CFPs: It’s not too late.

Some calls for papers to SCMLA and MLA are still active.

The Southwest Conference on Christianity and Literature is also now taking proposals.

full name / name of organization:
Evan Getz
contact email:
egetz AT hbu DOT edu
cfp categories:
religion
>From Lesser Lights to Greater: Grace and Literary Traditions

Houston Baptist University, Houston, Texas
October 1-3, 2009

Keynote Speaker: Phillip Donnelly, Baylor University

CALL FOR PAPERS
James 1:17 states, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.” Since antiquity Christians have affirmed that God is the source of language, that he invests language with meaning, and that language may convey prevenient grace. At the same time, Christians have also been keenly aware that, as a result of the Fall, language can conceal God’s grace. Within language there arises a tension between revealing and concealing, which has formed and informed much of literature and its study. This conference aims to explore the implications of this tension as reflected in the literature and literary theory of Christian and non-Christian writers.

We invite papers that comment upon the relationship between literature, language, and God’s grace, which may include the following sub-topics:

Christianity, literature, and nature
The iconic or iconoclastic in literature
Sacramentalism and the written word
Christianity and the Trivium: Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric
Christianity and literary hermeneutics
The Bible as literature
Realist and representational literature
The plenty or poverty of language
Literary outworkings of cataphatic and apophatic theology
Other topics related to literature, language, and grace

Inquiries are welcomed at any time. Abstracts should be submitted online by May 1, 2009 to www.hbu.edu/ccl.

For graduate students, CCL offers up to $500 for travel expenses incurred from participating (i.e., presenting a paper) at a regional CCL meeting.
For further information about applying, see the CCL website:
www.pepperdine.edu/sponsored/ccl/awardsandcontests/gradstudentgrant.htm/.

Houston Baptist University in the southwest quadrant of Houston. Tours of local museums and other social events will be part of the conference.