Call for Papers: Why we (still) celebrate on Sundays …

Ecumenical-Liturgical Perspectives on the Question of the Rationale of Sunday Services in Times of Ecclesial Transformation

The most recent church membership study by the Protestant Church in Germany confirmed the trend of previous empirical studies: The number of people attending church services is declining – on both the Protestant and Catholic side. Churches of Eastern traditions are often not an exception. It is still unclear whether attendance will return to pre-Covid-19 levels after the pandemic, or whether Covid-19 had a further accelerating effect on this development.

In view of the ‘statistics of decline,’ some voices are openly raising the question whether it is actually still appropriate or – to put it more pointedly – justifiable to stick to the standard practice of celebrating (more or less) traditional Sunday morning services. For example, Hanna Jacobs, in an article for Die Zeit in May 2024, asks if there is not too much energy and time flowing into this form of worship and if this wouldn’t prevent other ways of communicating the Gospel from being developed, tested and strengthened?

This discussion has prompted us to issue a Call for Papers in the field of Liturgical Studies. What arguments and perspectives do liturgical scholars contribute to this question from an ecumenical perspective? Which figures of justification for traditional forms of worship (or their transformation or abolition) are perceived and critically discussed in different contexts? What orienting and possibly action-guiding options do liturgical scholars develop from their respective perspectives? How do scholars from other regional contexts view this Central European discussion?

The Call for Papers is open until Februar 28, 2025. Submissions, or abstracts for potential submissions, will be processed and peer reviewed upon receipt (cf. https://exfonte.org) and, in case of acceptance, published.

We look forward to receiving submissions of different forms and length: from a short, pointed, and well-argued academic statement (min. 8.000 characters) to a detailed, reflective contribution in classic artical length (ca. 15,000 to 50,000 characters, incl. spaces).

Download the Call for Papers here (.PDF)