International Thomas Merton Society

 at the

College English Association

54TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE 

Sonesta Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square

1800 Market Street / Philadelphia

March 27-29, 2025

Call for Papers

An allied organization of the College English Association (CEA), the International Thomas Merton Society (ITMS) will be sponsoring one or more panels at the annual CEA Conference next March 27-29, as well as recommending individual proposals for other concurrent sessions.  Overarching theme of the Conference: FREEDOM

Suggested lines of inquiry (but only suggested):

         • Merton's commitment to the freedom of the True Self

         • Merton's paradox --"the four walls of my new freedom"

         • Merton's poetry: "Eight Freedom Songs" (+ music for 4 by A. Peloquin)

         • Finnegan's Wake and Joyce's influence on Merton's macaronic verse

         • Merton and Eckhart on human freedom

         • Merton’s “Witness to Freedom” [letters]

         • Freedom from what and for what?

You are invited to submit a title and proposal (200-500 words) for a 6-8 page paper (15 minute presentation time) and encouraged to contact Monica Weis SSJ (mweis9@naz.edu) for directions on how to submit your proposal to the CEA data base and how to negotiate your CEA membership ($50) due by January 2025.

Deadline for electronic proposals is November 1, 2024

Online submission site: http://cea-web.org   (site opens August 15)

                                         https://www.conftool.pro/cea2025

The annual CEA Conference is a wonderfully congenial gathering of 400+ scholar-teachers committed to literature, writing, college teaching, and related fields.