CFP: International Journal for Philosophy of Religion Special Issue: Approaches to Faith

We seek papers, poems, short stories, biographies, etc. that fit the theme Approaches to Faith. We aim to create a collection that will deepen our understanding of faith, thought of as a psychological state, attitude, orientation, or stance, whether secular or religious. Preference will be given to submissions that exhibit clarity of expression and familiarity with the concerns of contemporary life. Send all contributions to Dan Howard-Snyder, Daniel McKaughan, and Rebekah Rice at [email protected], ricer@spu .edu, and [email protected] with “IJPR faith” in the subject line. All submissions must be prepared for blind review. Deadline: August 31, 2016.  

Although any submission that fits our theme will be considered for publication, here are some questions that might be useful guides. What is faith? Do our ways of speaking about faith—e.g., “person of faith,” “keeping faith,” “faith that…,” “faith in…,” “taking it on faith,” etc.—designate different things? If so, how should we distinguish them, how are they related to each other, and how are they related to belief, doubt, desire, volition, the emotions, behavior, and other aspects of human psychology and action? Do they have anything interesting in common? Is faith valuable? If so, does its value depend on contingencies like the value of its object, or the circumstances in which it is possessed, or what caused it? Is its value merely instrumental? Or is it in some way valuable in its own right? How is faith related to things we care about, e.g. friendship, marriage, parenthood, our future selves, scientific and other forms of inquiry, knowledge, rationality, wisdom, understanding, love, etc.? Assuming there is a religious ultimate reality, is our faith important in our relation to it? Is faith a virtue? Whether or not it is a virtue, does it have a significant role to play in the goodness of a good human life? Do literature, the arts, or the lives of certain people, contribute to our understanding of faith, its nature or (dis)value?