The Society for Pentecostal Studies welcomes you to the official information center for our 40th Annual Meeting, hosted by Memphis Theological Seminary, and All Saints Bible College, Memphis, TN, March 10-12, 2011.

Detailed information about the upcoming meeting will be provided later in the year. The 2011 Call for Papers may be found below.

Download the Call for Papers (PDF)

2011 Annual Meeting: Call for Papers
Society for Pentecostal Studies

March 10-12, 2011
Memphis Theological Seminary and All Saints Bible College
Memphis, TN

The Society for Pentecostal Studies invites you to participate in the 2011 annual meeting. The program will feature a number of plenary sessions exploring different aspects of the conference theme. In addition, there will be several parallel sessions that relate to the following ten interest groups of SPS: Asian/American, Bible, Christian Ethics, Ecumenical Studies, History, Missions & Intercultural Studies, Philosophy, Practical Theology/Christian Formation, Religion and Culture, and Theology.

Memphis, Tennessee, the site of the 2011 SPS annual meeting, occupies a sacred place in Pentecostal history. Memphis is the home of the Church of God in Christ; it birthed the Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches of North America in 1994; and the historic Mason Temple provided the venue for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech the night before he died in 1968.

Theme: "Receiving the Future: An Anointed Heritage"

This meeting will be an opportunity to stage research on and to listen to voices from the heritage of African-American Pentecostalism and the broader Pentecostal/Charismatic movements and to explore their place in the larger Christian tradition, with an emphasis on the ecumenical heritage of Christians together in racial, ecclesial, and global contexts. It will be an opportunity to reflect upon the development of Pentecostalism in Latin America and its lessons for North America. How does the Spirit’s anointing empower the community for transformation in the world? As agents of reconciliation? For understanding our heritage as a gift for the fulfillment of human life? Likewise, this meeting will be an occasion to suggest to one another scholarly directions that will bless the churches in their reconciling hope, missionary engagement, and future renewal in response to Christ’s call that all may be one (John 17).

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Paper Proposals

All plenary sessions will address the conference theme in some significant way. It is not necessary that all parallel sessions relate directly to this theme, but it is hoped that scholars will use this venue to explore these issues from biblical, theological, historical, ecumenical, practical, cultural, aesthetic, and missional perspectives. This may be undertaken through papers and responses, panel discussions, or other creative avenues.

Proposals should be 500 words in length and should include a working title, a statement of the problem and scope of the project, a brief discussion of the methodology, and a tentative conclusion. Proposals should be made via the links below to the leader of the appropriate Interest Group: Asian/Asian-American, Bible, Christian Ethics, Ecumenical Studies, History, Missions & Intercultural Studies, Philosophy, Practical Theology/Christian Formation, Religion & Culture, and Theology.

Proposals are due to the appropriate Interest Group Leader (IGL) no later than July 15, 2010. Each proposal will be acknowledged by email from the IGL or chair within two weeks of submission. In the absence of such a reply, one should send an email directly to the appropriate person (click name below) to ensure that the online form was received.

By September 30, 2010, proposers should hear from their respective Interest Group Leaders on the status of their paper proposals.

If your proposal is accepted, completed papers must be submitted in a format established by the SPS guidelines no later than January 15, 2011. Submitting a paper proposal commits presenters to submit a completed paper according to established guidelines by January 15, to be a member of the Society, to attend the March 2011 meeting, and to present their papers in the specified section (if the proposal is accepted). Submitting a paper proposal also authorizes SPS to include the paper in its Parallel Session Paper Collection (CD-ROM and Online).

Please follow the instructions below to complete an online form that will be emailed to the appropriate Interest Group Leader.

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Submit Your Proposal

The Call for Papers for the 2011 SPS meeting is now closed.
Additional details about the meeting are coming soon.

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