Call for Papers & Artwork
Shechem Ministries’ “Matter ’09: A Creative Theology Event” is now accepting submissions of papers and artwork for the conference September 17-19, 2009, at the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas.
Selected papers and artwork will be presented at the conference and will be published in the anthology of the conference, Matter, published by Shechem Press with a forward written by Peter Rollins.
All abstracts and digital image samples are due by noon CST on July 1, 2009, with completed artwork and papers due by August 31, 2009 at noon CST. Abstracts (250-500 words), panel proposals, and inquiries should be submitted via email to info@mattercon.com.
The theme for the conference is “Christian Relationships”: our relationship with God as discussed in Hebrews 12, our relationship with the Church as discussed in Hebrews 13, and our relationship with the world as discussed in Romans 12. Each of these passages offers artists and scholars a host of issues for debate and interpretation. We are looking for writings and art that seek to illuminate the text both creatively (poetry, 2D or 3D visual art, scripts, performance, etc) and in traditional scholarly forms.
We are open to both new works and work that has been completed previously. For new papers, please submit a short abstract. For new visual art, submit an abstract of the project and 3-5 images of previous work. For new performance oriented work, please submit an abstract and a short audio or video clip of previous work.
Possible avenues for discussion include:
1) Hebrews 12:
• So great a cloud of witnesses: support for artists within churches
• Christian discipline in the arts
• Run with endurance: “calling” in the arts
• Blood vs. Blood: new metaphors for the atonement
• The All Consuming Fire shaking all we know
2) Hebrews 13:
• Being outside the camp: Ex-centric Christian arts and theory
• Mutual love: cultivating empathy through the arts
• Marriage reconsidered: a hinge point for the 21st century Church
• Recreated or redeemed: wrestling with present authority
• Discovering lost tools: the arts as God’s equipping
3) Romans 12:
• Transformation in liturgy and the arts
• The body of Christ and the physical body as the site of empathy diversity in ministry
• Genuine blessings for genuine evil
• Presented as a living sacrifice: self-as-source performance art
Conference registration for those artists and scholars whose papers and/or artwork are accepted for participation is $175. Regular registration for all other conference attendees is $200 before August 15. After August 15, the cost is $225. The conference fee covers all general session fees and entrance fees to all performances, lunches and snacks during the conference, a conference t-shirt, and a copy of the Matter ‘09 anthology to be shipped out following the conference.
Download an Adobe PDF version here.
