CFP – New Directions for Church History: Methods and Sources
An online conference hosted by the Ecclesiastical History Society and the American Society of
Church History.
Date: 7 March 2025
Location: Online only
Abstract deadline: 15 November 2024
Emails: hilary.carey@bristol.ac.uk OR aude.de-mezerac@univ-lille.fr
The EHS and ASCH have pleasure in inviting proposals for the second online postgraduate conference on the theme: ‘New Directions for Church History’. This international collaboration aims to provide a forum for new and path-breaking research, conducted by postgraduate students, on both sides of the Atlantic.
The first EHS/ACHS conference was held in December 2023 and brought together a diverse group of international postgraduates to consider topics in the flourishing field of church and ecclesiastical history on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2023, the sub-theme was ‘Opportunities and Challenges’.
In 2025, the sub-theme will be ‘Methods and Sources’.
Proposals may focus on any period of the Christian past and any country or field of church or ecclesiastical history. The number of proposals we can accept is limited by the time available, which will be over a single day arranged to allow for the time difference between the UK and the US.
Please submit your paper (20 minutes) proposal, which should include your name, degree status and year, and institutional affiliation, together with an abstract of up to150 words and a short descriptive biography, to Hilary Carey and Aude de Mézerac-Zanetti at the emails above.
Proposals for panels or roundtables (200-300 words) are welcome : please send a single proposal. This year’s conference will experiment with lighting round presentations (5 minutes presentations of a work in progress followed by a discussion). Please specify the preferred format of your submission.
Selection criteria will include:
- Alignment with the themes and topics
- Originality of the proposal
- Depth and quality of the research
Preference may also be given to candidates who are existing student members of the
Ecclesiastical History Society or American Society of Church History. Follow the links above for
information on the benefits of joining either society.
Themes and Topics:
- Methodologies and tools in church and ecclesiastical history
- Opportunities and challenges of exploiting quantitative data, critical discourse
analysis, or developing digital humanities tools - Discovery of new sources and archives and re-examination of known and canonical
sources - Studies that cross disciplines and demonstrate new connections between established
fields and topics in church history
The online conference aims to provide an opportunity to showcase research on the frontiers
of church history. All accepted proposals will be offered a choice of a conventional 20-minute
presentation with ten minutes for question, or participation in a roundtable, structured
conversation or other format of the same length.
Proposals should aim to communicate to a wide general rather than a specialized audience,
bearing in mind the generous time and geographical frame of the call for proposals. All
proposals must be in English, recognizing that not all participants will have the same level of
academic spoken and written English.
Opportunities for social media
There will be opportunities to publish blog posts based on research presented at the online
conference.
If you have any questions, please contact the conference organizers:
Hilary Carey, University of Bristol. Email: hilary.carey@bristol.ac.uk
Aude de Mézerac-Zanetti, Université de Lille. Email: aude.de-mezerac@univ-lille.fr