Category Archives: Calls for Papers

Call for Abstracts – Religion in Contexts

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Call for Abstracts


Religion in  Contexts

-Handbook of the Sociology of Religion-



We are inviting for outline abstracts of 500 words by 30.9.2016 to each editor.

For further information see the annexed file please.


Melanie Reddig, Düsseldorf/ Annette Schnabel, Düsseldorf/ Heidemarie Winkel, Bielefeld

It is the aim of the volume to collect contributions that contextualise religions in their worldwide multiplicity, their particular societal configurations and their dynamics of social transformation. We want to understand religion as a multi-dimensional concept comprising of religious beliefs, world views and practices as well as the richness of religious groups, parishes, organisations and professions characterized by varying hierarchical relations, norms and values systems of societal range. Additionally, religion is also relevant from a macro-perspective as a category of social belonging and social difference; this includes institutional settings as well as social teachings and the religious bodies of knowledge.

At large, the volume will gather and systematically discuss a wide range of contexts and their varying influences on religion. On the basis of selected empirical data, the contributions shall reveal the social mechanisms and processes by which religion is shaped, realised and made salient. By this, the volume will provide a theoretical reconstruction of varying social effects in various societal contexts and a critical input to the up-to-date sociology of religion. This includes the analysis of interdependencies with other social fields like politics or science as well as the intersection with other social categories of difference like gender, race or age.

We are looking for manuscripts that locate religion in spatial, functional and societal contexts: (i) spatial contexts may comprise of global, regional or local environments that influence the relationship between religion and society. (ii) Functional contexts may relate to law, politics and economics but also to social inequalities and social identities. (iii) Societal contexts are practice- and interaction-related and embedded in everyday life on the micro-level; they endorse organisations, networks and their hierarchical order on the meso-level and relate to societal discourses, world views, and values on the macro-level.

Our explicit aim is to emphasise the so far neglected perspective on religion arising from culturally and socially structured phenomena–religion in this regard is understood as neither ‘quasi-naturally’ given nor as a necessarily antecedent and independent category. By this, we want to question Eurocentric perspectives in the sociology of religion and instead, search for alternative accesses to compare religions and contribute to a better understanding of the social mechanisms that make (and maintain) religions salient.

Projected structure:

 

(I) Introduction: Contextualising religion

(II) Religion in spatial contexts

Global contexts

Regional contexts

Local contexts

(III) Religion in social contexts

Religion and its political context

Religion and its legal contexts

Religion and contexts of economy and social inequality

Religion and its contexts of identity

(IV) Religion and the levels of inquiry

Religion in the context of everyday life

Religion in the context of organisations, networks and hierarchies

Religion in the context of structure and culture

The volume will be published by NOMOS end of 2017. Manuscripts should be submitted by 31.03.2017.

We are inviting for contributions of up to 30.000 characters (including bibliographical indications). We very much appreciate your acceptance. Initially, please submit an outline abstract of 500 words by 30.09.2016 to each editor:

 

Melanie Reddig: reddig@phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de

Annette Schnabel: annette.schnabel@uni-duesseldorf.de

Heidemarie Winkel: heidemarie.winkel@uni-bielefeld.de

Call for Abstracts – Religion in Contexts

Posted on by

Call for Abstracts

Religion in Contexts

-Handbook of the Sociology of Religion-

                                                                                          We are inviting for outline abstracts of 500 words by 30.09.2016 to each editor.

                                                              Melanie Reddig, Düsseldorf/  Annette Schnabel, Düsseldorf/ Heidemarie Winkel, Bielefeld

It is the aim of the volume to collect contributions that contextualise religions in their worldwide multiplicity, their particular societal configurations and their dynamics of social transformation. We want to understand religion as a multi-dimensional concept comprising of religious beliefs, world views and practices as well as the richness of religious groups, parishes, organisations and professions characterized by varying hierarchical relations, norms and values systems of societal range. Additionally, religion is also relevant from a macro-perspective as a category of social belonging and social difference; this includes institutional settings as well as social teachings and the religious bodies of knowledge.

