February 15, 2014

To: All Members of the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality

Dear Friends,

As most of you know, at the Annual Meeting of the Society held in Baltimore in November, 2013, Douglas E. Christie, who has given such valuable service as the Editor of Spiritus since 2000, announced that he does not plan to stand for reappointment at the end of his term in November, 2015. According to the Constitution of the SSCS, when the Editor decides not to seek reappointment, the President of the Society, in consultation with the Board of Directors, the Editorial Board of Spiritus, and the Nominations Committee is commissioned to form an ad hoc Search Committee consisting of the Liaison Member of the two boards along with two or three members from these boards. This Search Committee has now been formed, and I’m grateful to Steven Chase, Lisa Dahill, Philip Sheldrake, and Wendy Wright for agreeing to serve on this important committee.

Spiritus is central to the life of the SSCS. It is a special journal, not only for the depth of its scholarly contributions, but also for its originality and aesthetic appeal. It is a major venue for the publication of the research of the members of the Society. Finding a new editor who will uphold the high standard that DougChristie has established is of vital significance for the future of the SSCS.

In the name of the Search Committee, I’m sending this invitation to all the members of the SSCS to ask you to consider making nominations for the position of Editor of Spiritus. Appended to this message you will find a brief job description, which the Search Committee will be happy to expand upon and discuss with anyone who expresses interest.I’m asking you to consider nominations of possible candidates who are currently members of the Society, as well as those who may not be current members of the SSCS, but whom you deem worthy of consideration.Self-nominations are also welcome.

Many skills and talents go into making a good editor: too many to enumerate here. Obviously, a potentialcandidate should be a seasoned scholar who has made signal contributions to the study of spirituality and who possesses a broad knowledge of the field. Experience in editing, either with journals, or with book-editing, would also be a desideratum. We hope that the new editor would be willing to take a creative approach to Spiritus, one that would both build on past success and explore new possibilities. Johns Hopkins University Press, which publishes Spiritus for the SSCS, does provide some funds for editorial expenses, and the SSCS advances a modest remuneration to the Editor. Doug Christie was fortunate in receiving institutional support for his efforts. We hope that this might also be the case for a new editor.

According to the Constitution and the Policy Manual of the SSCS, the Search Committee presents a candidate or candidates to the Board of Directors at the Annual Meeting in the fourth year of the current Editor’s five-year term (in this case, November 2014, in San Diego). The Board of Directors then votes on a candidate, either at this meeting or at some time subsequent. The candidate is then ratified by the general membership at the Annual Meeting in 2015. In light of this schedule, we are contacting the entire membership of the SSCS at this early date asking you to send your nominations or self-nominations to us by April 25, 2014, at the latest. All we need at this stage is a name, contact information if available, and perhaps a sentence or two indicating your reasons for the nomination. We promise to follow up on all these nominations and to request more information where needed. In the name of the committee, I will be happy to accept any nominations. If you are interested in further information or discussion of the choice process, please contact me or any members of the Search Committee.

Sincerely,

Bernard McGinn for the Search Committee

Divinity School; University of Chicago

1025 E. 58th St.

Chicago IL 60637

Other Committee Members: Steven Chase (); Lisa Dahill (); Philip Sheldrake (); and Wendy Wright ()

Brief Description of the Position of Editor of Spiritus

The Editor of Spiritus is responsible for the publication of the journal twice each year, in Spring and Fall. The Spring issue is sent to the publisher (Johns Hopkins University Press) in late January/early February, and the Fall issue is sent in August. The Editor has full responsibility for the content of these issues, but works in consultation with the Book Review Editor, the Poetry Editor, and other interested parties. The Editor also consults with the Editorial Board of Spiritus and gives an annual report to this group at the November Meeting of the Society. In addition, all the activities of the SSCS are guided by the Board of Directors of the Society. The Editor is an ex officio member of the Board of Directors with full voice and vote. To facilitate closer coordination of the Editor and these two Boards, the SSCS created the position of Liaison between the Governing Board and the Spiritus Editorial Board in 2013. Over the past decade submissions to Spiritus have been a combination of independently submitted essays and solicited pieces, largely at the initiative of the Editor. In all cases, however, published essays have involved outside blind review to assess their quality. Photography and poetry have been important to the contribution of Spiritus. While there is a sub-editor for poetry, it seems that Doug Christie has been mostly responsible for choosing the photography that has appeared in the journal. The new Editor will be free to discuss how these aspects of the journal should be conducted in the future. Finally, it is worth noting that promotional efforts have been mostly taken over by Johns Hopkins, which has sought further consultation with the Editor, as well as with the other Officers of the SSCS, to spread knowledge of Spiritus.

1