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The 2012 Student Essay Contest

THE ECUMENICAL LEGACY OF THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL

On the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, students in professional or graduate programs in theology and religious studies are invited to consider how best to promote Christian unity today. Papers exploring confessional responses to Vatican II, the council’s impact on ecumenism, or papers that speculate on the ecumenical implications of a future council are encouraged. Each contestant’s conclusions should be presented in a scholarly essay of moderate length (20-30 pages, or approximately 12,500 words, double spaced).  Essays written for course credit may be submitted as contest entries.

June 15, 2012 DEADLINE

Award: The author of the winning essay will receive an award of $250 and funding to attend the 2012 NAAE conference at Atlantic School of Theology, Halifax, Nova Scotia CANADA, September 21-23, where he or she will be invited to present a précis of the essay. The Journal of Ecumenical Studies publishes winning essays of sufficient scholarly merit.

 

The essays will be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria: (1) awareness of the significance of the topic for the ecumenical move-ment, (2) soundness of argument (both from a logical and from a theological perspective), (3) use of primary sources (church documents, agreed statements from the World Council of Churches, and ecumenical dialogues at the national or international levels), (4) familiarity with the relevant secondary literature, (5) creativity of approach to the theme, and (6) scholarly style. In awarding points, readers will take into account the level of studies at which the entrant is currently working. Further information about the essay contest and biblio-graphical resources can be found at: http://www.naae.net/

Essays (in English or French) and a brief biographical sketch of the author should be submitted (electronically if possible, preferably in MS Word format) by June 15, 2012 to Essay Coordinator, Dr. William McDonald, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at the following address:

Tennessee Wesleyan College, 204 E. College Street, Athens, TN 37303