At large, the volume will gather and systematically discuss a wide range of contexts and their varying influences on religion. On the basis of selected empirical data, the contributions shall reveal the social mechanisms and processes by which religion is shaped, realised and made salient. By this, the volume will provide a theoretical reconstruction of varying social effects in various societal contexts and a critical input to the up-to-date sociology of religion. This includes the analysis of interdependencies with other social fields like politics or science as well as the intersection with other social categories of difference like gender, race or age.

We are looking for manuscripts that locate religion in spatial, functional and societal contexts: (i) spatial contexts may comprise of global, regional or local environments that influence the relationship between religion and society. (ii) Functional contexts may relate to law, politics and economics but also to social inequalities and social identities. (iii) Societal contexts are practice- and interaction-related and embedded in everyday life on the micro-level; they endorse organisations, networks and their hierarchical order on the meso-level and relate to societal discourses, world views, and values on the macro-level.

Our explicit aim is to emphasise the so far neglected perspective on religion arising from culturally and socially structured phenomena–religion in this regard is understood as neither ‘quasi-naturally’ given nor as a necessarily antecedent and independent category. By this, we want to question Eurocentric perspectives in the sociology of religion and instead, search for alternative accesses to compare religions and contribute to a better understanding of the social mechanisms that make (and maintain) religions salient.

Projected structure:

 

(I) Introduction: Contextualising religion

(II) Religion in spatial contexts

Global contexts

Regional contexts

Local contexts

(III) Religion in social contexts

Religion and its political context

Religion and its legal contexts

Religion and contexts of economy and social inequality

Religion and its contexts of identity

(IV) Religion and the levels of inquiry

Religion in the context of everyday life

Religion in the context of organisations, networks and hierarchies

Religion in the context of structure and culture

The volume will be published by NOMOS end of 2017. Manuscripts should be submitted by 31.03.2017.

We are inviting for contributions of up to 30.000 characters (including bibliographical indications). We very much appreciate your acceptance. Initially, please submit an outline abstract of 500 words by 30.09.2016 to each editor:

 

Melanie Reddig: reddig@phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de

Annette Schnabel: annette.schnabel@uni-duesseldorf.de

Heidemarie Winkel: heidemarie.winkel@uni-bielefeld.de

Invitation to the Oxford Symposium on Religious Studies, 5, 6 & 7 December 2016

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We are pleased to invite you to participate in the Oxford Symposium on Religious Studies. Registration for our Fall Session (5, 6 & 7 December) is now open. The meeting will be held at The Old Library in the Oxford University Church of St Mary.  Constructed in 1320, The Old Library is the first university (as opposed to college) building in Oxford and therefore uniquely important; this is where the nascent University began.

The sessions will be hosted by Canon Brian Mountford MBE, Vicar of St Mary’s. Dr. Mountford is a Fellow and Chaplain of St Hilda’s College in the University of Oxford.

You are invited to present a paper on an aspect of religious studies, or you may wish to attend as an observer. The symposium is inter-disciplinary and has a broad-based theme.

The deadline for proposals is 14 November.

The regular registration deadline is 16 November. (Early Registration is 10 October and is £60 less than the regular registration fees).

For more information visit our website Oxford Symposium on Religious Studies

CFP Deadline Extended: Open Theology – Alternative Religiosities

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Dear colleagues,

for those who have been planning submission of their works for the topical issue of Open Theology journal:

Editors have received requests regarding possible extension of the deadline for the article submission, so it has been decided on the updated official deadline – July 20. 

Best,

Dr. Rasa Pranskevičiūtė

Vytautas Magnus University

CALL FOR PAPERS

for the topical issue of Open Theology journal

Alternative Religiosities in the Soviet Union and the Communist East-Central Europe:

Formations, Resistances and Manifestations

Open Theology (http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/opth) invites submissions for the topical issue “Alternative Religiosities in the Soviet Union and the Communist East-Central Europe: Formations, Resistances and Manifestations”, under the general editorship of Dr. Rasa Pranskevičiūtė and Dr. Eglė Aleknaitė (Vytautas Magnus University).
DESCRIPTION

After the boom of traditional religions (i. e. prevailing national religions or those that have a relatively long history in a particular country) and alternative religious movements (i. e. religious movements that offer an alternative to the traditional religion(s) in a particular country) in post-communist/post-socialist countries, the religion(s) of this area have gained increasing scholarly attention. Research on the religious situation during the prior communist/socialist period is primarily focused on restrictions placed on traditional religions and their survival strategies, while the corresponding phenomena of the alternative religious of that time still lack proper analysis.

