CfP for a Special Issue in the journal ‘Religions’ on “Polemics and Conversion: Setting and Crossing Boundaries in Medieval Jewish-Christian Relations”

PD Dr Eveline Brugger (Institute for Jewish History in Austria) will edit a special issue entitled “Polemics and Conversion: Setting and Crossing Boundaries in Medieval Jewish–Christian Relations” for the journal Religion. The issue invites contributions examining the significance of polemics, conversion, or their interplay in shaping medieval Jewish–Christian relations from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.”

Deadline for Abstract Submission: 28.02.2026

Deadline for Manuscript Submissions: 15 November 2026

“The thematic approach is intentionally broad; both general investigations as well as comparative or specific case studies from the fields of Jewish studies, theology, religious studies, history, art history and literary studies as well as interdisciplinary approaches are welcome. Potential research areas include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

  • Christian anti-Jewish polemics in both ecclesiastical and secular contexts
  • Anti-Christian Jewish polemics
  • Reception and impact of polemics
  • The role of polemics in connection with anti-Jewish violence
  • Ecclesiastical and rabbinical approaches to the topic of conversion
  • Legal aspects of conversion
  • Involuntary conversion and forced baptism
  • The impact of conversion on Jewish individuals, families and communities
  • Christian and Jewish attitudes toward converts
  • Regretted conversion and return to the original religion”

For further information, please follow the link to the Special Issue Website at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/4191823F07

The submission deadline is 15 November 2026. Manuscript submission is possible at any time until the deadline. Submitted papers should be at least 5000 words and not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. If you are interested in submitting a manuscript, please send a proposed title and an abstract of 200-300 words to the Guest Editor (eveline.brugger@injoest.ac.at) by 28 February 2026.

Religions (ISSN 2077-1444) is fully open access and peer-reviewed. The journal is abstracted and indexed by Scopus, AHCI, DOAJ. The Article Processing Charge of Religions is set at 1800 CHF for papers accepted after peer review. The publisher has publishing agreements with many universities and other institutions (https://www.mdpi.com/ioap), so please check with your university or institution about any available funding. Should funding be limited, please don’t hesitate to let the Guest Editor know because a partial or complete reduction of the fee for invited authors may be possible.

For further details on the submission process, please see the instructions for authors at the journal website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/instructions.

For any questions, please contact the Guest Editor at eveline.brugger@injoest.ac.at.


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Franziska Kleybolte (November 24, 2025). CfP for a Special Issue in the journal ‘Religions’ on “Polemics and Conversion: Setting and Crossing Boundaries in Medieval Jewish-Christian Relations” medievalJewishStudiesNow! Retrieved March 7, 2026 from https://doi.org/10.58079/1571g


About Franziska Kleybolte

After completing her studies in History and Art History in Munich, Pisa, Tel Aviv, and Oxford, Franziska Kleybolte began her PhD at the Cluster of Excellence ‘Religion and Politics’ at the University of Münster, which she is now finalizing. Her doctoral research examines the phenomenon of synagogue-to-church conversions in late medieval Castile. Currently, she is a research assistant in the Jewish Studies Department at the University of Münster, where she teaches undergraduate courses, and at the Bet Tfila Research Centre for Jewish Architecture at the Technical University of Braunschweig, where she develops a teaching network in Jewish Heritage Studies. Her research focuses on Jewish-Christian relations in medieval Europe and their reflection in material culture, as well as the application of postcolonial concepts to premodern contexts. In January 2026, she will join the research project “Contending with Crises” (Hebrew University, lead by Prof. Elisheva Baumgarten) as a postdoctoral fellow, focusing on Jewish responses to spatial crises in Iberia and Ashkenaz.