Call for Papers
Conference on Sermon Studies
Marshall University
October 19-22, 2017
Deadline extended to August 1!
Featured Presentations:
*mark, a solo performance of the first century gospel by George Drance, S.J.
Keynote address by Marc Saperstein, author of Jewish Preaching in Times of War and other books
The Center for Sermon Studies at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia announces its inaugural
conference, broadly conceived under the theme “Sermon: Text and Performance.” Its goals include
1. Surveying the emerging field of sermon studies across its various disciplines - textual criticism,
performance, history, theology, religious studies, etc.
2. Engaging the local and international community in the study of the sermon as literature, historical
document, and a source of social, political, and religious discourse, past and present
3. Convening, for the first time, an international community of interdisciplinary scholars contributing
specifically to the emerging field of sermon studies
Proposals
The organizers invite proposals for individual papers and complete panels that address the preaching of any
religious tradition from specific disciplinary perspectives as well as interdisciplinary standpoints. Additionally,
they invite proposals for roundtables and workshops that address the sermon from academic and professional
perspectives, serving performance studies scholars, performers, and clergy.
All proposals must be submitted online at mds.marshall.edu/sermon_conference. Please provide the following
information:
 For individual papers: Title, abstract (150-250 words), contact information, and a 1-2 sentence biographical
sketch.
 For complete panels: A session abstract (150-250 words), abstracts for each paper (also 150-250 words),
and biographical and contact information for each participant.
 For roundtables, and workshops: A session abstract (150-250 words), along with biographical and contact
information for each participant.
Publication
Participants are encouraged to contribute their papers to the conference archive for open access through
Marshall Digital Scholar, the university’s institutional repository. Expanded/revised papers may also be
submitted to Sermon Studies, a peer-reviewed open access journal.
Inquiries
Please direct all inquiries to Robert Ellison, [email protected]
The conference organizers are grateful for the support of the Marshall University Department of English, College of Liberal Arts, and
College of Arts and Media