July 27, 2017
Dear SSCS Colleagues,
I am happy to inform you of several developments as we look ahead to the annual meeting at AAR/SBL this November.
1. International Relations Committee
The International Relations Ad Hoc Committee (IRC) met during the Biennial Meeting in Zürich, Switzerland, on 28 June 2017 and elected Dr. Diana Villegas of Colombia as its new chair. Diana, a longstanding member of the SSCS, has Catherine of Sienna and pluralism with her volume on The Christian Path in a Pluralistic World and the Study of Spirituality as research interests. We congratulate her and wish her well as she takes on the leadership in a time that we continue our quest to internationalize the Society beyond the U.S.
I am delighted to announce that the option for a reduced membership rate that includes online access to Spiritus, has now been added to our website. Scholars who are legal residents of non-OECD nations are eligible for this special rate (see https://sscs.press.jhu.edu/membership/join and, for the list: https://faq.press.jhu.edu/sscs/#non-OECD).
2. A truly international event
The third Biennial Meeting of the Society was held in the beautiful Kloster Kappel, Switzerland, organized together with the Centre for the Study of Christian Spirituality of the University of Zürich (28th-29th June). Leading scholars from Europe, the U.S., Africa, Asia and South America presented ten papers in plenary sessions and 50 papers in 17 parallel sessions. A significant number of emerging scholars also read papers. We are grateful for the generous hospitality of the University of Zürich (with the Swiss National Science Foundation), and for the excellent organization of Ralph Kunz and Rebecca Giselbrecht, with their colleagues and team, Hannes Witzig and Monica Gries. We also express our deep appreciation for the generous sponsors of various events, which included a jazz performance of the Psalms, sponsored by the Reformed Church of canton Zürich, and a boat trip on the Vierwaldstättersee, sponsored by Theologie und Spiritualität Kloster Kappel. This sponsorship also covered travel grants to some participants to present papers at the meeting.
3. SSCS Events and Christian Spirituality Group Sessions at the AAR/SBL in November
As one of the related Scholarly Organizations of the American Academy of Religion, the SSCS will, as usual, meet in conjunction with this year’s AAR/SBL Annual Meeting in Boston, November 18-21.
3.1. Friday Experiential Session of the SSCS
All are invited to attend, and to encourage colleagues to join us, on Friday in the afternoon and evening for the experiential session and on Saturday morning for the business meeting and presidential address. The details of this meeting are included in a separate letter; events are being planned for the afternoon from 2:00-5:30, with an evening session from 6:00-9:00. This will include a reception and dinner. We want to thank Board members Elizabeth Drescher and Doug Hardy for their leadership and for the hard work in preparing this special event.
SSCS events continue on Saturday morning, 9-11:30 a.m. This will include my Presidential Address, “Biblical Spirituality, aesthetics and beauty. The case of John’s Revelation,” to be followed by the annual SSCS Members’ Meeting, presided over by Bernadette Flanagan, who becomes our new President. Again, please encourage interested friends and colleagues to join us.
3.2. Emerging Scholars Group
There will be a lunch for Emerging Scholars during the AAR/SBL meeting. A letter from the co-coordinators, Shannon McAlister and George Faithful, is included at the end of this letter; I hope you’ll accept their invitation to be involved. They will provide further detail on lunch in a letter that will be sent out later and posted on our website. We thank them for their energy and dedication to the important activities of this group.
3.3. Christian Spirituality Group Sessions
Our thanks go to Glenn Young and Margaret Benefiel, the Co-Chairs of the AAR Christian Spirituality Group, for all their work on this year’s AAR sessions. The details of the three meetings are:
3.3.1. Spiritualities of the Reformation (A18-309)
Saturday, 4:00-6:30 pm., Sheraton Boston-Riverway (Fifth Level)
Papers in this session discuss dimensions of Christian spirituality as found in various traditions of the Reformation.
