2024 Conference Call for Papers: Prayer

For the 2024 conference the SST invites papers on the theme of ‘prayer’. Prayer is a spiritual practice which takes many forms and serves many purposes in the lives of those who partake. In many times, contexts and cultures, prayer enables people to experience connection to God and also to a wider community of faith. Yet it is also a point of frustration for many – in part because theologies of prayer can often struggle to articulate how it should be understood and practised, and what its effects might be in the life of (the) believer(s) and/or in the wider world.

We actively welcome a wide range of disciplinary perspectives germane to this topic from theology and cognates such as sociology/ anthropology/ philosophy of religion, not least because these disciplines have historically offered much to theological understanding/s of prayer as concept and practice. For example, Marcel Mauss’s (1909) work on the intrinsically and eminently social aspects of prayer even when conducted by the individual; Linda Woodhead’s (2015) suggestion that prayer might be understood as a way of ‘changing the subject’; or what Dorothee Sölle (1995) terms the ‘creative disobedience’ of prayer. 

Examples of relevant topics for paper proposals may include (but are not limited to) the following: 

  • Prayer and psychological, emotional and mental health
  • Prayer and spirituality
  • Prayer and protest/activism 
  • Prayer and illness, trauma or healing
  • Prayer in the lives of children and young people
  • Prayer and power in the church
  • Prayer ministry and spiritual abuse
  • Prayer and disability 
  • Prayer in global majority contexts/the Global South
  • Women and prayer

Please submit abstracts of 150-300 words using the form by 5pm on Wednesday 17th January 2024. Successful applicants will be notified by the selection panel by 16th February 2024. 

We encourage applicants to consider the following criteria for selection of papers:

  • Abstracts will be judged according to their originality and rigour, as well as to the clarity of their argument and approach and their relevance to the conference theme
  • We particularly encourage papers that reflect ongoing work-in-progress, for example as part of an article, thesis, or wider project
  • Please note that multiple applications are permitted, but presenters will be limited to giving a maximum of one paper at the conference overall (i.e. across short papers and seminar sessions), in order to ensure that opportunities to present can be given to more delegates.

If you have any questions or issues, please get in touch with any of the following:

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