Philosophy of Religion and War 7th ANNUAL • WEATHERFORD COLLEGE • FRIDAY & SATURDAY, APRIL 11-12, 2025

Registration and Pricing

Conference registration for Weatherford College faculty, staff, and students is free, but registration is still required (Weatherford College registrants may be required to show their school ID at the conference registration table). Registration for non-Weatherford attendees will be $40. In addition to the paper presentations and plenary sessions, there will be a Q & A dinner featuring our keynote speaker and some of our presenters at the close of the conference on Saturday. The dinner will be held at a local restaurant and will be self-pay.

Welcome to Weatherford College

We live in a time of conflict. Whether in the so-called “culture wars” fought on the fields of social media and political disagreement or the rumor of conflict between nations that threatens to boil over into full scale war like those that rage in the Middle-East and elsewhere, our global culture, it seems, is one steeped in war and its imagery. Though by no means the only factor, religion often plays a role in how such conflicts begin and (perhaps ironically?) the same religions offer hope for how they can be resolved. Are such conflicts justified or justifiable? Is peace possible? If it is, what does it reasonably look like? It is in light of issues and questions such as these that Weatherford College presents the 7th annual Philosophy of Religion Conference on the theme “Philosophy of Religion and War” on April 11-12, 2025.

My thanks to the Weatherford College administration for recognizing the potential an academic event such as this holds for our community of educators and students, and agreeing to fund this year’s conference. I also appreciate the support and encouragement of the greater Weatherford community including her faculty, staff, and students. Of particular note are President Farmer; Dr. Shannon Ydoyaga; Mike Endy, (without whose encouragement and support 7 years ago, this conference never would have begun); Scott Tarnowieckyi, Assistant Vice President of Student Services; for past and present support, administrative assistants, Debbie Alexander and Dana Orban; Dana Brewer and all of my other colleagues in the Humanities Department as well as those colleagues in my office bay. Katie Edwards from the graphics department, and all of the other support staff from the Business office to Public Relations to Graphic Design . . . you all have my deepest, heartfelt thanks. At risk of sounding the broken record, my hope for this event continues to be in hosting a respectable conference on a timely topic that would showcase the often-overlooked role of academics at a primarily two-year institution. Once again, Weatherford College has been given the opportunity to show that not only are such academic endeavors possible at an institution such as ours, but also that they can provide the means for a community college to add its diverse voice to a conversation taking place in the broader academic community. I hope you enjoy this weekend, taking advantage of the opportunity to listen and participate in that conversation.

SCHEDULE • 2025 CONFERENCE

FRIDAY, APRIL 11

• 2 p.m. - 3 p.m.: Registration & Coffee
• 3 p.m. - 3:50 p.m.: Session I
• 4 p.m. - 4:50 p.m.: Session II
• 5 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.: Dinner on your own
• 6:45 p.m. - 8 p.m.: The Arbour Memorial Lecture Series (Plenary Session I)

SATURDAY, APRIL 12

• 8 a.m. - 9 a.m.: Registration & Coffee
• 9 a.m. - 9:50 a.m.: Session III
• 10 a.m. - 10:50 a.m.: Session IV
• 11 a.m. - 11:50 a.m.: Session V
• Noon - 1:00 p.m.: Lunch on your own
• 1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.: The Arbour Memorial Lecture Series (Plenary II)
• 2:40 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.: Session VI
• 3:40 p.m. - 4:40 p.m.: Session VII
• 5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.: Banquet at Shep's

Friday, April 11

3:00 p.m. - 3:50 p.m.: Parallel Session I

Pacifism for a Godless Christian

ACAD 105

Kyle Phelps, Weatherford College student

In the latter part of his life, Leo Tolstoy developed a firm belief in pacifism, which was based on the teachings found in the Gospels. Removing all supernatural elements from the account of Jesus Christ’s life, Tolstoy developed an ethical ideal which he strived for. He in fact developed a more radical adherence to what he saw as the truth than the Christian church often has. Colm McKeogh demonstrates that Tolstoy’s conclusions reduce Christ’s teachings into an unfeeling law of nonviolence, rather than the message of love it truly was. This essay examines Tolstoy’s beliefs alongside McKeogh’s arguments to decide whether Tolstoy was justified in his reduction of Christ’s teaching.

4:00 p.m. - 4:50 p.m.: Parallel Session II

No Discharge in War

ACAD 105

Tony Custance, Weatherford College student

There is honor is honorable service, regardless of your experience. Society has been led to believe all wars are created equally. This is not true. Movies and literature have led us to believe everyone’s experience of war is the same, but not everyone who deploys experiences the same war. Society believes all veterans have been exposed to war, but this isn’t true either. Even if it were true, the individual experience would vary drastically. The reality of military service and the experience of war warrants further discussion.

6:45 p.m. - 8 p.m.: The Arbour Memorial Lecture Series - Plenary Session I

War in an Age of Bureaucracy

ACAD 104

Myles Werntz, PhD

Saturday, April 12

9:00 a.m. - 9:50 a.m.: Parallel Session III

Nuclear Deterrence for Nuclear Pacifists

ACAD 105

Zachary Akin (Florida State University)

In this project, I aim to revive and advance the philosophical discussion surrounding the ethics of nuclear deterrence by addressing two formidable arguments against its moral permissibility. The first argument turns on the plausible principle that it is wrong to conditionally intend to do that which it would be wrong to do. The second, developed by Jeff McMahan, appeals to a related and similarly compelling principle: that it is wrong to risk doing that which it would be wrong to do. I will respond to both, in defense of the thesis that nuclear deterrence is morally permissible.