The special issue invites papers that address alternative religiosities in the communist/socialist countries up to 1990. Due to Soviet control, they mostly existed underground and could remain only if expressed clandestinely. Beside the officially-established Soviet culture, connected with the Communist Party’s aim to control all aspects of the public sphere, there was an unofficial cultural field that was very receptive to the arrival, formation, spread and expressions of diverse alternative religiosities and spiritualities. The disappointment with the existing narrowness of the official communist ideology and the loss of the absolute allegiance to it led to the formation and rise of unofficial socio-cultural alternatives within the system. The underground activities, including access to alternative spiritual and esoteric ideas and practices, generally existed in parallel, or even jointly, with the official culture and institutions.

We invite religious scholars, historians, anthropologists, as well as authors representing other disciplines, to submit both empirical and theoretical papers including, but not limited to the following topics:

• Networks and inter-community connections

• Flows of ideas within the Soviet Union and communist East-Central Europe and from the outside

• Centers and peripheries of the milieu of alternative religiosity in the region

• Politics and actions of the regime towards alternative religiosity

• Restrictions, repressions and survival strategies of practitioners of alternative religiosity

• Milieu of alternative religiosity as a space of resistance

• Relationships of communities of alternative religiosity with dominant religious traditions

• Theoretical frameworks and methodological problems in research on alternative religiosities within the Soviet Union and the communist East-Central European region

Authors publishing their articles in the special issue will benefit from:

· transparent, comprehensive and fast peer review

· efficient route to fast-track publication and full advantage of De Gruyter  Open’s e-technology,

· no publication fees,

· free language assistance for authors from non-English speaking regions.

HOW TO SUBMIT

Submissions are due July 20, 2016. To submit an article for the special issue of Open Theology, authors are asked to access the on-line submission system at: http://www.editorialmanager.com/openth/

Please choose as article type: “Special Issue Article: Alternative Religiosities”.

Before submission the authors should carefully read over the Instruction for Authors, available at: http://www.degruyter.com/view/supplement/s23006579_Instruction_for_Authors.pdf

All contributions will undergo critical review before being accepted for publication.

Further questions about this thematic issue can be addressed to Dr. Rasa Pranskevičiūtė at Rasa.Pranskeviciute@degruyteropen.com or Dr. Eglė Aleknaitė at ealeknaite@yahoo.com. In case of technical questions, please contact journal Managing Editor Dr. Katarzyna Tempczyk at katarzyna.tempczyk@degruyteropen.com

Call for Topical Issues: Open Theology vol. 2017

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Call for proposals

for upcoming TOPICAL ISSUES

in the Open Theology journal vol. 2017

Open Theology journal (http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/opth) invites groups of researchers, conference organizers etc. to submit their proposals of edited volumes to be considered as topical issues for vol. 2017.

Open Theology is an international Open Access, peer-reviewed academic journal that welcomes contributions addressing religion in its various forms and aspects: historical, theological, sociological, psychological, and other. The journal encompasses all major disciplines of Theology and Religious Studies, presenting doctrine, history, organization and everyday life of various types of religious groups and the relations between them. We publish articles from the field of Theology as well as Philosophy, Sociology and Psychology of Religion, and also dialogue between Religion and Science.