Lisa E. Dahill,California Lutheran University, presiding
“Prayer and Affliction: Martin Luther on the Spiritual Roots of Theological Insight”
Simeon Zahl, University of Nottingham
“We Must Inquire after Their Language: Luther’s Language as Spiritual Discipline”
Justin Nickel, Princeton Theological Seminary
“The Cross of the Bitter Christ: Competing Christomorphisms in the Radical and Magisterial Reformations”
Travis Ables, Regis University
“The Origins of Reformed Prayer: Devotional Humanism and the Fracturing of European Devotional Culture”
Flynn Cratty, Yale University
“The Prayer Book and Spiritual Writings of Anna Alexandria von Furstenberg zu Rappoltstein”
Rebecca Giselbrecht, University of Zürich, Fuller Seminary
Business Meeting
Margaret Benefiel,Shalem Institute For Spiritual Formation,and Glenn Young,Rockhurst University,presiding
3.3.2. Planetary Solidarity: Global Women’s Voices on Christian Doctrine and Climate Justice (co-sponsored with SBL Ecological Hermeneutics Group) (A20-110)
Monday, 9:00-11:30 am, Hynes Convention Center-208 (Second Level)
This book panel brings together womanist,mujerista, Asian and feminist theologians and biblical scholars to discuss the intersection of Christian doctrine, gender and climate justice.
Grace Ji-Sun Kim,Earlham College,presiding
“Imagining an Earth-centric Theological Framing for Planetary Solidarity”
Heather Eaton, Saint Paul University
“And God Saw That It Was Good--Imago Dei and Its Challenge to Climate Justice”
Wanda Deifelt, Luther College
“Trafficked Lands: Sex Trafficking, Oil, and Ecological Evil in the Dakotas”
Hilda Koster, Concordia College, Moorhead
“Seeds, Cross, and a Paradox of Life from Death: A Postcolonial Eco-Theology”
Jea Sophia Oh, West Chester University of Pennsylvania
“Eco-Womanist Wisdom: Encountering Earth and the Spirit”
Melanie L. Harris, Texas Christian University
“Reimagining Eschatology towards Healing and Hope, for a World at the Eschatos”
Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza,Harvard University,respondent
Kareena Gore, Center for Earth Ethics, Union Theological Seminary, respondent
3.3.3. Embodiment and the Study of Spirituality (A21-102)
Tuesday, 8:30-10:00 am., Sheraton Boston-Liberty C (Second Level)
The papers in this session address how issues related to embodied practice might be considered in the study of Christian spirituality.
Douglas Hardy,Nazarene Theological Seminary,presiding
“Embodied Dimensions of the Contemplative Practices in Hesychasm (Eastern Orthodox Asceticism): A New Perspective”
Laura Anellia Soureli, University of Cambridge
“‘Sacramentalizing the Body’: Christian Tatooing in the San Francisco Bay Area”
Marie Pagliarini, Saint Mary’s College
“Using Rhythm to Move Beyond Text in the Study of Christian Spirituality”
Lexi Eikelboom, John Wesley Honors College, Indiana Wesleyan University
Please check our website and listserv in the months to come for further details about the sessions, dinner arrangements, and transport options. If you’re not yet on our listserv, please consider subscribing, either through our website at https://sscs.press.jhu.edu/listserv/instructions.html or by contacting Anita Houck at .
With kind regards
Pieter G.R. de Villiers
President, SSCS.
Dear SSCS Colleagues,
We invite all of you to join us in helping the Emerging Scholars in our midst. The SSCS Emerging Scholars group includesgraduate students as well as those who have received a doctorate within the last six years.
We welcomeall SSCS membersto join the new Emerging Scholars Forum on Facebook.https://www.facebook.com/groups/1097146310348967/This is a place for Emerging Scholars to discuss research, teaching, vocational direction, and other concerns. It would be great to have some well-established scholars in the forum to share their experience. Because this is a “closed” group, posts are not visible to the general public. The group will augment the already thriving “public” SSCS Facebook group, where many members currently share spiritual insight with a broad audience (2500+ group members!).
We askcurrent Emerging Scholarsto help us update our membership roster. Please email George Faithful ith your email address, institutional affiliation, and title.
We encouragenew SSCS membersinterested in possibly becoming Emerging Scholars to email Shannon McAlister . She will provide more details about our activities, including the subsidized lunch we sponsor at AAR, and our biennial essay prize.
Sincerely,
Emerging Scholars Group Coordinators, SSCS
George Faithful, Ph.D., Seton Hall University
Shannon M. McAlister,Ph.D.,Fordham University
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