Letter from the Editors: September 2013

Contemporary Church History Quarterly

Volume 19, Number 3 (September 2013)

Letter from the Editors: September 2013

By Kyle Jantzen, Ambrose University College

Dear friends,

An altar from the Mainzer Dom (St. Martin's Cathedral), set of the Archbishop of Mainz.

An altar from the Mainzer Dom (St. Martin’s Cathedral), set of the Archbishop of Mainz.

It is always a joy for me to announce the publication of a new issue of Contemporary Church History Quarterly. It has been a busy summer for the members of the editorial board of CCHQ. In late July, fourteen of the sixteen editors gathered together with a small group of German and American scholars for a conference, “Reassessing Contemporary Church History,” held on the University of British Columbia campus. Mark Edward Ruff, who led the effort to organize the conference (along with Steven Schroeder, Lauren Faulkner, and John Conway himself), has written an extensive report on the papers presented in Vancouver. It is the highlight of this issue of CCHQ.

At the conference, sponsored by both the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the editorial board took advantage of the opportunity to meet for a discussion about the future of the journal. This was a very positive exchange, the result of which is a renewed commitment to provide “news, reviews, and commentary on contemporary religious history with a focus on Germany and Europe in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.” We want to continue John Conway’s tradition of prompt reviews of new books written in language that reaches (indeed, brings together) experts in modern German church history with members of the broader public who are interested in this subject. But we also want to gradually expand the scope of our work (as we have been doing over the past couple of years) by publishing editorials, talks, new research reports, and other similar kinds of writing.

As ever, we hope you enjoy this edition of Contemporary Church History Quarterly, even as we have already begun to plan for a full slate of reviews in our upcoming December issue.

On behalf of the editorial team,

Kyle Jantzen, Ambrose University College

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