 

 

Our past topical issues included:

2015:

  • Violence of Non-Violence (ed. Michael Jerryson and Margo Kitts)

  • Manichaeism – New Historical and Philological Studies (ed. John C. Reeves)

  • In Search of a Contemporary World View: Contrasting Thomistic and Whiteheadian Approaches (ed. Joseph Bracken)

  • Science and/or Religion: a 21st Century Debate (ed. Shiva Khalili and Fraser Watts)

2016:

  • Cognitive Science of Religion (ed. Jason Marsh)

  • Is Transreligious Theology Possible? (ed. Jerry L. Martin)

    •  

    All are available, free access, at: http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/opth

     

    Uncoming titles (2016):

    • Is Transreligious Theology Possible? (ed. Jerry L. Martin)

  • Psychotherapy and Religious Values (ed. P. Scott Richards)

  • Bible Translation (ed. Mark L. Strauss)

  • Religious Recognition (ed. Heikki Koskinen, Ritva Palmen and Risto Saarinen)

    •  

    HOW TO SUBMIT

    Proposals may be submitted by completing the Topical Issue Proposal Form available at http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/opth and forwarding them to Managing Editor Dr. Katarzyna Tempczyk at katarzyna.tempczyk@degruyteropen.com.

    Proposals received by 31 October 2016 may qualify for special publication offers.

    For futher details, please contact Dr. Katarzyna Tempczyk at katarzyna.tempczyk@degruyteropen.com.

    Call for Special Issue – Islam in the 21st Century: Challenges & Opportunities for Social Work with Muslims

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    JOURNAL OF
    RELIGION & SPIRITUALITY IN     SOCIAL WORK:
    SOCIAL THOUGHT
    www.tandfonline.com/WRSP

    Affiliated with the Society for
    Spirituality and Social Work
    http://societyforspiritualityandsocialwork.com/


    Call for Special Issue
    ISLAM IN THE 21ST CENTURY:
    CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES
    FOR SOCIAL WORK WITH MUSLIMS
    Guest Editor, Altaf Husain, PhD, Howard University School of Social Work
    Deadline: August 15, 2016

    This special issue aims to fill the gaps in the existing literature on social work education, practice and research with Muslims, with a particular focus on the examination of issues of social justice and Islam, and the concomitant impact of Islamic teachings on the development of policy and the delivery of social services. The special issue is intended to allow prospective authors the latitude to delve deeper into the role of Islam in the daily lives of potential clients and in the healthy functioning of organizations and communities.

    Conceptual, research-based, and practice-oriented articles are being solicited in these four broad areas:
    1. Islamic beliefs and values;
    2. Micro direct practice;
    3. Macro direct practice; and
    4. Best practices in serving Muslim clients, organizations and communities.

    Guiding questions to assist with the development of original manuscripts include:

    • What does the Islamic philosophy of social work look like? Is there such a philosophy?
    • What are the key Islamic beliefs and values which are central to ensuring spiritual competence among social work professionals working with Muslim clients?
    • How does the Islamic belief system align with the values and ethics of the social work profession?
    • How are mental health and psychosocial wellbeing defined, interpreted and addressed according to the Islamic teachings?
    • How has anti-Islamic bigotry impacted individuals and communities?
    • How is community defined and what unique principles of community organizing and development can be discerned from the Islamic tradition?
    • What best practices have emerged within social work education, practice and research with the Muslim population?

    DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE CALL FOR PAPERS or share electronically with colleagues – click here.

    Call for Presentations: “Music and Islam”

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    IV UskoMus symposium: ”Music and Islam”
    Cultural Centre Stoa, Helsinki 10 November 2016

    Call for Presentations

    UskoMus* Research Network (uskomus.com) will organise its next one-day symposium with the theme ”Music and Islam”, with islamologist Jonas Otterbeck (Lund University) as a guest speaker. The symposium will be followed by a public discussion and a concert celebrating the 25-year career of the Turkish-Finnish band Nefes (nefes.fi <http://nefes.fi/>), supported by Senegalese Pape Sarr, Rane Diallo, Ismaila Sane and Ousseynou Mbaye, and with an emphasis on Sufi musical practices.
    UskoMus hereby invites proposals for symposium presentations, whether in the form of conventional academic papers or more experimental delivery. All topics associated with the general theme are welcome, but please note that the number of presentations is limited. The 200–300-word abstracts should be sent to uskomus.network@gmail.com no later than 30 September 2016; notifications of acceptance will be sent by 14 October.

    There will be no conference fee but no free lunches either.

