Call for Papers: 2014 Southeastern Meeting of the Conference on Christianity and Literature
Palm Beach Atlantic University, April 3-5, 2014
West Palm Beach, FL

Conference theme: "Imagining Paradise"

Located on the Intracoastal Waterway about one mile from the coastline of Palm Beach Island, Palm Beach Atlantic University will host the 2014 southeastern regional meeting of the CCL and presents as its theme, "Imagining Paradise."

Paradise is a subject that has stirred the imaginations of writers for millennia while simultaneously exceeding the scope of artistic representation itself. Poets, playwrights, and novelists have been inspired to describe in various ways that which is indescribable. Language can only approximate visions of paradise occasioned by mystical experiences such as spiritual awakenings, ecstasies, and epiphanies. Conference organizers invite papers that explore how literary artists imagine paradise, from abstract images of height and light to concrete images of sublime mountain peaks and lush seascapes. Papers are also welcome that investigate literary depictions of paradise's dark opposite, hell, and its penitential proving grounds, purgatory. Papers with Blakean ambitions might even explore convergences between heaven and hell.

Please send 400-500 word abstracts to Dr. Sam Joeckel at: SAMUEL_JOECKEL@pba.edu. The deadline to submit an abstract is Friday, January 17, 2014. For further information contact Lisa_Marzano@pba.edu.