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Featured Voices
Meet our community!
Sarah Gallant
Sarah is our former 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, and power. 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 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 plurality 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 since 2023. She is currently pursing her M.Div at Duke University, studying biblical lament literature and her research interests lie in beauty and lament 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 “Patriarchs, Weeping, and Child Sacrifice: The Book of Job in Dialogue with the Binding of Isaac” 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.”
Mari Kim
Mari is our Chief Regional Officer and has attended the PNW AAR conferences since 2006. She currently works in nonprofit fundraising and consulting. Her favorite part about working on the board is the opportunity to create hospitable spaces of welcome, connection, learning, and enjoyment hardworking colleagues, where they can let down their guard and be seen and known and engaged, and her favorite part about the PNW AAR is moments of community. Her favorite paper that she’s presented at the PNW AAR was something about Erotic Faithfulness and mediated through experiences of ambiguity and ambivalence. Fun fact about Mari: she doesn't always want to be around people, but she likes to see them happy.
Kristen Daley Mosier
Kristen has attended the PNW AAR conferences for several years. She is a church lady by day (parish admin, communications manager) and freelance theologian much of the other time. Her favorite thing about serving on the board is soaking in the brilliance of other women from a wide range of backgrounds and experience. Her favorite paper that she’s presented at the PNW AAR is "No-No Boys Don’t Make us Remember" for the Theology & Philosophy of Religion section (2018), and her favorite thing about the PNW AAR is that se never knows who to expect, especially for the Women + Religion program unit. We have such a wide range of research areas within the region, it is truly remarkable. Fun fact about Kristen: once upon a time, she taught English in South Korea for a year.
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