Military Action in the 12th and 21st Century Levant: How the Crusades Still Influence Popular Ideas of Modern Warfare

ACAD 107

David Williams, Institute for Philosophical and Theological Research

In this paper I will explore the 12th century conflict in the Levant/Middle World that we know today as the Crusades. First by examining how a for all intents and purposes a religion based on sacrifice and turning the other cheek to one’s enemies can find war justified, second a short look at why the conflict in 1099 began, and finally how the fall of the Crusader states did not end the Crusader mindset, but elevated the crusader mindset to myth that has made its way through the ages to the current popular understanding of modern war.

10:00 a.m. - 10:50 a.m.: Parallel Session IV

Promoting the Good Life: Religious Perfectionism without Unjust Paternalism

ACAD 105

Grady Stuckman, Bowling Green State University

The state may, and should promote by way of facilitating an environment where its citizens will be disposed towards moral choices, various goods basic to human nature, including religion. Such an understanding of religion, however, is not necessarily strict adherence to a particular set of theological doctrines, but rather the set of practices that orders one’s life to the transcendent, leading to an understanding of true religion that will not doctrinally coerce. I argue that with such an understanding of religion that synthesizes both ontological and functionalist understandings of religion, one comes to see religion as clearly defined as a good but broad enough to be inclusive of pluralistic beliefs. Therefore, personal autonomy will not be violated in the natural-law perfectionist state.

War and Saintliness, Apocalypse and Reconciliation: Appositions of Emmanuel Levinas and René Girard

ACAD 107

Preston Waltrip, Tarleton State University

My presentation reads the two philosophers, René Girard and Emmanuel Levinas, side-by-side, comparing their positions on non-violence and reconciliation. I aim to extrapolate practical conclusions about how the non-violent ethics proposed by both might apply to a time in which violent conflict seems to be ever-present and endless. What ought we to do, especially as individuals, in the face of the continuous escalation to extremes that characterizes our present-day?

11:00 a.m. - 11:50 a.m.: Parallel Session V

Are Nonperfectionist Integralists Political Liberals?

ACAD 105

Caleb Hans Zimmerman, Temple University

Critics of political liberalism contend that citizens who strive to fully integrate their lives with their religious, moral, or philosophical commitments (“integralists”) cannot comply with the restraints associated with public reason. But many “nonperfectionist integralists” can exercise restraint while fully integrating their lives with commitments that do not require them to violate public reason. However, agapic pacifists and other nonperfectionist integralists cannot endorse an overlapping consensus of reasonable political conceptions as an authoritative basis for constructing and justifying state law. Nonperfectionist integralists must therefore recuse themselves from political liberalism’s constituency and occupy conceptual space external to both perfectionism and political liberalism.

1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.: The Arbour Memorial Lecture Series - Plenary Session II

ACAD 104

Myles Werntz, PhD

2:40 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.: Parallel Session VI

Man vs. Society: Narrative Theodicy and the Problem of Wartime Atrocity

ACAD 105

Keith Lindley, Dallas Theological Seminary

Of the various criticisms levied against soul-making as a potential God-justifying goodness, perhaps the most well-known is that stemming from the supposedly massive amounts of evil observed in reality. Correspondingly, toward deflecting this objection to Soul-Making Theodicy, the Narrative Theodicist implores the skeptic to examine the dramatic role of “setting” within the broader category of morally significant narrative. Alongside the previously explored relationship between person vs. nature plot conflicts and natural evil, so too does there appear to exist an epistemically necessary connection between person vs. society plot conflicts and the massive amounts of evil currently pervading human social mores.

Grief and Longing

ACAD 107

Gregory E. Trickett, Weatherford College

3:40 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.: Parallel Session VII

A Sketch of Foucault on Defanged Discourse: Auto-Anesthetizing Revelation, Prophecy, Intellection, and Intuitive Ineffability

ACAD 105

Justin Hill, Tarleton State University

This lecture explicates Foucault’s “Discourse on Language” to territorialize research on intuitive revelation [perceiving truths], prophecy [writing truths], ineffability [incommunicable truths], and intellection [enacting truth]. I move in four parts: (i) a general conception of discourse; (ii) the three exterior constraints of discourse which master power and desire, i.e., systems of exclusion; (iii) the three interior constraints of discourse which dictate its unfurling and evade chance events through the repetition of various identities, i.e., internal rules; and (iv) the four mechanisms of selection from among speaking subjects, i.e., permission, position, and appropriation. Overall, I investigate materialist revelation, prophecy, and intellection.

'Ministers of Christ . . . Encompass the Glorious Fountain of Light’: Jonathan Edwards, Robert Abercrombie, and the Ministerial Ideal

ACAD 107

Zak Tharp, Ridley College

Congregationalist Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) preached, published, and produced protégés during the transatlantic revivals known as the Great Awakening. Through one paradigmatic ordination sermon for a newly-minted Presbyterian minister, Robert Abercrombie (1712–1780), Edwards preached and published The True Excellency of a Minister of the Gospel to elaborate his mature vision of the ministerial ideal by exegeting John’s Gospel. This paper will examine how the exegesis in the ordination sermon served Edwards’s mentoring relationship with Abercrombie across ecclesiological lines, situate the mentoring relationship between Edwards and his Scots-Irish protégé in their clerical milieu and its development, and trace how these ministers could affirm the historic mode of ordination and, simultaneously, destabilize the standing authority of the clerical establishment with varying degrees of effectiveness.