In March 2007, I presented my first academic conference paper. Still in the process of finishing coursework as a second-year doctoral student at the University of Virginia, I had submitted a seminar paper comparing Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s and John Howard Yoder’s accounts of the relationship between Christian discipleship and violence. Before giving the paper, I experienced what I suspect was a normal case of nerves. But I had prepared well, anticipating potential questions, considering possible responses, even practicing aloud.