West Regional Conference on Christianity & Literature
Transformative Journeys:
Literature, Faith, and Metamorphosis
Vanguard University of Southern California
Costa Mesa, CA: April 7-9, 2011              
                              
“Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in,
and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out” (Psalm 121.8). 

Directions to Vanguard University. Parking is free!
Please click here for Registration Fees & Payment. 

>>.PDF Conference Program & Schedule (Updated 3.19.11)
Thanks for participating in this year’s conference!  
We look forward to welcoming you to our campus. 

Transformative Journeys:
Literature, Faith, and Metamorphosis
April 7-9, 2011

The deadline for all submissions is March 1, 2011.
The 2011 deadline has now passed.  Thank you for submitting!
Please click here for a downloadable PDF Call for Papers.

The 2011 Western Regional Conference on Christianity & Literature invites proposals for scholarly or creative panels, interdisciplinary sessions, round tables, or individual fifteen to twenty-minute presentations on the interface between literary studies and Christianity. Panels including undergraduate students are welcome. Special consideration will be given to papers relating to the conference theme, “transformative journeys.”

“Events in our lives happen in a sequence of time, but in their significance to ourselves they find their own order in the continuous thread of revelation,” writes Eudora Welty. Notable for a diverse range of epiphanic and transformative elements, our Christian journeys harbor a rich array of metamorphoses: individual confession, collective testimonies, stories of witness and salvation, the lyric strength of prayer, our forays into the wilderness, or journeys of healing and deliverance. Zora Neale Hurston refers to “years that ask questions and years that answer” as we glean insights through trials, seasonal changes, and generational wisdom shared in communities, or perhaps as poet Rainer Maria Rilke puts it, “the only journey is the one within.” As Christians, our life stories shine outward as forms of witness while our collective faith journeys display the unfolding of God’s divine plan, wherein the pinnacle of creation is manifest in Jesus Christ.

Panel sessions may address any aspect of transformative journeys in all their literal and figurative senses: allegorical voyages, encounters with the divine, the notion of sacrifice, confessional autobiography, survivor narratives, memoirs of rehabilitation and recovery, spiritual metamorphoses, travel writings, diaries, letters, poetry, or film. Literary topics might engage the presence of God in our journeys, the recollection of memory, the role of forgiveness, narrating resistance to oppression and suffering, or the nature of time and human experience. Pedagogy panels on the integration of faith and learning in relation to “transformative journeys” are welcome. The conference theme also applies to cultural exchanges in global settings, distance and time in our digital age, travel in film and literature, or encounters at crossroads, i.e. “the road less taken.”

Plenary Session
Keynote speaker Dr. Jeff Hittenberger, Provost at Vanguard University and a noted speaker on Christian higher education, will explore personal, spiritual, and community-based aspects of the conference theme in his opening lecture. 
 
Proposal Specifications
Presenters should be members in good standing with the Conference on Christianity and Literature. You may join the organization on-line prior to the conference or at the time of registration. For general information, please visit the West Regional CCL site. 

Each paper proposal, whether individual or part of a session, should include a 350-word abstract, along with a one-page C.V., and an address, phone number, and e-mail for each participant.  Please designate one panel participant as the contact person.  The Program Committee assumes all listed individuals have agreed to participate.  Please indicate audio/visual needs in your proposal.  Presentations will be limited to 15-20 minutes. Presenters should be prepared to provide all handouts and materials necessary for their session. 

Proposals should include…
* descriptive title
* 350 word abstract of the paper or session proposal
* 50-75 word biography of the presenter(s)
* 50-75 word description of the session for the conference program

Graduate Student Grants
Graduate student CCL members may apply for a grant to meet travel and registration fees. Applications must be received before February 1, 2011. See guidelines on the Graduate Student Grant page of the CCL site.

For Submissions or Queries: vuccl [at] ymail.com

>>PDF REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT FORM

Mailing Address
Attn: Dr. Karen Lee
CCL 2011 c/o English Department
Vanguard University of Southern California
55 Fair Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

“Faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life…” (Titus 1.2).