News
A large-scale gathering of religious scholars, publishers, and librarians in the United States has yielded promising new ideas for the publications programme of the World Council of Churches (WCC) over the next few years. The joint meeting of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature held in Denver (17-20 November) attracted an estimated 10,000 participants, many with an interest in global ecumenism.
WCC’s editorial consultant, Michael West, and Professor Dr Benjamin Simon, represented WCC Publications. In an interview following the event, both agreed that their meetings with other publishers and with prospective authors have stimulated ideas for future publishing initiatives.
“For WCC books programme, the meeting was especially helpful in connecting with theological librarians, who follow our publishing closely, and with publishers who are developing their digital collections,” says West. “Networking the metadata of these research collections is a promising new project of the library associations that will enhance the visibility and discoverability of our materials.“
Simon points to the connection between conversations at the AAR and the first issue of IRM in 2019 that will feature mission scholars with disabilities who often work in the margins because of their physical challenges.
“The notion of inclusiveness of churches has become in our days a crucial one and this was obvious at the AAR,” Simon notes. “Other topics which seem to be of interest for the wider audience of IRM deal with mission in a multireligious world and the relationship between mission and development.”
Simon, who is on the faculty of the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, notes: “The AAR is a very inspiring platform, where a lot of networking and exchange of ideas takes place. For example, I met with some colleagues who would be interested in having joint seminars with our students. It also became obvious that we have to deal much more with world Christianity, the academic discipline that includes questions of ecumenical and missiological interest.”
WCC journals are available on subscription through Wiley Publications.
