This call for abstracts focuses on new research associated with the historical relationship between sport and Christianity. There is growing scholarly interest in this topic, as evidenced by the recent inaugural global congress on sport and Christianity held at York St John University in the United Kingdom (24-28 August 2016), where a conference strand was devoted to historical perspectives. While papers presented at the congress are the prime target of this proposed special issue, the editors encourage the submission of additional abstracts on the theme of sport, history and Christianity from a range of temporal, geographic, methodological and thematic perspectives.
Topics for this special issue could include, but are certainly not limited to:
- The historical development of muscular Christianity around the globe
- Biographical studies of Christian athletes, coaches and administrators
- The development of sport in Christian organizations such as the YMCA and the YWCA or particular church-based clubs or leagues
- The historical relationship between Christianity, politics and sport
- Sport and Sabbatarianism as manifested in different communities
Submission instructions
We invite the formal submission of abstracts (maximum of 300 words) from congress delegates and other scholars, to be submitted before 20 December 2016 to all three Guest Editors. Notification of the acceptance of abstracts for the special issue will be provided by 15 January 2017.
Once abstracts are accepted, it is expected that all completed papers will be submitted via ScholarOne on the journal website (Please select the ‘Sport and Christianity’ tab from the drop-down special issue menu). The deadline for submission is 31 March 2017.
Please note that for this particular special issue, papers should be limited to a maximum of 8,000 words, inclusive of notes. All submitted papers will undergo double-blind peer-review, and must be revised according to feedback from the reviewers and, where necessary, the comments from Guest Editors. It is expected that the special issue will be published in August 2017.
The editors for the special issue will be:
- Hugh McLeod (University of Birmingham, UK) d.h.mcleod@bham.ac.uk
- Nils Martinius Justvik (University of Agder, Norway) nils.justvik@uia.no
- Rob Hess (Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia) Robert.Hess@vu.edu.au
