floor) Sheraton Amanda Pittman, Abilene Christian University, Presider Greg McKinzie, Abilene Christian University, Introduction Michael Barram, Saint Mary’s College of California, Panelist John Franke, Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena), Panelist Bo Lim, Seattle Pacific University, Panelist Jayne Wilcox, Ashland Theological Seminary, Panelist Greg McKinzie, Abilene Christian University, Respondent |
| P23-119s Exploring Trauma-Informed Missional Hermeneutics 9:00 AM to 11:30 PM 11/23/2025 208 (Second Level) Hynes Convention Center How can a liberating ethic guide missional hermeneutics, in light of the realities of trauma? Inherent in colonial approaches to mission, trauma also distorts hermeneutics. In this interactive session, three presenters will explore possibilities for trauma-informed missional hermeneutics by considering what is at stake in attending to trauma in the missional interpretation of scripture, envisioning what trauma-informed missional hermeneutics might look like, and suggesting possible methods, implications and outcomes of trauma-informed missional hermeneutics. After each presentation, attendees will discuss a related biblical text chosen by the presenter in order to explore approaching missional hermeneutics informed by an awareness of trauma. Sarah Ann Bixler, Eastern Mennonite University, Presider Jennifer Aycock, James Madison University, “Empire, Proximity, and the Death of Whiteness” David Evans, Eastern Mennonite University, “Black Theology and Political Hermeneutics” Kimberly Penner, University of Alberta, “Ending Cycles of Violence: God’s Desire for Healing and Justice” |
| P23-236s Putting on Our Blue Jeans: Converting Missional Imagination into Embodied Discipleship for Grassroots Social Change (A Workshop Session with Drew Hart) 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM 11/23/2025 208 (Second Level) Hynes Convention Center This interactive session, led by Drew Hart (Messiah University), invites participants to wrestle with what it means to participate in God’s purposes and follow Jesus through social change praxis—in the aftermath of Western Christendom, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, and colonial plunder, while considering the racial injustice and material inequities that persist in our neighborhoods and broader society. Drawing from and extending some streams within missional hermeneutics scholarship, this workshop will move from theological and hermeneutical emphases calling for participation in God’s liberating activity in the world (as theory) to considering some ecclesial strategies for grassroots social change (as praxis). Here, God’s purposes are embodied through a decolonial and grassroots lens, where discipleship can be concrete, communal, yet strategic. An underlying assumption will be that reading Scripture while looking for God’s purposes ought to disrupt ecclesial status quo posturing on the ground and instead gesture us towards participation in local, regional, national, and/or global struggles for justice and repair. Drawing on personal stories, theo-ethics, scriptural reasoning, social analysis, and social change theories, this session will consider how communal practices of nonviolent resistance, community organizing, mass protests, and other forms of social change are faithful and necessary responses to the call of Jesus. Drew Hart, Messiah University, Presider Michael Barram, Saint Mary’s College of California, Introduction |
The Forum on Missional Hermeneutics 