Call for Papers

Submission Deadline: October 17, 2025

Holiness of Heart and Life

The original intention of the Wesleyan/Methodist Movement has been memorably described as “Church-of-Englandism felt,” and John Wesley himself called sanctification “the grand deposit which God has lodged with the people called Methodists.” Sanctification is a doctrine, of course, but it also a way of life. This call for papers asks for engagement around issues of sanctification, Christian perfection, growth in holiness, the life of faith, and discipleship—not only biblically, theologically, and historically, but also pastorally and culturally. Papers are particularly invited from a meta-perspective which directly addresses divisions between the church and academy on this subject and suggests ways to counter those divisions and translate solid Biblical theology and historical knowledge into practical attempts to address a polarized culture. The theme should be interpreted broadly, and proposals that do not fit the theme will be considered, as space allows (one proposal submission per submitter, please).

Potential topics that could be explored:

  • Biblical narratives of holiness and the holy

  • Biblical accounts of discipleship and disciple-making

  • Historical accounts of Christian movements wrestling with definitions of and issues of holiness and sanctification

  • The complex relationship between sanctification and asceticism

  • Explanations of and critiques of views on holiness held by various figures or movement

  • The relationship of Wesleyan conceptions of holiness and sanctification to similar conceptions in other traditions

  • Worship as the approach to (and, in lived experience, often the flight from) the holy

  • Ecclesial structures as both carriers of and barriers to holiness

  • The relationship between sanctification and deification/theosis

  • Distortions—theological, Biblical, historical, and practical—of holiness ideals

  • Cultural contextualization (around the globe and down through time) of the doctrine of holiness

  • Implications of various understandings of discipleship for pop culture and the arts

  • Explorations of how holiness teaching relates to concepts of justice and liberation

  • Accounts of practical experiments with and conflicts with local churches around issues of holiness and discipleship

  • The specific history of the American Holiness Movement (including the history of WTS itself)