Greetings,

We are excited to announce that we will be officially accepting nominations on a bi-annual basis and therefore are calling for nominations and self- nominations for Contributing Scholars for our online forum, State of Formation.

State of Formation is a community conversation between young leaders in formation. Together, a cohort of seminarians, rabbinical students, graduate students and the like – the future religious and moral leaders of tomorrow – will work to redefine the ethical discourse today, particularly as it is used to refract current events and personal experiences. This initiative is supported by a partnership between the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions (CPWR), Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue (JIRD), Hebrew College, and Andover Newton Theological School.

Over the past year, emerging religious and ethical leaders from around the country have engaged readers around the world by sharing their stories and views on State of Formation. Conversations once dominated by established leaders are now readily embraced by the up-and-comers, and accessible to contributors from many different moral, faith, political, economic, and social backgrounds.

Over the past six months, State of Formation staffs have worked to identify Regional Associations in Chicago, Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, San Francisco, Richmond, and Nashville. These groups strive to showcase the strong work happening within local communities across the country while fostering better relationships between emerging leaders. Through this process, we hope to provide resources for enhancing dialogues across the country in addition to creating a sense of community for State of Formation contributors.

Contributing Scholars to State of Formation will be able to take advantage of the numerous benefits to participating in the State of Formation Contributing Scholars Fellowship. In addition to being recognized as a Contributing Scholar by JIRD and CPWR, they may be eligible for travel grants and may have their work featured in articles on additional platforms like CPWR’s website, PeaceNext, The Huffington Post, Interfaith Youth Core, Pluralism Project, Interfaith Observer, and Tikkun.

Nominees should be currently enrolled in a seminary, rabbinical school, graduate program, or another institution for theological or philosophical formation — or up to three years out of their graduate program in a professional setting. (On rare occasions, exceptions will be made to these guidelines in order to increase the diversity of the writers.)  Emerging leaders from both within and outside of the regional groups are encouraged to apply.

Does this describe you or an emerging leader you know? Please take a moment to fill out our brief nomination form. Nominations for the spring are due March 15, 2012 and will be accepted on a rolling basis.

Sincerely,

Honna Eichler, Managing Director of State of Formation at the Journal for Inter-Religious Dialogue.