CfA: Councils and Conciliarism. Conceptions, Productions, Perceptions

For its thematic issue 2015 the Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Religions und Kulturgeschichte has chosen to focus on «Councils and Conciliarism». Regarding the spatial dimension, amongst others the territory of present-day Switzerland shall be dealt with. Contributions may examine specific councils or adopt longer-term comparative perspectives focussing on processes of reception. A particular point of interest would be the reception of medieval councils, such as Lateran IV. At the same time the councils of Constance and Basel, which have already attracted significant attention from scholars, as well as the lesser known Council of Lausanne shall be investigated. To this end we propose a framework with three thematic perspectives. The first would be a structurally comparative approach to late medieval Conciliarism, to ecclesiological conceptions and their initiators, and to their consequences for the late medieval Church. How did conciliarist objectives become a sword of Damocles hanging over a monarchistically conceived papacy? What dynamics developed? How did conciliarism weaken the pre-Reformation Church, as shown by the Fifth Council of the Lateran on the eve of the Reformation as well as the delay in convening and realising the Council of Trent? The second thematic area includes the staging of the councils and of individual actors and thus of the policy of the councils. How were the councils set up as «events»? How did actors like the Emperor and the kings and princes position themselves towards the councils? How did the councils bring together local and translocal potentates, with the territory of present-day Switzerland becoming a space where channels of communication crossed and thickened? How did the Protestant Reformers and the Catholic theologians (e.g. the School of Salamanca) behave towards conciliarism? The third area concerns the perception and reception of the various councils, both as events and as sources of ideas, also outside the Church. How did chroniclers report on the councils? What role did the staging of the councils as «events» play in their perception and in the public awareness it created? Papers may be in German, French, Italian or English, and should be between 25,000 and 40,000 characters in length (including spaces). All contributions will be subject to a double blind peer review. Publication is planned for late autumn 2015. Potential contributors are invited to submit a title and abstract (maximum 1000 characters) before the beginning of September 2014. Please send these by email to Dr. Franziska Metzger, chief editor SZRKG, franziska.metzger@unifr.ch. Completed contributions must be submitted in the same way by the end of April 2015.