EuARe Panel: Making the St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology
This panel at the EuARe 2024 conference in Palermo, Italy reflects on the development of the Encyclopaedia.
Speakers: Brendan Wolfe, Rebecca Walker
Respondents: Cyril Hovorun, Joanna Leidenhag, Markus Mühling, Luis Oviedo, Thomas Pfau, Gijsbert Van Den Brink
The St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology is a major multifaith resource, with sections on five religious traditions in various states of development. The Christian section hosts a growing collection of over one hundred published articles, with more than three hundred commissioned.
As the its Christian section enters its second year of publication, this panel reflects on the Encyclopaedia's development in its technical, theological, and intellectual structures, future trajectories for growth, and questions about the challenges facing public platforms of Christian theology today.
Contributions from Encyclopaedia authors and readers are invited in the form of 5-10 minutes discussion points, which will be followed by questions and dialogue, on topics such as the following:
1) What challenges face the encyclopaedia's Christianity section as it conceptualizes 'theology' and attempts to map its contours?
2) How have Encyclopaedia authors captured the complexity of their topic while still presenting it encyclopaedically?
3) What is the audience for theology in today's world?
4) How can the Encyclopaedia meet the technical challenges posed by the needs of its readers?
5) Should an Encyclopaedia of theology seek to change the field or to describe it?