    The language of the symposium will be English. The symposium is organised in collaboration with City of Helsinki Cultural Centre Stoa (stoa.fi <http://stoa.fi/>), Etnosoi! Festival (etnosoi.fi<http://etnosoi.fi/>) and Global Music Centre (globalmusic.fi <http://globalmusic.fi/>), Music Archive JAPA (musiikkiarkisto.fi <http://musiikkiarkisto.fi/>) and the Finnish Society for Ethnomusicology (etnomusikologia.fi <http://etnomusikologia.fi/>). For further information, please consult UskoMus website (uskomus.com <http://uskomus.com/>) oruskomus.network@gmail.com <mailto:uskomus-network@gmail.com>.

    Welcome to the symposium!

    On behalf of UskoMus,
    Antti-Ville Kärjä
    *) “uskomus” = a belief, a shibboleth; “usko” = faith, confidence; “mus(iikki)” = mus(ic)

    CFP: Special Issue on “Performing Religion”

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    Call for submissions:

    Performance Matters 3.1 (May 2017)

    Special issue on “Performing Religion”

    Performance and religion, both as practices and as fields of study, overlap. In religious studies, performance theory has provided a way to understand ritual as action with performative force (Tambiah 1979; Hollywood 2002), while a shared interest in ritual fueled the exchanges between Richard Schechner and Victor Turner from which grew one branch of performance studies as a discipline. Less explicitly, a reverence among performance theorists for theater’s transformational potential and performance’s politically liberatory power inspires some of the field’s foundational work (Dolan 2005; Phelan 1993). These commitments in turn draw strength from a long scholarly tradition that traces the mutually constitutive histories of theater and religion. In performance studies, a growing body of recent scholarship has reinvigorated the question of what it means to perform religion. Unlike earlier performance research which tended to downplay the religious aspects of ritual practice, this newer work focuses directly on religious activities like worship, private devotion, preaching, evangelization, and veneration. Whether analyzing onstage manifestations of Krishna (Mason 2009), evangelical dramaturgy (Stevenson 2013), proselytization as activist performance (Fletcher 2013), or occult theater (Lingan 2014), this work examines the theatrical and performance strategies of religious communities and movements. In doing so, it raises a series of disciplinary and methodological questions. What are the advantages and pitfalls of using theater and performance as analytical frameworks for studying religious activity? To what degree does ritual still occupy the middle ground between religious studies and performance studies? How might greater dialogue between scholars in these two fields enrich research on religious performance? In the interest of pursuing these and other related questions, Performance Matters invites papers that draw on performance theory, theater metaphors and the tools of performance analysis or creation to conduct research on religious practices, texts, histories, philosophies, or phenomena.

    Interested contributors are asked to send short abstracts and paper proposals (250 words) to joy_palacios@sfu.ca by July 30, 2016.

    Reviews of relevant performances or theatrical productions, as well as of books related to the theme of religious performance, are also invited, as are short position statements for a forum section featuring scholars in performance studies who work on religion and scholars in religious studies who think about performance.

    Invited full papers will then be due by November 30, 2016.

    Performance Matters is a peer-reviewed, open access, on-line journal published bi-annually by Simon Fraser University that focuses on all aspects of performance: what it does, and why it is meaningful. For more information, see http://performancematters-thejournal.com.

    CFP: Special Issue on “Performing Religion”

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    Call for submissions:

    Performance Matters 3.1 (May 2017)

    Special issue on “Performing Religion”

    Performance and religion, both as practices and as fields of study, overlap. In religious studies, performance theory has provided a way to understand ritual as action with performative force (Tambiah 1979; Hollywood 2002), while a shared interest in ritual fueled the exchanges between Richard Schechner and Victor Turner from which grew one branch of performance studies as a discipline. Less explicitly, a reverence among performance theorists for theater’s transformational potential and performance’s politically liberatory power inspires some of the field’s foundational work (Dolan 2005; Phelan 1993). These commitments in turn draw strength from a long scholarly tradition that traces the mutually constitutive histories of theater and religion. In performance studies, a growing body of recent scholarship has reinvigorated the question of what it means to perform religion. Unlike earlier performance research which tended to downplay the religious aspects of ritual practice, this newer work focuses directly on religious activities like worship, private devotion, preaching, evangelization, and veneration. Whether analyzing onstage manifestations of Krishna (Mason 2009), evangelical dramaturgy (Stevenson 2013), proselytization as activist performance (Fletcher 2013), or occult theater (Lingan 2014), this work examines the theatrical and performance strategies of religious communities and movements. In doing so, it raises a series of disciplinary and methodological questions. What are the advantages and pitfalls of using theater and performance as analytical frameworks for studying religious activity? To what degree does ritual still occupy the middle ground between religious studies and performance studies? How might greater dialogue between scholars in these two fields enrich research on religious performance? In the interest of pursuing these and other related questions, Performance Matters invites papers that draw on performance theory, theater metaphors and the tools of performance analysis or creation to conduct research on religious practices, texts, histories, philosophies, or phenomena.

