We’re pleased to announce that the call for submissions for Finding the Golden Key: Essays Towards a Recovery of the Sacramental Imagination is now live!
The Society of St. Dionysius the Areopagite is pleased to solicit proposals for a new essay collection on re-enchantment and a recovery of the sacramental imagination. You can read the whole pitch on our home page.
- The final essays should use MLA-style formatting, and should be between 4,000-6,000 words.
- Abstract submissions will remain open until December 31st, 2021.
- Full drafts will be due for editing and peer review by March 31st, 2022.
- The finalized version of each essay will be due by July 30th, 2022.
In the meantime, watch this space for blog entries, interviews with our essayists, and quotes from our commonplace book!
Greetings, Friends in Christ,
About a month ago I submitted an inquiry regarding your Finding the Golden Key project. I received no answer. My question was about the possibility of submitting a completed manuscript, on-topic and of the requisite length (I actually have two and possibly three essays that should be of interest). So, today, I submitted two different 500-word abstracts. I included my email address (not a Gmail account). Will I hear from you? I have a difficulty with Gmail, in that I have an essentially moribund account and share my wife’s account, so that our home computer defaults to her Gmail. I don’t understand all this; perhaps you will. In any case, I am very interested in your project and hope that you will find my two proposals interesting. I look forward to hearing from you. Your description of your weekly gatherings is immensely appealing: I have many connections to the Dallas-Ft Worth area, family, academic and ecclesial. Friends of mine have long engaged in similar discussions over the great books, though without quite the admirable regularity you have managed. Keep it up!
Nathan Lefler,
Professor, Theology/Religious Studies
The University of Scranton
Dr. Lefler,
We did receive your submissions. I hope to have all of our responses out within the week. Thank you for your patience!
Hi, again,
I have just submitted a very slightly edited version of my second proposal, on “Fiction as a Vehicle of Truth and Grace….” Please take the most recent (second) version and ignore the first. I have made no adjustments or further submissions in connection to my other proposal, on “Tolkien as Magister.”
I look forward to hearing from you, in due course. Thank you very much for making this project available to the general public!
In Christ,
Nathan Lefler
Thanks Nathan, will do. We hope to reply to all of our submitters within the week!
I submitted a proposal a while ago and I am wondering if it was received, or what kind of timeline there is for any kind of response – like simply, “Got it! We’ll let you know when we can if your idea will fit our book.”
Dr. Ford, thank you for your patience! We hope to have a response back to all of our submitters within the week.
I submitted an abstract! Very excited about this project!
When can I expect a response?
Grayson, thank you for your patience. We intend to get out responses to all of our submitters within the week.
Hello Richard and the rest of the SSDA team!
I realize the deadline for abstract submissions has passed, but I just found this site yesterday and noticing that the submission form was still open, decided to see if I could squeeze one in! I am really excited about your Golden Key project and it just pained me to think you might not have the chance to include something on Sigrid Undset among your essays, because she is such a fantastic artist and has such a profoundly sacramental vision. The topic I submitted on redemptive suffering is definitely hugely important in her works, but sadly it just scratches the surface of her rich sacramental imagination. There are so many other ways one could approach how her writing reveals the created world “as a vehicle of God’s uncreated grace” and I would definitely submit other ideas if it were not already so late. I hope you have had others propose pieces on her! If not and you would still be interested in considering any other ideas, please let me know and I would be thrilled to contribute whatever I can. Thank you for your work in this project!
Many blessings,
Erin Kamprath
P.S. If you are looking to keep the discussion primarily to fantasy works, it’s true that Kristin Lavransdatter is more properly historical fiction; I would mention, however, that there are fantastic elements due to some paganism still present in Norway at this time, including Kristin’s highly significant encounter with an elf-maiden in the first chapter.
Erin, thanks for reaching out! We hope to respond soon.
For those who submitted an abstract, are we to expect any feedback or communication before we submit our article?
Norm,
We hope to get a response out to all of our submitters within the week. Thank you for your patience!