By Leo Guardado
The Concilium board of editors gathered from May 18-21, 2024 in Palermo, Sicily for the journal’s annual meeting. Meetings were held in the Convento del Carmine Maggiore, run by the Carmelite fathers. The historic church and convent provided a simple and quiet environment for lodging, prayer, and discernment regarding important issues for the future of the journal. As in previous years, the annual meeting was strategically scheduled to coincide with a major religious or theological conference so that editors could both contribute as well as partake in the rich intellectual discussions of the conference. This year, the board met a few days before the seventh annual European Academy of Religion conference (May 20-23, 2024).
A two-day Concilium Seminar titled “Nicaea after 1700 Years: critical insights into a living legacy” was organized as part of the conference. Concilium president Susan Abraham opened the seminar with remarks that located the gift and challenge of Nicaea in a global context, followed by insights from Alberto Melloni (former Concilium editor and now on the advisory board) titled, “Transmitting the Faith, Preserving Orthodoxy.” Panels in this special seminar were diverse, focusing on questions of historical reception (e.g. among the Goths), interreligious thought (with Islam), ecumenical experience (e.g. Pentecostal, charismatic, World Council of Churches), feminist interpretation, intercultural encounter (in Indian and Filipino contexts), and its effect on the liturgical reforms and on ecclesiology in the post-Vatican II period. The closing roundtable brought these diverse perspectives into a dynamic discussion about the place of Greek philosophical categories in Christian thought and the challenges brought forth by decolonial theology and a global church.
At the annual meeting the Concilium editors reviewed the published issues from the past year and made decisions about the five topics for the 2026 issues. The respective publishers made reports about subscriptions, print and digital sales, opportunities for growth, and the challenges of reaching a global church, academy, and society that has very different concerns depending on region. We also said goodbye to some editors and welcomed new editors to the board. In the coming weeks and months, we will post short videos introducing you to the editors. Among the new editors are Antonina Wozna (Valencia, Spain), Viorel Coman (Bucharest, Romania), Jonas Hagedorn (Bochum, Germany), Leonard Katchekpele (Frankenthal, Germany), Cesar Kuzma (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), and Richard Wood (Los Angeles/Albuquerque, USA). We welcome them all!
We are in the process of refreshing our website and of increasing our digital presence on social media, so expect to hear from us more often. Thank you for your commitment to Concilium, and to theology that reflects a church alive with the gospel in the spirit of Vatican II.
