Politics and Religion:
The Impact of Governance and Government on the Restoration Movements from 1830 to the Present
September 18-21
Independence, Missouri
Our conference in 2025 falls on the centennial anniversary of debates about supreme directional control in the RLDS church and the “Scopes Monkey Trial” on the national level. We will also be meeting at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri, at the heart of a landscape where tensions between politics and religion have had a lasting impact on the community. Papers might include church leaders’ interactions with US presidents, reactions to Supreme Court rulings, social justice issues, attitudes towards scientific developments, the role of religion in education, political demographics of Restoration religions, institutional statements of party advocacy or neutrality, and more. With politics on everyone’s mind these days, there will be plenty to debate!
We look forward to hearing about your historical research either with individual papers or as part of a panel discussion. We also encourage theological papers related to our Restoration Studies track. Please submit your 100–200-word proposals by April 6, 2025, to proposals@jwha.info.
