Call for Papers for Special Issue: Rites Revisited: Confirmation Work and Youth in a Plural Europe
A Special Issue In: Journal for the Study of Religion, Worldviews, and Education https://journal.fi/ukk/about
Guest Editor-In-Chief: Caroline Klintborg
Call for Papers
This themed issue explores confirmation as a religious rite of passage in the context of a plural and changing Europe. While confirmation has deep historical roots within Christian traditions, its contemporary expressions are increasingly shaped by religious diversity, secularization, shifting youth cultures, and evolving relationships between church, society, and education.
We invite contributions that revisit confirmation in light of present-day European contexts, examining how young people engage with, interpret, negotiate, or distance themselves from confirmation practices today. The issue seeks to highlight both continuity and change, addressing confirmation as a lived practice, an institutional tradition, and a social phenomenon.
Submissions may be based on quantitative and/or qualitative empirical material, including surveys, interviews, ethnographic studies, and mixed-methods approaches. Contributions offering historical perspectives are also welcome, particularly where they shed light on contemporary developments or long-term transformations of confirmation practices.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Young people’s experiences, motivations, and meaning-making in relation to confirmation
- Confirmation in plural religious, cultural, and social settings
- Comparative and cross-national studies within countries
- Various understandings of confirmation in Protestant, Catholic and other churches
- The role of confirmation in contexts of secularization and religious diversity
- Educational, pedagogical, and formative dimensions of confirmation
- Voluntarism in the context of confirmation work
- Institutional, theological, and sociological perspectives on confirmation
- Historical analyses of confirmation and their relevance for present practices
- Quantitative, qualitative and mixed-method studies on participation, attitudes, and outcomes related to confirmation
The themed issue welcomes interdisciplinary contributions from theology, religious education, sociology of religion, history, and related fields. By revisiting confirmation as a rite in a plural Europe, the issue aims to contribute to broader discussions on youth, religion, and tradition in contemporary European societies. The publication is open access.
- Abstract submission deadline: 1 June 2026
- Full paper submission: 30 October 2026
- Peer-review process: 2026–2027
- Publication year: May/June 2027
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