Call for Papers

<p class="font_8">In collaboration with the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies at the University of Texas (Dallas), the Global Center for Religious Research (GCRR) is proud to announce the 2023 International eConference on Holocaust Memory. This multidisciplinary conference will bring together historians, specialists, and researchers from all over the world to discuss the need to preserve Holocaust remembrance.</p>
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<p class="font_8">The gradual passing of the generation that witnessed the Holocaust prompts us to explore new ways of representation and memorialization of their memories, as well as the catastrophic event that stands as a consummate case of absolute violence. The contemporary corpus of Holocaust commemoration encompasses a varied range of literary and digital forms including the use of AI technology through interactive holograms. These digital heritages have even become a part of Holocaust Museums across the globe. However, documentary theatre performances, enactments, artworks, sculptors, musical tributes, concerts and dance performances are becoming valuable methods for commemorating the  Holocaust. These artistic representations thus alter the visual and auditory landscapes around the globe. We encourage proposals that interpret the theme of “performing Holocaust memory” from a wide range of vantage points and disciplines.</p>
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<p class="font_8">As this conference is held online, scholars and students can participate and attend from the comfort and safety of their own home without having to worry about travel and lodging expenses.</p>

2023 Holocaust Memory: Embodying the Past and the Aesthetics of Performance

In collaboration with the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies at the University of Texas (Dallas), the Global Center for Religious Research (GCRR) is proud to announce the 2023 International eConference on Holocaust Studies.

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<p class="font_8">GCRR Press is releasing a large-scale publication that will offer an interdisciplinary and scientific examination of the origins, impact, and treatment options of religious trauma. The intended audience for this publication will be therapeutic practitioners, psychological researchers, and sufferers of religious trauma. Currently, this textbook-style resource will include sections on:</p>
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<p class="font_8">1) Why the study of religious trauma is important;</p>
<p class="font_8">2) Historical, social, and cultural aspects of religious trauma;</p>
<p class="font_8">3) Psychological and clinical methods for studying religious trauma;</p>
<p class="font_8">4) Issues in defining religious trauma;</p>
<p class="font_8">5) Causes and triggers of religious trauma;</p>
<p class="font_8">6) Physical, psychological, interpersonal, and emotional manifestations of religious trauma; and,</p>
<p class="font_8">7) Effective and ineffective treatments for religious trauma.</p>
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<p class="font_8">Each contributor will provide research and best practices from multiple fields of study that will aid in legitimizing religious trauma as an important mental health topic. As a research-driven institute, GCRR recognizes the need to provide mental health professionals, as well as religious specialists, with scientifically-derived, factual data in order to begin work on understanding and then treating religious trauma.</p>
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<p class="font_8">Each contributing author will complete their research using the most currently accepted, discipline-specific methodologies, including quantifiable sociological data, qualitative psychoanalyses, and socio-historical contextual examinations. Some of the specific methodologies that will be included in the research are somatic trauma therapy, polyvagal theory, a combination of individual and group therapy, rational emotive behavioral therapy, and music therapy. Other unique contributions will include the formation of a diagnostic Acute Stress Disorder Interview variation to help determine whether a patient is currently suffering from religious trauma.</p>
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<p class="font_8">Some objectives objectives of the study include:</p>
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<p class="font_8">~examining the relationship between religious contexts and trauma symptoms to allow for quantitative ~predictions of clinical psychopathology related to religious trauma;</p>
<p class="font_8">~informing the clinical assessment of trauma-exposed individuals by providing an accurate and objective quantitative estimation of religious psychopathology;</p>
<p class="font_8">~providing professional counselors and therapists a better understanding of the neurological effects of religiously-related suffering and how best to treat victims or religious trauma;</p>
<p class="font_8">~utilizing a national sociological survey to identify the number of people in the U.S. who suffer from religious trauma;</p>
<p class="font_8">~creating a diagnostic tool for use in clinical settings in order to help identify patients who suffer from religious trauma;</p>
<p class="font_8">~and publishing the results in both textbook and peer-reviewed academic journal formats for widespread dissemination and utilization in research.</p>
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<p class="font_8">Broader impacts of the study may also include:</p>
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<p class="font_8">~providing the first clinical definition of “religious trauma” from a specialized committee of experts and practitioners in the field of trauma research, which helps distinguish it from other diagnosable afflictions like PTSD;</p>
<p class="font_8">~taking an interdisciplinary approach by involving professional sociologists and religion specialists to elaborate on the historical, social, and cultural aspects of religious trauma;</p>
<p class="font_8">~exploring many of the physical, psychological, interpersonal, and emotional manifestations of religious trauma with special attention to differences in children and adult sufferers;</p>
<p class="font_8">~examining the role that power differentials have on marginalized groups, such as racial minorities, women, and the LGBTQ+ community;</p>
<p class="font_8">~and establishing guidelines in diagnosing and promoting best-practice treatments for patients suffering from religious trauma.</p>
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<p class="font_8">Anyone interested and qualified to contribute are encouraged to submit a CV and abstract proposal on or before the deadline.</p>

Studies in Religious Trauma: Causes, Manifestations, and Treatments

GCRR Press is releasing a large-scale publication that will offer an interdisciplinary and scientific examination of the origins, impact, and treatment options of religious trauma. The intended audience for this publication will be therapeutic practitioners, psychological researchers, and sufferers of religious trauma.

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<p class="font_8">In 1982 Robert Neville wrote, “The encounter of Christianity with the world’s other religions has shaken Christian theology to its foundations.” One recent response to this trauma is the so-called “theology without walls” movement, in which Neville has been an active participant. Unlike another response, namely comparative theology (which remains “confessional” or married to the truth of one’s starting or “home” religion), <em>theology without walls</em> is willing and eager to explore other religions—even non-religious sources—in what Jerry Martin calls “an effort to understand ultimate reality as fully as possible.”</p>
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<p class="font_8">Papers are invited for a special issue of <em>Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry</em> (SHERM Journal) on the claims, achievements, challenges, failings, and the very possibility or desirability of a theology without walls. Papers from any discipline, including theology, philosophy of religion, anthropology, cognitive science, etc., are welcome, as are papers written from the perspective of other faith traditions outside of Christianity. The submission date is open, but ideally collected papers would be delivered to the journal no later than Spring 2024.</p>
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<p class="font_8">For more information on the "Theology Without Walls" movement, visit:</p>
<p class="font_8"><a href="https://theologywithoutwalls.com/"><u>https://theologywithoutwalls.com/</u></a></p>

Theology Without Walls: An Assessment and Critique

Papers are invited for a special issue of Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry (SHERM Journal) on the claims, achievements, challenges, failings, and the very possibility or desirability of a so-called "theology without walls."

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