Symbol, Ritual, and Sacrament

2025 Call for Papers

hoya@duq.edu

Paul Melley, Providence College (RI)

pmelley@providence.edu

The 2025 CTS Conference Theme offers rich potential for theological reflection on the locus of
theological vocation through the lens of symbol, ritual and sacraments. The sacramental principle makes
the audacious claim that God reveals Godself through the ordinary, everyday, sensible and tangibly lived
experience of human existence. Thus, meaning cannot merely be reduced to the realm of mind theory and
intellect. Rather, meaning inheres in our very bodily subsistence. Furthermore, as God is mediated
through nature and creation, it is also true that human culture and society, minds, bodies, hearts and souls,
labors, and creativity are all potential bearers of God’s saving action. Indeed, the Symbol, Ritual, and
Sacrament track is incipiently attentive to embodiment and location.

The SRS topic session seeks to explore ways in which liturgy, location, embodiment, and justice are
mutually implicating through the ritual and symbolic enactment of memory in a sacramental community
or economy. Relevant engagements might include (others are welcome):
• Sacraments are ways of recognizing God’s presence, fullness, and grace abundant in all
creation— How does one’s location both enhance and obscure the ability to see in this way? What
might be ecological implications?
• How does one’s social or geographical locus influence theological reflection, scholarship, on
ritual and symbol?
• Sacramental theology is often the work of reflecting on practice. How should liturgical theology
construct creative ritual approaches for persons to appropriate values and standards to effect
social change?
• Why might a detached, esoteric, metaphysical theology which elicits a liturgy apart from the lives
of its members be dis-locating? How should we respond?
• How are the patterns of worship, thanksgiving and praise of God interrelated and essential to
human flourishing?
• Tertullian famously claimed “the flesh is the hinge of salvation.” How does techno-centric,
consumer culture rituals locate class, status, image, and power on the contemporary person. How
should we understand this in contemporary liturgical praxis? How does sacramental and liturgical
theology provide an ameliorative counter-ritual, praxis, and habitus as way of training and
disciplining of our imagination and vision?

INFORMATION INCLUDED IN YOUR PROPOSAL:
• Your proposals should be 250-500 words in length
• Please provide the current institutional affiliation and position of all participants, as well
as contact information, including e‐mail.
• Indicate whether you will be requiring A/V equipment
• CTS membership status

ELIGIBILITY FOR SUBMITTING PROPOSALS:
• Scholars who are invited to present their work at a national convention of the College Theology
Society must be current members of the CTS no later than April 1, 2025 in order to appear in the
program.
• No person may submit more than one proposal for consideration and nor will submissions to
multiple sections be considered. Failure to observe these policies may result in the scholar's
disqualification to present a paper at the Annual Convention
DEADLINE: December 15, 2024
Please submit proposals to both section conveners:
A.J. Hoy (hoya@duq.edu) and Paul Melley (pmelley@providence.edu)
You will be notified by e‐mail whether your paper has been accepted by January
15, 2025