Religious Actors and Organisations as Providers of Social Welfare

In Germany as well as in many other countries, religious organisations play an important role in the provision of social services. Nevertheless, in the last years the field is confronted with new problems and challenges. The Special Issue of the Zeitschrift für Religion, Gesellschaft und Politik (ZRGP)/ Journal for Religion, Society and Politics aims to collect papers on social services provided by religious organisations. The contributions may deal with transformations of established institutions, with the appearance of new actors or the disappearance of former ones as well as with the relations between religious and secular actors. We also look for papers on the relevance of religious beliefs and belongings for the provision of social services. Especially the following topics are of special interest:
1. We invite papers analysing the role of churches, denominations and religious organi-sations as providers of social services. The special issue aims to deliver a critical review of the situation in different countries and to explore the transformations of the field in the last decades. Additionally, papers may examine the hybrid nature of these organisations because of their simultaneous inclusion in the field of welfare provision as well as in religious contexts. They are confronted with various challenges as results of processes of secularisation and of religious diversification. Contributions to the special issue may examine how religious providers of social services deal with these challenges.
2. Many social services are provided by voluntary action within religious communities or milieus. This applies especially to ethnic churches and congregations, e.g. mosques or Pentecostal communities. Their activities complement, or sometimes even substitute, social services provided by state institutions. In some cases, the transformation of vol-untary action into professional services can be observed. We invite papers analysing social services of religious volunteers and their relation to professional work.
3. The role of religious actors in the provision of social services differs depending on the religious traditions and the welfare regimes within nation states. Regarding the respec-tive state-church-relationship and welfare tradition, countries offer various contexts and diverse conditions for religious actors in welfare provision. Case studies on differ-ent countries can show the various political, economic and judicial backgrounds for re-ligious actors in welfare provision. They can elaborate their implications and effects on the religious organisations themselves, the clients and users of social services as well as for the welfare state as such.
Please send an abstract (max. 5000 characters, including spaces) in both English or German until May, 15th 2018, to
Marc Breuer m.breuer@katho-nrw.de
Kornelia Sammet sammet@uni-leipzig.de
The proposals for contributions will be presented and discussed during a workshop in Pader-born (Germany). The presenters will then be invited to submit full papers to the ZRGP and undergo the normal peer review of the journal.
The special issue will be published in autumn 2019 in volume 2/2019 of the ZRGP.

Schedule
May, 15th 2018 submission of abstracts to the editors of the special issue
May, 31st 2018 confirmation of acceptance
July, 30th and 31st 2018 workshop in Paderborn
November, 15th 2018 submission of full papers
review
April, 30th 2019 revision of the papers
August 2019 completion of the volume
November 2019 publication in volume 2/2019 of the ZRGP (online first)

The editors of the special issue:

Prof. Dr. Marc Breuer teaches sociology at the Department of Social Sciences, Catholic Uni-versity of Applied Sciences, Paderborn.
Email: m.breuer@katho-nrw.de

Dr. Kornelia Sammet, sociologist, director of the research project (funded by the DFG) on „Worldviews of Unemployed People“ at the University of Leipzig.
Email: sammet@uni-leipzig.de

Journal for Religion, Society and Politics
The aim of the Zeitschrift für Religion, Gesellschaft und Politik (ZRGP) is the analysis of religion and religiosity and their intertwinement with political issues, conflicts and constella-tions; given the extensive processes of religious pluralisation, new and alternative modes of presentation, interpretation and clarification are warranted in order to better understand the relationship of religion and politics as well as their embeddedness in changing societies and religious conflicts, discourses and debates. The ZRGP is a medium of academic communica-tion, publishing discipline-specific as well as interdisciplinary contributions and discussions. Our aim is to provide an interdisciplinary perspective on the relationship of religion(s), society, and politics. We welcome theoretical and empirical (both quantitative and qualitative) articles with a social science perspective. The journal explicitly responds to a current academic, social and political interest in religion, its contexts, consequences and scientific and quotidian interpretations.

Submission guidelines
Papers submitted to this special issue are subject to the normal peer-review process and must be prepared in conformity with the journal’s submission guidelines. Manuscripts must be submitted online through the website of the journal:
https://www.springer.com/social+sciences/sociology/journal/41682.
Manuscripts in English or German can range from 60,000 to 80,000 characters (including spaces as well as text, footnotes, and references).