Peter Ochs, February 2000
We propose an international network of electronic or "web" journals focusing on the work of two societies of religious philosophers: the Society of Textual Reasoning (STR) and the Society of Scriptural Reasoning (SSR). STR studies the kinds of reasoning that emerge from rabbinic scriptural commentary and Talmudic hermeneutics. Its goals are to replace reductive, western methodologies in Jewish studies with methods of inquiry based on indigenous patterns of intra-textual interpretation. SSR studies the kinds of reasoning that emerge from out of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities of scriptural commentary and interpretation.
1. The International Web of TR/SSR Web Journals(IWW): We propose that the IWW will stimulate and coordinate the activities of five or six semi-independent web journals, each of them patterned after the web journal of Textual Reasoning. We are now in the process of assembling editorial teams for web journals to be based in each of the following countries: England, Germany/Switzerland, France, Netherlands, and Israel, along with a new e-journal for Scriptural Reasoning to be based in the USA. These journals will be sisters to the existing Textual Reasoning. which will remain the "flag ship" or "mother" journal of the IWW. Each of these web journals will share in the general concern to reexamine scriptural textuality and to refashion academic studies of religion after the demise of the reductive, modern paradigms of religious studies.
At the same time, the directions of each journal will vary according to the specific interests of its constituencies. At present, for example, the American Textual Reasoning journal focuses primarily on the rabbinic text studies and philosophies of interest to STR; we would expect the Israeli journal to have a similar focus. The English and German/Swiss journals, however, would most likely integrate the interests of SSR and STR: perhaps presenting as much work in Christian scriptural reasoning as in Jewish reasonings. A French journal might specialize in the connections of SSR and STR to recent developments in continental postmodern thought; for that matter, a German journal might also be expected to emphasize Frankfurt School interests. Each of these journals would have its own staff of indigenous editors, who would remain in close contact with the other journals, as coordinated by the directors of the IWW. The American journal might also represent in its own journal contributions from the other journals; this activity might be reciprocal to some extent.
One of our goals is to link together under one electronic umbrella all the world's scholars dedicated to "postcritical" theology: this refers both to so-called "Yale school" Christian thinkers and complementary groups of Anglican scholars, to the "postmodern" Jewish text scholars and philosophers (many of the philosophers are students of the work of Franz Rosenweig and Emmanuel Levinas), and to parallel movements among Muslim text philosophers. We hope that our home page, with links to all e-journals in this family of theologies, would also develop links to all publishers of books by members of this family. One example is Westview Press/Perseus, which now publishes a book-series dedicated to postcritical theology: "Radical Traditions" (coedited by Stanley Hauerwas and Peter Ochs).
2. An Advisory Committee of Journal Editors:We propose that the editorial advisory board for the IWW as a whole be composed of editors of supporting hard copy journals. For example, we have already contacted the editors of Textual Reasoning, Modern Theology, The Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, Shofar and Cross Currents. Other journal participants would also be welcome, such as the Journal of Religion, and Judaism. We propose that the supporting journal editors would agree to some arrangement like the following. All essays that appear in any of the IWW journals would be considered submissions to the supporting hard copy journals as well. We would encourage contributors to the IWW journals to submit only drafts of essays they might revise or expand later. We would encourage supporting journal editors to review the material that appears on the web journals and to submit, to the IWW, requests to publish any essays of interest to them. The IWW would then extend invitations to individual authors to submit revised and expanded essays to a specific hard copy journal. (The IWW mediation would enable us to avoid any conflict or competition of interest among the supporting journals). The supporting journal editors would then be invited to make strong suggestions to the various web journals about the kinds of essays they would like to see appear.
We would hope that this collaboration among hard copy journal editors would anticipate innovations that might otherwise appear in about ten years in our field: a consortium of web journals stimulating and integrating the work of scholars internationally. We hope this approach would both expand local activities within the national base of each individual journal and, at the same time, stimulate discussion across national borders. Should the model succeed, it would be very easy to help develop comparable, local web journals in other countries across the globe.
3. Dates: Efforts to develop the IWW began in December 1999. We would hope to start up the coordinating website for the IWW in September 2000. The American e-journal, Textual Reasoning, has already been in publication for ten years. We would expect the new, international web journals to have inaugural publication dates in the winter of 2000/2001.
At present the executive members of these societies are as follows:
The STR (Society for Textual Reasoning):
a) conveners, Kepnes/Ochs.
b) treasurer: Kepnes
c) membership coordinator: Zank
d) Council of Editors (TR web, TR hard, & IWW): Shaul Magid, Steven Kepnes, Michael Zank, Peter Ochs, Aryeh Cohen, Nancy Levene.
e) Executive Members: Michael Zank, Shaul Magid, Nancy Levene, Aryeh Cohen, Pter Ochs, Robert Gibbs, Steven Kepnes, Laurie Zoloth, Zachary Braiterman, Randi Rashkover, Robert Goldenberg, Susan Shapiro, Michael Carasik, Elliot Wolfson, Martin Kavka, Leora Batnitsky, Pinchas Giller, Ben Summer, Denise Kimber-Buhl.The SSR (Society for Scriptual Reasoning):
Kurt Richardson (Convener), Daniel Hardy, David Ford, Peter Ochs, Elliot Wolfson, Kris Lindbeck, William Elkins, and others.
At present the STR oversees a web journal, Textual Reasoning, co-edited by Aryeh Cohen and Nancy Levene with a large staff of associate editors. The web journal is in its tenth year (founding editor was Peter Ochs; Michael Zank was executive editor for the past three years); the journal's website was based initially at Drew University, then at the Jewish Theological Seminary, then at Boston University, and now at the University of Judaism at Los Angeles. The journal has an online membership of, at present, three hundred, who participate in a list-serve chat line and the electronic journal, whose issues are published online quarterly. The journal also holds an annual meeting along side the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion. The agenda of the annual meeting is to respond to text studies that have been presented in the previous months on the Textual Reasoning web.
In the coming year, the STR will also generate a hard copy Journal of Textual Reasoning to be co-edited by Steven Kepnes and Shaul Magid, with an editorial staff drawn from the STR membership listed above. Discussions with potential publishers are ongoing.The journal will receive its submissions primarily through the Textual Reasoning web journal, and we propose, through the international web of webs.
The SSR offers a national website, connected as a hyperlink to the website of the Drew Society for Scriptural Reasoning. The SSR website is managed by William Elkins and housed at Drew University. Mr. Elkins will co-edit a new SSR web-journal.
Peter Ochs
Bronfman Professor of Modern Judaic Studies
University of Virginia
Department of Religious Studies
Charlottesville, VA 22903
(804) 924-6718; fax: (804) 924-1467
pochs@virginia.edu
Michael Zank, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Religion
Boston University
745 Commonwealth Ave
Boston MA 02215 - USA
Tel: (617)353-4434
Fax: (617)353-5441
http://www.bu.edu/mzank
The above proposal was accepted by the executive members of STR on March 5, 2000.