2023-01-30

Topic of the issue: “The Church’s Response to Secularization”

1. Explanation of the topic

The phenomenon of secularization is not new. It has been observed for many years especially in Europe, but also in North America and other areas of the world. Currently, however, this phenomenon is becoming very dynamic, especially in traditionally Christian countries. One manifestation of secularization, for example, is the severing of ties with religious organizations and communities. Some people are leaving traditional churches in favor of less formal communities, while others are rejecting belief in God altogether and embracing atheism. In practice, secularization manifests itself in the abandonment of religious practices and even of religious education at school. Many researchers say that religion, especially Christianity, is in deep crisis, and that one can already speak, especially in Europe, of a post-Christian era.

The phenomenon of secularization has been, and still is, the subject of a certain amount of scientific analysis. In fact, there are many sociological, psychological and theological studies gauging the current level of secularization and also exploring the underlying causes of this trend. Ongoing research and numerous publications show that we are dealing not only with a crisis of religious values in the broadest sense, but, in particular, weakened attachments to those religious institutions that proclaim a distinct system of beliefs, moral principles and liturgical rites. In the realm of contemporary scientific reflection, especially in the field of pastoral theology, one cannot stop merely at the diagnosis of secularization, however. Such analysis is important, and indeed already quite well developed, but it is ultimately lacking from a theological point of view. It seems legitimate, therefore, to undertake research on the avenues of effective Christian response to secularization in its various dimensions.

For the above reasons, the editors of Verbum Vitae have decided to prepare a special issue of the journal entitled "The Church's Response to Secularization." Thus, we invite researchers from different countries, especially specialists in pastoral theology, to prepare original research articles on this topic. However, we ask that the submitted articles be devoted not only to the diagnosis of secularization, but also offer original proposals as responses to this phenomenon. We are primarily concerned with systemic proposals, such as specific pastoral strategies and models, however we also welcome detailed pastoral-educational approaches that provide practical responses to secularization. We hope that the prepared submissions will provide a developmental impulse for both pastoral theology as a science and also for the everyday pastoral practice of the Church.

2. Deadlines and conditions

Articles may be written in Polish or in one of the Conference languages: English, German, French, Spanish or Italian.

Detailed guidelines for authors: https://czasopisma.kul.pl/vv/about/submissions

Deadline for submission of texts: until the end of December 2023.

Publication date of the issue: March 2024.

Texts should be submitted via the journal’s website: https://czasopisma.kul.pl/vv/

Correspondence with the Editors: verbum.vitae@kul.pl

3. Why is it worth publishing in the Verbum Vitae Quarterly?

The Verbum Vitae quarterly is currently one of the three highest ranking theological journals in Poland. Its Impact Factor in 2020-21 was 1.84. In the latest ratings of journals issued by the Ministry of Education and Science (30.12.2021), our publication was assigned a top score of 100 points. Moreover, Verbum Vitae is represented in the SCOPUS, DOAJ, ATLA and EBSCO scholarly databases. The last three named platforms in fact deliver every article published in our journal in full-text PDF format to every university library in the world. This makes Verbum Vitae an extremely effective venue for academics to participate in the arena of international scientific dialogue.