
Manuscripts should follow the endnote system specified in the latest edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. All text must be double-spaced in a clear, easy-to-read twelve-point typeface on 8 1/2 x 11 inch pages. Text should be left justified with all margins at least one inch. Submissions should use endnotes. You may cite your own work, but do not use wording that identifies you as the author. Essays are generally not to exceed 7,500 words, including endnotes and other printed matter. Spiritus will acknowledge receipt of your manuscript, but will not return it after review. Prospective contributors are encouraged to correspond with the editors prior to submitting manuscripts.
Submit manuscripts electronically to:
Glen G. Scorgie, PhD
Professor Emeritus of Theology, Bethel Seminary of Bethel University
email: g-scorgie@bethel.edu
Inquiries concerning book reviews should be made to:
Amanda Avila Kaminski, PhD
Texas Lutheran University
email: akaminski@tlu.edu
For poetry submissions: submit up to five previously unpublished poems, together with a brief author's bio (in a single .doc/.docx document) to:
Mark Burrows, PhD
University of Applied Sciences, Bochum (Germany)
email: mark.s.burrows@gmail.com
Please supply an abstract of 100 or fewer words with your paper.
Spiritus will consider for publication essays written on topics that pertain to the discipline of Christian spirituality. The journal is committed to creative engagement with Christian tradition and to critical reflection on the relationship of Christian spirituality with non-Christian religious traditions. We encourage interdisciplinary inquiry into the subject of spirituality that includes literature and the arts, philosophy, science and politics. We encourage authors to submit essays that focus on the contemporary situation and speak to current issues and debates.
On these pages you will find instructions for submitting and formatting an article or poem, a style sheet for articles, and special guidelines for book reviews.
All essays submitted to Spiritus are subjected to a blind, peer-review process. Therefore please omit any information that would identify you as author.
Style Sheet for Essays
References to the Bible may be included within the text of the article, in parentheses, before the final punctuation of the sentence. Use the abbreviations of biblical books in the Chicago Manual. Separate chapter from verse with a colon. The version you are quoting should be mentioned in the first citation only.
(a) General rule for endnotes
The general rule is simple. Your first citation of a published work should give all the relevant information. Every reference thereafter should use only the original author's last name and a short title for the book or article, followed by a page number.
This general rule has two negative corollaries, both noted above. Spiritus does not use ibid. or loc. cit. or op. cit., and we do not use bibliographies or lists of works consulted. Bibliographical information for any work consulted will appear in the first endnote that refers to that work.
(b) First endnote - books
In the first endnote for a book, give the author's name, the title, and (in parentheses) the place of publication, publisher, and date; the page number follows, as in this example.1
1 Cristina Mazzoni, The Women in God's Kitchen: Cooking, Eating, and Spiritual Writing (New York: Continuum, 2005), 33-37.
(c) First endnote - articles
For an article, the order is: author's name, title of the article, name of the journal, volume number, year (in parentheses), and after a colon and a space, the page number. It is helpful, though not absolutely necessary, to provide the range of pages for the whole article, as well as the page or pages you are referring to, as in the example.2
2 Belden C. Lane, "Merton's Hermitage: Bachelard, Domestic Space, and Spiritual Transformation," Spiritus 4 (2004): 123-150, at 128.
(d) First endnote - chapters in an edited book
The form for a chapter in an edited book combines (b) and (c), like this.3
3 Constance FitzGerald, "Impasse and the Dark Night," in Joann Wolski Conn, ed., Women's Spirituality: Resources for Christian Development, 2nd ed. (New York: Paulist Press, 1996), 410-450.
(e) Subsequent endnotes
Once complete information has been given, use a short title (which you should determine) in each subsequent endnote, whether of a book4 or an article or chapter.5
4 Mazzoni, The Women in God's Kitchen, 131.
5 FitzGerald, "Impasse and Dark Night," 415.
(f) Some additional instructions
6 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III q. 2 a. 1 reply; see also Augustine, De Trinitate VIII 4 (6).
7 According to Sedgwick, "Of these articles, only Rachel Hosmer provides a view of the field" (Sedgwick, "Accounting," 177).
The Hopkins Press Journals Ethics and Malpractice Statement can be found at the ethics-and-malpractice page.
