Locating Catholicity Amid the Complexities of Church and World

Dear Colleagues,

Sitting on the faultline of history and imagination, perhaps no Christian motif has the potential to provoke as much disagreement and debate as the notion of “catholicity.” First mooted in Ignatius’s Epistle to the Smyrnaeans in 110 CE, it was used to convey the broader connections that bound early Christians together beyond specific local communities. It then decisively entered Christian self-understanding in 325 as a core element of the Nicene Creed, where it came to express a sense of the universal mission of the Church in the world. Since then, the term has been wielded by various Christian authorities as a marker of true unity against those labeled as errant. And yet, despite its potential for conjuring painful memories of deep and lasting schisms, catholicity retains the capacity to function as the crucible for imagining future communion among Christians. As a concept, it is a fecund resource irreducible to particular doctrinal formulations, a still potent expression of what many hope to achieve in the twenty-first century and beyond. Such hopes extend to intra-Christian and interreligious dialogue, encompassing how Christians view their role in the broader world. Viewed in this way, there is a critical need for research into the continuing potential of catholicity to stimulate new perspectives on the problems and possibilities of global Christianity. How might catholicity be reimagined in an age of transnational flows of capital, information, and migrants? Does the burgeoning Christian ecological ethic or the experience of the global pandemic portend different theological or practical approaches to Christian comportment in the Anthropocene? How might Catholicity look different in the wake of resurgent nationalism and the 2008 financial collapse? In order to address these and similar kinds of questions, the editors are pleased to invite contributions to this Special Issue, “Locating Catholicity Amid the Complexities of Church and World.” This Special Issue encourages all manner of reflection and research into catholicity as a fulcrum for revisiting Christian thought and practice in a manner consistent with the aims and scope of this journal.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Catholicity and Christian Ecumenicism;
• Catholicity and Inter-religious Dialogue;
• Catholicity and Mission;
• Catholicity and Modernity.

It is hoped that this Special Issue will stimulate a wide range of thoughtful interventions from across diverse academic disciplines, setting the tone for a deeper appreciation of this topic in religious studies and beyond.

We request that, before submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200-300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor, Professor Richard Schaefer (schaefr@plattsburgh.edu), and cc the Assistant Editor of Religion, Clare Chai (clare.chai@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editor for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of this Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Richard Schaefer
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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