Call for Short Papers

Overview

For the 2027 conference, SST invites papers on the theme of What is Theology?

Please submit abstracts of up to 250 words, by the deadline of 14th December 2026 (17:00 GMT), using the form at the bottom of this page once it opens for 2027 submissions in October 2026. Successful applicants will be notified by the selection panel by the 15th of January. All speakers must be booked by 29 January 2027 in order for their papers to be added to the conference schedule.

If you have any questions or issues, please get in touch with short.papers@theologysociety.org.uk.

Call for papers

Theology has long been concerned with the articulation, interpretation and development of Christian doctrine. The history of the Society for the Study of Theology reflects this heritage: its early conferences addressed subjects such as biblical theology, the nature of dogmatics, method in theology, doctrine, and the distinctiveness of Christianity. At the same time, the history of the Society also demonstrates how much the scope and forms of theological inquiry have developed. Its conferences have explored theology in relation to spirituality, the arts, politics, education, society, science, race, culture, the Church, and many other fields and contexts. More recent conferences have considered questions of theology’s borders, its relationship to grace, power, prayer, embodiment and failure.

The breadth of these conversations is one of the great strengths of the Society. The SST brings together scholars working in systematic and practical theology, political and pastoral theology, liberation and philosophical theology, as well as Black, feminist, queer, trans, disability and many other forms of theological inquiry. It brings different Christian traditions and different institutional, geographical, cultural and personal contexts into conversation. Theology does not exist in isolation. It has always been in conversation with other forms of knowledge, and contemporary theologians regularly work across disciplinary boundaries.

The Society has been actively reflecting on questions of inclusion, marginalisation and power within theological scholarship. Its work on Theology and Race, for example, has explicitly acknowledged the historical dominance of white perspectives within UK theological academia and sought to make the Society a more diverse community in which different backgrounds, experiences, traditions, questions and ways of pursuing theology can flourish.

The 2027 conference invites us to step back from the particular questions we ordinarily pursue and reflect on the discipline itself. What are we doing when we do theology? What makes an inquiry, a practice, a source, a method or an argument theological? Who gets to decide? And what might be at stake in the answers we give? This is not an invitation to produce a definitive definition of theology. Rather, we hope to explore the assumptions, histories, practices and boundaries that shape what we recognise as theology.

We welcome papers that explore the nature and identity of theology, including questions such as:

• What counts as theology?
• Is theology a discipline? A practice? A tradition? A form of knowledge? A mode of life?
• What are the appropriate methods of theology?
• What are the sources of theology, and who or what determines which sources count?
• How do scripture, tradition, reason, experience, practice, testimony, culture and other sources function within theological work?
• What happens to theology when its sources or methods are contested?

• How do contexts shape what theology is? Can theology be separated from the contexts in which it is produced?
• What does it mean for theology to be accountable to particular communities? Who are the invested communities to whom theology is accountable?

• How does and should theology relate to fields such as religious studies, biblical criticism, philosophy of religion, sociology, and cultural anthropology? Is interdisciplinarity essential to contemporary theology?
• What happens when other disciplines challenge theology’s assumptions about knowledge, evidence, interpretation or truth?

• What happens when academic and ecclesial expectations of theology diverge?
• What is the relationship between theological scholarship and theological formation?

• Who gets to decide what counts as theological scholarship? Whose voices and experiences have historically been recognised as theological, and whose have not? How do institutions, publishers, journals, universities, churches and learned societies shape the boundaries of theology?
• What forms of power operate within theological disciplines and institutions?
• What happens when those traditionally excluded from theological discourse redefine its questions, methods and sources?

• What happens when theology encounters the limits of language, knowledge, experience or representation?

In one sense, the question What is theology? takes us back to the Society’s beginnings. The SST’s early conferences explicitly asked questions about theological method, biblical theology, dogmatics, doctrine and the directions of contemporary theology. Yet the question also arises from where theology finds itself now: a field characterised by extraordinary methodological, contextual and disciplinary diversity. At this conference, we hope to encourage a renewed and productive dialogue across the breadth of the field, centring reflections about the importance of areas of theology rooted in its long and rich tradition, as well as the importance of troubling norms, expanding boundaries, and forging new dialogues.

The conference therefore offers an opportunity both to look backwards and forwards. What have we inherited when we call something theology? What have we changed? What should we preserve? What needs to be challenged? And what new forms of theological inquiry are emerging that might require us to rethink the category itself?

We invite short-paper proposals from across the full range of theological disciplines, traditions and contexts. We particularly welcome proposals that bring different areas of theology into conversation, that interrogate established disciplinary boundaries, and that reflect on the practices and assumptions underlying theological work.

The Society is committed to fostering a rich diversity of theological approaches and welcomes contributions from scholars at different career stages, working in different institutional and ecclesial contexts, and drawing on different traditions, disciplines, experiences and methods.

Submission formats

Short papers are no longer than 20 mins, with a further 10 or so for questions and discussion. It may also be possible to obtain a bursary towards the cost of the Conference by offering a short paper.

In addition to traditional academic papers, the Society welcomes and encourages non-traditional forms of presentations, including but not limited to dramatic or poetic performances, artworks, and creative expressions. This year, we welcome proposals for workshops up to 1.5hrs, which will be scheduled alongside the short paper panels.

The deadline for short papers, seminar papers, and bursary applications are all 14th of December 2026. Successful abstracts will be notified by 15 January 2027. All speakers must be booked by 29 January 2027 in order for their papers to be added to the conference schedule.

Selection criteria

The Short Papers Subcommittee will review submissions by following an anonymized review process. Authors’ names and identifying details will be redacted during the selection process.

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 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.

The deadline for short papers, seminar papers, and bursary applications are all 14th of December 2026. Successful abstracts will be notified by 15 January 2027. All speakers must be booked by 29 January 2027 in order for their papers to be added to the conference schedule.

Support and guidance

In 2024 Dr Selina Stone, on behalf of the Short Papers Subcommittee, produced a document containing guidance on writing a successful abstract, which applicants – especially first-time applicants – may find useful. Click here to access the guidance (pdf, 38 kb).

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Personal data is collected for the legitimate interests of SST to support all those engaged in theology. See our Privacy Notice for more information.

Submission portal