CALL FOR PAPERS

The Society for Reformation Research (SRR; see our website at www.reformationresearch.org) is now accepting proposals for individual papers and complete sessions for its joint sessions with the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference (SCSC), to be held October 23-26, 2008 in St. Louis (the full SCSC Call for papers is found below). We seek papers for a general theme as well as a number of panels (described below). In line with our mission to support instruction of Reformation history and Reformation themes in other courses, we also solicit papers with a primary focus on teaching (see below).

The SRR, a North-American scholarly organization and partner group to the Verein fuer Reformationgeschichte, is concerned with the Protestant and Catholic Reformations and all other aspects of religious life in the early modern era. The SRR is also very interested in joint sponsorships with groups and institutions in the U.S. and abroad.

If you would like to submit a paper or session for sponsorship by the SRR, please contact Susan Boettcher by email only: susan.boettcher@mail.utexas.edu. The deadline for submissions in March 15, 2008, but earlier submissions will be accepted gratefully and receive prompt consideration. Papers should not have been previously presented at any other scholarly meeting nor have been published.

--General Theme: THE APPEAL OF THE REFORMATION

A generation ago, a central theme of Reformation Studies was the question of the appeal of the Reformation: who found it attractive and why? This question was reflected in studies about imperial cities in Germany, in questions about the origins of the Reformation in England, even in discussions about situations in places where the Reformation did not take hold but created dissident minorities, as in Italy and Poland. The question attracted the attention of scholars like Steven Ozment, Gerald Strauss, Natalie Davis, Christopher Haigh, Robert Kingdon and others too numerous to mention; it spawned dozens of local studies. One of its most intriguing (and challenging) features was the question’s ability to connect practitioners of different disciplines and contrast different kinds of evidence.

Twenty years on, the SRR is interested in readdressing this question now with all of the new research and new approaches at our disposal, from all disciplinary and national perspectives. We would thus encourage papers that reassess this question from research projects that may not necessarily have it as their major focus. Themes may include, but are not limited to, the following themes: reassessments of the classic formulations of the question; potential theological or emotional appeal of certain evangelical positions; situations where the Reformation did not appeal; empirical and comparative discussion of concrete local situations; considerations of the rhetorical and visual appeals made to different audiences; comparative weighing of group or class interest in the Reformation; reasons for appeal rooted in intellectual history or historical theology; the appeal of the Reformation as noted in ego-documents; the role of religious appeals in context of other factors such as politics or economics; strategies for helping our students today to understand the appeal (or lack of appeal) of the Reformation.

--Individual Panels: These are panels separate from the main theme, some of which are being organized by members of the SRR.

a. Papers are sought for a session on biconfessional situations and interactions.

b. Papers are sought for a session on Calvin, Geneva, and the Reformed Tradition.

c. Papers are sought for one or more sessions on the Reformation in Scandinavia. These papers could treat not only Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Baltic States, but also interactions and cultural transfers between these areas and other regions of Europe. We welcome papers that draw on current research as well as assessments of the status of the field.

d. Papers are sought for a session on “Sources for Teaching the Reformation.” These could include particular sources that participants have found useful, as well as strategies for helping students to come to terms with them.