CME St Andrews workshop, spring 2010
June 12th, 2009
Call for Papers – CME Workshop
5th February 2010, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland
The second workshop to be held by the Christians in the Middle East research network will explore issues relating to ‘Church, State and Society’. In academic scholarship, these three levels of categorization tend to be used to allow analysis of the relations and interconnections between institutions and people. However, these concepts are not always clearly defined and in some cases, can be regarded as having multiple meanings and implications. The ‘church’ can refer to the head and/or hierarchy of a given denomination which operates at governmental level or can include all members of the established or nascent church i.e. the community. The ‘state’ can be a unitary actor or incorporate various institutions and individuals with differing degrees of power who may co-operate or compete with each other. The form of governance and internal environment can also be a significant factor. Finally, ‘society’ may be seen in a purely Christian context in relation to the church or mission as an institution or could relate to the wider population in a specific geographical context or the region as a whole. Furthermore, the distinction between the categories can also be blurred, depending on the definitions used.
Participants are asked to explore the ideas inherent in the notion of ‘Church, State and Society’ in relation to their own research. Contributions from different disciplines, time periods and case studies will help to examine the importance and implications of these definitions in furthering our understandings of Christians in the Middle East. Participants will present a 15-20 minute paper; this will be distributed to panellists prior to the workshop. Abstracts of 300-400 words should be sent to Fiona McCallum (fm25@st-andrews.ac.uk) along with brief biographical details no later than 1st September 2009. For further information, please consult the CME organisers.
A PDF version of the Call for Papers can be downloaded here.
