Call for contributions for special issue “Religion and Attention: Practices, Ethics, and Transformations in Contemporary Contexts” of the Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation (JRAT)

Deadline for paper proposals (up to 500 words excluding references): September 13, 2026

Deadline for finished contributions only after acceptance of the proposal (30.000 signs including spaces): February 1, 2027

Please mark: The finished contributions will be subject to rigorous peer review - acceptance of the proposal does not guarantee publication.

The panel “Theology and Attention” took place at the European Academy of Religion in July 2026 in Rome. The contributions will be published in a special issue of peer-reviewed JRAT. With this special issue we invite the contributors to the panel as well as other researcher to join the conversation on the topic. 

Our present age is characterized by a constant competition for our attention — shaped, fragmented, and directed by digital technologies, media environments, and social structures. As a result, attention has emerged as a central category in contemporary philosophy, education, psychology, and media studies. Yet attention is equally fundamental to theology and religious studies, where it has long been connected to practices of contemplation, discernment, ethical responsibility, and the formation of religious communities.

This special issue approaches the question of attention from a theological and religious studies perspectives: What constitutes attention, and to what extent can it be guided, cultivated, or controlled? Which religious practices attract or cultivate attention? How do the attention logics of algorithms reshape religious practices and experiences? What practices of attention can be identified within religious traditions — such as compassion, empathy, and (neighbourly) love — and how might they offer alternative models of perceiving and responding to the world? What are the negative dimensions of attention — for example, phenomena such as attention fatigue in health care or exposure — and how do they challenge theological or ethical reflection? Finally, what role does attention play in reinforcing or challenging global inequalities?

We welcome both theoretical contributions that examine attention on an abstract or analytical level and practical studies that address it in applied settings, for instance in spiritual counselling, religious education or pastoral care. We invite papers from all theological disciplines, ethics, religious studies, and related fields that investigate the relationship between religion and attention in a broad sense.

Proposals for papers (up to 500 words) accompanied by a short CV (one page) are welcome until 13 September 2026, and should be sent to angelika.ganser@univie.ac.at . Papers must be written in English. Full texts of up to 30,000 characters must be prepared by 1 February 2027 for accepted proposals.

 

We are looking forward to your contributions!

 

Ass.-Prof. Dr. Tabea Ott, University of Vienna

Dr. Ann-Sophie Markert, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Madlen Geidel, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg