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Featured Voices
Meet our community!

Sarah Gallant
Sarah is our Chief Regional Officer and has attended the PNW AAR conferences for 11 years. She is an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream at the University of Toronto, and her research interests lie in Transhumanism, Post Humanism, New Religious Movements, Queer Theory, and Feminist Theory. She’s currently working on a project on ritual construction in secular settings. Her favorite paper that she’s presented at the PNW AAR is called "From Frankenstein to Furiosa: Transhumanism and Beauty in Speculative Fiction," and her favorite thing about the PNW AAR is the community. Fun fact about Sarah: she is an avid gamer that plays videogames, boardgames, and RPGs.
Norman Metzler
Norm is the co-chair of the Theology and Philosophy of Religion unit and has attended the PNW AAR conferences for over 40 years! He is professor of theology and ethics whose research interests lie in Systematic/Philosophical/Historical Theology and Ethics. He notes that his general approach to theology is from a futurist perspective. His current projects are engaged with the whole concept of universal salvation, as well as critiques of Already/Not Yet Eschatology and New Creationism. His favorite paper that he's presented at the PNW AAR is “Anticipation: Theology Meets Neuroscience,” and his favorite thing about the PNW AAR is the sense of personal engagement and collegiality at our Annual Meetings.


Itohan Idumwonyi
Itohan is our vice-president and has attended the PNW AAR conferences for two years. She is the Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Gonzaga, and her research interests focus on the intersection of religion, gender, culture, power, and inclusivity. One fun project that she is working on is called “Widowhood Succession: A Socio-Historical Study of an Emerging Trend in African Pentecostal Tradition.” Her favorite paper that she’s presented at the PNW AAR is “The Woman Called Man: A Lens into Gender Dynamics and the Weight of Inclusivity in African Pentecostalism,” and her favorite thing about the PNW AAR is the after-presentation conversations and the networking. Fun fact about Itohan: she loves to cook and create community.
Gilad Elbom
Gilad is the co-chair of the Theology and Philosophy of Religion unit and has attended the PNW AAR conferences for six years. He teaches writing and literature for Oregon State University, and his research interests lie in the Hebrew Bible, rabbinic literature, Kabbalah, semiotics, metafiction. He is also currently working on a book on psychological interpretations of cosmological narratives. His favorite paper that he’s presented at the PNW AAR is called “The Hypermasculine God: A Jungian Approach to Divine Individuation,” and his favorite thing about the PNW AAR is the collegiality, a true sense of intellectual curiosity, and a diversity of ideas and approaches. Fun fact about Gilad: he loves heavy metal.


Lauryn Stanfield
Lauryn is our Student Director and has attended the PNW AAR conferences for two years. She is currently finishing up her undergraduate studies at George Fox University, studying theology, biblical studies, and philosophy, and her research interests lie in gender dynamics in the Bible as well as lament literature in the Hebrew Bible. She is currently working on a fun project which focuses on the function of dragons in biblical lament literature. Her favorite paper that she’s presented at the PNW AAR is called “The Draconic Feminine: Leviathan as a Metaphor for God’s Feminine Rage,” and her favorite thing about the PNW AAR is the community, as well as how open and welcoming everyone is to students. Fun fact about Lauryn: as a true Coloradan, she spent several years doing competitive indoor rock-climbing.

Moshe Rachmuth
Moshe has attended the PNW AAR conferences since 2019. He teaches at Portland State University, and his research interests lie in Hebrew Bible, Psychology, Visual reception, Literary studies, and ethics. He is currently working on a few fun projects, including a book about immigration in Genesis, a book in co-operation with Tamar Hammer that looks into pairs of a foreign woman and a local woman in the Hebrew Bible, a chapter on Noa, the Israeli singer and peace activist as a religious leader, and rewriting two of his presentations at PNW AAR into chapters in a book edited by our colleague Tony Finitsis. His favorite paper that he’s presented at the PNW AAR is “Boaz’s Misunderstood Promise to Ruth,” and his favorite thing about the PNW AAR is that it is friendly. Fun fact about Moshe: he plays the ukulele, mentioning that he plays “not with good technique, but with all of my heart.”

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