    Interested contributors are asked to send short abstracts and paper proposals (250 words) to joy_palacios@sfu.ca by July 30, 2016.

    Reviews of relevant performances or theatrical productions, as well as of books related to the theme of religious performance, are also invited, as are short position statements for a forum section featuring scholars in performance studies who work on religion and scholars in religious studies who think about performance.

    Invited full papers will then be due by November 30, 2016.

    Performance Matters is a peer-reviewed, open access, on-line journal published bi-annually by Simon Fraser University that focuses on all aspects of performance: what it does, and why it is meaningful. For more information, see http://performancematters-thejournal.com.

    Call for papers: “The Marketing and Consumption of Spirituality and Religion”, Special Issue of Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion. Deadline for full paper submission: January 10, 2017

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    Dear Colleagues,

    With this special issue, the Journal of Management, Spirituality &
    Religion extends an invitation to scholars in the field of marketing,
    consumer research and related disciplines to contribute to the journal with
    their best work on the marketing and consumption of spirituality and
    religion.

    While not exhaustive, the following list suggests possible issues that we
    would like to address in this special issue:

    • The consumption of spirituality and religion
    • Identity, community and religious/spiritual consumption
    • The impact of religious ideologies and values on the marketing and consumption of profane goods
    • The material culture of religion and spirituality
    • Religion/religiosity, spirituality and consumer wellbeing
    • The marketization of religious/spiritual holidays, rituals and rites de passage
    • Spiritual materialism
    • Religious/spiritual consumption across the consumer lifecycle
    • The marketing strategies of religious organizations and new religious/spiritual movements (and its discontents); the organization of marketing in these domains
    • Religious history from a marketing perspective
    • The marketing management of religious/spiritual products, services
      and experiences
    • The role of spirituality and religiosity in the marketing and consumption of ‘mundane’ brands, products, and experiences
    • The marketing behavior of religiously aligned organizations
    • Entertainment brands as sources of spiritual meaning (e.g., sport brands, Star Wars, Star Trek)
    • Gender and sexuality issues in the marketing and consumption of
      religion and spirituality
    • The globalization of religious/spiritual marketing and consumption:
      orientalism, postcolonialism, creolization/syncretization, cultural
      appropriation
    • Tourism, immigration
    • Religion and spirituality in the digital age

    This special issue welcomes empirical, methodological, and conceptual papers. In terms of methods, we are open to both qualitative and quantitative research designs, as long as data gathering and analysis procedures are rigorous. Similarly, we welcome positivist, interpretive, and critical approaches alike. We also want to encourage work based on theoretical reflection on religion and spirituality outside of marketing, consumer research, organization studies and management (e.g., psychology, sociology, anthropology, theology, cultural studies, political science, history, geography, etc.)*. Methodological and conceptual papers are also encouraged, provided that they make appropriate contributions. Finally, we will consider both theoretical work and managerially oriented
    contributions.

    As a guide, papers should be of no more than 9,000 words (excluding references, tables, figures, etc.). More information in the call for paper (can be downloaded here: http://brandaka.com/cfp/). Early expressions of interests and enquiries can be directed to the guest editors.

    Guest editors contact details:

    Diego Rinallo, Kedge Business School and CERGAM, France (diego.rinallo@kedgebs.com)

    Mathieu Alemany Oliver, Aix-Marseille Graduate School of Management – IAE
    and CERGAM, France (mathieu.alemany@iae-aix.com)