Submission Policy
Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality (SCS) accepts solicited and unsolicited manuscripts. They must be:
Preliminary Review
Peer Review
What is main aim of the paper?
Does the paper succeed in its aim?
Do you think it is a worthwhile project?
Do you recommend (please pick one):
a) Unconditional acceptance
b) Acceptance subject to small revisions
c) Acceptance subject to substantial revisions
d) Rejection but a positive encouragement to revise and resubmit
e) Rejection but a non-committal invitation to resubmit a substantially revised edition
f) Rejection
If you recommend f) Is this due to
a) The poor quality of the paper?
b) The paper being inappropriate for the journal?
Timetable
4-6 weeks for review process
From submission to publication great variation: 4 to 10 (on occasion, 12) months
Informal Pieces
Occasional “Perspectives” essays; determined as “Perspectives” by Editor, same review (double blind) process.
Glen G. Scorgie, Bethel University
Amanda Avila Kaminski, Texas Lutheran University
Mark Burrows, The University of Applied Sciences, Bochum, Germany
Mary Beth Bowen, Oblate School of Theology
Melody Escobar, Oblate School of Theology
J. Matthew Ashley, University of Notre Dame
Michael Battle, PeaceBattle Institute
Lisa E. Dahill, California Lutheran University
Pieter G.R. de Villiers, University of the Free State
Rebecca G. Giselbrecht, University of Zurich, Theological Faculty
Bo Karen Lee, Princeton Theological Seminary
John McGuckin, Union Theological Seminary/Columbia University
Kristy Nabhan-Warren, University of Iowa
Pan Yi Jung, China Graduate School of Theology
Michael O’Sullivan, SJ, Spirituality Institute for Research and Education, Dublin
Annemarie Paulin-Campbell, The Jesuit Institute of South Africa
Philip Sheldrake, Cambridge Theological Federation
Claire E. Wolfteich, Boston University School of Theology
Wendy M. Wright, Creighton University
Simeon Zahl, University of Oxford
John Chryssavgis, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Sarah Coakley, Cambridge University
Joann Wolski Conn, Neumann College
Georgia Frank, Colgate University
Amy Hollywood, Harvard Divinity School
Kwok Pui-lan, Episcopal Divinity School
Belden C. Lane, St. Louis University
Bernard McGinn, University of Chicago Divinity School
Barbara Newman, Northwestern University
Hugh Page, University of Notre Dame
William Reiser, SJ, College of Holy Cross
Janet K. Ruffing, RSM, Yale Divinity School
Don E. Saliers, Candler School of Theology, Emory University
Sandra M. Schneiders, Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University
Columba Stewart, OSB, Saint John’s University
Rowan Williams, Magdalene College, Cambridge University
Philip Zaleski, Smith College
Send books for review to:
Amanda Avila Kaminski, PhD
Assistant Professor of Theology
Texas Lutheran University
1000 West Court Street
Seguin, Texas 78155
email: akaminski@tlu.edu
Please send book review copies to the contact above. Review copies received by the Johns Hopkins University Press office will be discarded.
Source: Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory.
0.4 (2022)
0.3 (Five-Year Impact Factor)
0.00051 (Eigenfactor™ Score)
Rank in Category (by Journal Impact Factor):
Note: While journals indexed in AHCI and ESCI are receiving a JIF for the first time in June 2023, they will not receive ranks, quartiles, or percentiles until the release of 2023 data in June 2024.
© Clarivate Analytics 2023
Published twice a year
Readers include: Scholars and students of Christian spirituality, biblical literature, theology, and religion; clergy, educators, and interested laypersons
Print circulation: 400
Full Page: (4.75 x 7.5") - $375.00
Half Page: (4.75 x 3.5") - $281.00
2 Page Spread - $563.00
Spring Issue - February 15
Fall Issue - August 15
Promotion (400x200 pixels) - $281.00
Online advertising reservations are placed on a month-to-month basis.
All online ads are due on the 20th of the month prior to the reservation.
For more information on advertising or to place an ad, please visit the Advertising page.
eTOC (Electronic Table of Contents) alerts can be delivered to your inbox when this or any Hopkins Press journal is published via your ProjectMUSE MyMUSE account. Visit the eTOC instructions page for detailed instructions on setting up your MyMUSE account and alerts.
Hopkins Press Journals