Ethics

2025 Call for Papers

Kari-Shane Davis Zimmerman, College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University (MN)

kdavis@csbsju.edu

Jacob Kohlhaas, Loras College, Jacob.Kohlhaas@loras.edu

Tom Leininger, Regis University, tleining@regis.edu  

This year’s convention theme, “The Locus of the Theological Vocation” offers an opportunity for the Ethics Section to think beyond the standard context in which theological ethics is undertaken. Within the context of the United States where our society is based, the Church and the field of moral theology/Christian ethics stand at new and ever-evolving intersections given recent and varied losses within the academy. At the same time, CTS leadership invites us to pause and consider asking a new question: Where is theology being done, and how do these “locations” affect theology itself? Put differently, what forgotten loci for theological vocations might now be found? Might the fading of academic theology make room for theological, pastoral, ecclesiological or missiological renewal?

 

Therefore, the Ethics Section calls for paper proposals that thoughtfully and creatively engage the 2025 conference theme in some of the ways suggested below, or perhaps in a way not yet considered:

·       Question 1: How do theologians’ loci affect their theological ethics?

·       Question 2: How will the evolving context of theological ethics impact the life of Christian communities and our world?

·       Question 3: Where is the path forward for theological ethics?

How has theological ethics done in contexts such as healthcare, business, technology, ecology or lived solidarity with the poor and marginalized shed new light on issues that are underdeveloped in the academy and/or the Church?

What might the lived integration of spirituality and morality of distinctive cultures and communities have to teach us about the Gospel and our world? What are the obstacles in the academy and the Church to listening to and learning from the wisdom of other communities?

How have non-American or non-Western contexts sustained intellectual reflection on moral issues of faith without the benefit of widespread institutions of higher education, or with traditions of higher education significantly different from that of the US context?

What new ways of integrating spirituality and morality are emerging from younger generations trying to negotiate a different world than previous generations? What can they help us to see? What obstacles do they face? What resources do they most need?

As always, the Ethics Section invites proposals that attend to the interdisciplinary, ecumenical, or interreligious context of contemporary ethical inquiry into this theme, particularly in collaboration with scholars of the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion. 

Submission Requirements:  

·       Conference presenters must be members of the College Theology Society

·       Ph.D. candidates must be ABD to submit a proposal. 

 

Submission Information Details: 

·       Please submit a proposal of 300 words and a brief list of the 3-5 most centrally significant sources for this paper in the body of an e-mail message directed to all conveners by December 15, 2024

·       Please also include your institutional affiliation (if any), contact information, and current status (Assistant, Associate, PhD. Candidate) along with your proposal