Theological Reflections: Eastern European Journal of Theology: Announcements

Eastern European Journal of Theology” calls for papers for the next issue 22.2 "Disability Theology: Eastern European Context"

2024-06-17T20:22:25+03:00

Dear colleagues, the Editorial Board of “Theological Reflections: Eastern European Journal of Theology ” invites papers that reflect on disability in Eastern European context.

The problems of people with disabilities affect not only doctors and therapists. In the twentieth century, they drew attention of sociologists, philosophers, and cultural critics. What began as a movement for a decent independent life for veterans of the two world wars turned into a movement for the rights of a minority that was systematically pushed to the periphery of public life. This resulted in changes in the legal and social spheres. In the early 1980s, the foundations were laid for a whole new field - disability studies. And in the 1990s, the field attracted attention of theologians.

Speaking about Ukrainian reality, according to official statistics, 2.7 million people with disabilities were registered in Ukraine before the full-scale invasion. According to the available data, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the number of such people has increased by at least 300,000 of those who became disabled due to the war. This number is likely to grow as the fighting continues.

All this raises a serious question: are the churches of Eastern Europe and Ukraine ready for this new reality? To what extent do our theology and church practices take into account such people? Are we ready not only to see them on our streets in everyday life but also to accept them on their terms, according to their capabilities? What do we consider "normal" and why?

The editorial board would like to dedicate the next issue of the journal (22.2, 2024) to the discussion of disability from biblical, theological, historical, and practical perspectives. We invite theologians, Christian philosophers, pastors, and practitioners to contribute. Articles may address but are not limited by the following topics:

Disability theology as a critique of “normality” and “ableness”
Disability in the Old and New Testaments
Healing in the New Testament: a perspective from disability theology
The fall, broken creation, and disability
The cross of Christ and disability theology
Disability and Imago Dei
Disability and the resurrection of the body
Inclusivity, accessibility, and accepting the Other
People with disability in Church history
The Church as the Body of Christ: implications for disability theology
Church of all and for all?
Open community and open table: liturgical and ecclesiological aspects of disability
Ministering to others or ministering with others?
Disability in mass culture

We consider original papers, overview papers, and reviews on this complex subject. The paper should not exceed 5,000 words.

The deadline for submission – September 15, 2024. The estimated date of publication is December 15, 2024.

To submit the paper, you need to upload it on the journal’s website: http://reflections.eeit-edu.info/about/submissions. The author’s guidelines should be consulted at the link http://reflections.eeit-edu.info/guidelines. Should you have additional questions or suggestions, write to us at reflections@eeit-edu.info.

Journal Theological Reflections Invites Submission to the Next Issue 22.1 The Sacred and the Secular in the Theopolitical Reference Frame of Central and Eastern Europe

2023-11-08T23:10:59+02:00

Dear colleagues, Theological Reflections: Eastern European Journal of Theology is pleased to invite you to submit articles for publication in the next issue (22:1) on the topic: “The Sacred and the Secular in the Theopolitical Reference Frame of Central and Eastern Europe.”

Christian presence and activity in the political space are carried out in the context of the Christian's responsibility both to the eternal city of God and to earthly society. Since Augustine, the church, as the earthly manifestation of God's rule, has found its calling in sanctifying and strengthening relationships based on domination and submission. This approach, which was the basis of state formation, radically influenced the church's role in social and political life.

Since the Enlightenment, leading philosophers and scholars have postulated that traditional theological dogmas, liturgical rituals, and sacred practices are products of the past and have no place in the modern era. Secularization, along with bureaucratization, rationalization, and urbanization, transformed medieval agrarian societies into modern industrial nations. Gradually, religion was pushed out of the political and public space and into private life. The sacred that permeated worldview, its intellectual foundations, and institutional forms seemed to have finally given way to secularized Western society.

However, at the end of the last century, the process of "desecularization" (P. Berger) or "the great return of religion" (V. Yelenskyi) began, and its role is steadily increasing in European and world politics. The growing political weight of religion and religious institutions is a paradoxical process, given the ongoing secularization, which is weakening its role in everyday life.

Although the complex intertwining of religion and politics in the modern world has long been the focus of several academic disciplines, the editorial board of the journal considers it appropriate to devote this issue to the peculiarities of theological and political discourses in the post-theistic context of Central and Eastern Europe, where, on the one hand, the interaction of Christian churches with civil society is growing. On the other hand, churches are increasingly becoming participants and instruments of populist political movements, mainly on the right.

For a theological reflection on these issues, the editorial board invites authors to submit articles that address the following matters:

Peculiarities of the return of the sacred to public space in post-communist countries
Rethinking the dichotomy of the sacred/secular in contemporary political theology
Political populism, Christianity and threats to democracy
The relationship between human rights and Christianity in the socio-cultural matrix of Central and Eastern Europe
A new reading of the intersection of religious authority and political power in the cultures of Central and Eastern Europe
Sacralization of political power: theological fallacies and political threats
The interaction of the secular and the sacred in contemporary art and fiction of the region
A theological perspective on the concepts of desecularization and post-secularity, as well as their manifestations in the political sphere

We accept original and overview articles, as well as reviews that cover this complex topic. The length of the article should not exceed 5,000 words.

The deadline for submission is February 15, 2024. The date of publication of the issue is April 15, 2024.

Manuscripts can be submitted electronically via the journal's website http://reflections.eeit-edu.info/about/submissions. Guidelines for authors are available here http://reflections.eeit-edu.info/guidelines. Should you have any questions, please contact us by e-mail: reflections@eeit-edu.info.

Journal Theological Reflections invites submission to the Next Issue 21.2

2023-07-20T18:37:31+03:00

Dear colleagues, Theological Reflections: Eastern European Journal of Theology invites you to publish in Issue 21.2 (2023) articles on theological understanding and practical aspects of the experience of trauma and overcoming trauma in the context of war.

The editorial board invites authors to focus on the following topics:

Theological and anthropological preconditions for the possibility of trauma
The place of trauma in Christology and Soteriology
Post-traumatic theology: the impact of trauma on theological methodology
The biblical experience of trauma and healing from its consequences
Christian virtues as a means of building resilience and overcoming trauma
Reflection of the experience of trauma in literature and art
Memory, grieving, and hope after the experience of trauma
Serving victims of war and violence: pastoral and applied theology
Liturgy as a unique spiritual experience and context of healing
Trauma, disability, and Christian community
The resurrection of the body and the experience of disability
Personality, disability, and Christian anthropology

We seek articles, essays, and reviews that uniquely engage in this complex conversation. Articles should aim to be 4,000 words in length. The maximum length is 5,000 words.

The deadline for submission of materials is September 15, 2023. The publication date is December 15, 2023.

Manuscripts can be submitted electronically via the journal's website http://reflections.eeit-edu.info/about/submissions. Should you have any questions, please contact us by e-mail: reflections@eeit-edu.info.