About This Journal

General Information

The mission statement for Claritas is the following: The Focolare’s life and thought, dialogues and initiatives provide the inspiration for this interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, online/open access academic journal. Claritas also seeks to facilitate critical and constructive dialogue among scholars from all research disciplines and encourages cross-disciplinary and intercultural collaboration.

Exploring the “life and thought, dialogues and initiatives” inspired by the Focolare vision of unity means that Claritas is interested in being a vehicle for the publication of research on all consonant topics. Claritas is published semiannually in March and October. Its first issue appeared in March 2012.

Topic Guidelines

Of special interest is analytical and constructive original research on, but not limited to, the following:

Intellectual and cultural topics in fields such as theology, philosophy, ethics, law, the arts, the natural and social sciences, psychology, spirituality and economics

Christian traditions and ecumenical dialogue

Religious traditions of the world and interreligious dialogue

Contemporary cultures, intercultural dialogue, and building a “culture of unity”

Claritas also publishes literary work, essays, interviews, book reviews, and proceedings of conferences, as well as news and views.

Subject Guidelines

Examples of possible subject areas and subjects within disciplines include, but are not limited to:

The Arts: aesthetics, intercultural dialogue in music, artistic formation and community, theology and the arts, the place of art in religious traditions, the creative process, art and religion

Biblical studies: Biblical exegesis, methodology, Biblical theology (especially covenant, people of God, journey, unity, dialogue and the Paschal mystery), New Testament Christology and portraits of early Christian community, comparative literature, philology, archaeology, ancient Near Eastern studies

Business: the economy of communion, corporate strategy and culture, human resources and integral development, ethical supply chain management, business ethics and corporate citizenship, responsible consumer affairs and responsible investment

Communications: dialogue, media ethics, media ecology, religious narrative, rhetorical theory, listening, intercultural and interpersonal communications

Economics: behavioral economics, redistribution, theories of justice, happiness, institutional frameworks, social policies, collective action, civil economy, gratuity, religion and economics

Ecumenism: models of church unity, spiritual ecumenism, fellowship and cooperation, ecclesiology, the church as communion and mystical body of Christ, Biblical exegesis relating to communion, receptive communion, dialogue of life, Jesus crucified and forsaken and ecumenism, Jesus in the midst

Education: philosophy of education, teacher development and instruction, evaluation and assessment, social and cultural educational context, policy studies, religion and education, administration and leadership, education and social justice, counseling and human development, value education, relationality in education

Ethics: Biblical ethics, comparative religious ethics, meta-ethics, normative and applied ethics, moral psychology, bioethics, environmental ethics, business ethics, morality and the arts, virtue ethics, happiness and the good, ethics and society, biomedical ethics, ethics in engineering and technology, morality and spiritual growth

Interreligious Dialogue: theology of religions, dialogues of life and action, theological and spiritual dialogues, dialogue and practice, lay movements and dialogue, specific dialogues between world religions, dialogical developments within religions

Law: private law, international law, comparative law, constitutional law, criminal law and restorative justice, procedure, professional ethics, law and culture, law and society, law and religion, relationships in law

Mathematics: foundations of mathematics, logic, philosophy of mathematics

Philosophy: the question of being; philosophical anthropology; the problem of evil; epistemology of religious experience; metaphysics; substance and relation; virtue ethics; the nature of the good; issues of gender, race, and ethnicity

Political Science: political theory, political theology, political philosophy, ethics and politics, history of political ideas, comparative politics, international relations, civilization studies, global governance

Psychology: reciprocity in human relationships, suffering and personal growth, human identity and potential, social psychology, psychology and culture, psychology and religion, psychotherapy and spirituality, group dynamics,

Science: religion and science, cosmology, scientific methodology and epistemology, evolutionary biology, ecology, environmental ethics, biotechnology and biomedical ethics, philosophy of science and mathematics, computer science and informatics

Sociology: sociology of religion, sociology of social processes, social policy, sociology of economy, sociology of history, sociology of social and religious movements

Spirituality: individual and communal spirituality, stages of spiritual growth, contemplation and action, spiritual guidance, sanctity and perfection in the spiritual life, spiritual theology, asceticism and mysticism, charisms and spiritual movements throughout history

Theology: fundamental theology, revelation and faith, Trinitarian studies, theological anthropology, soteriology, Christology (especially Jesus crucified and forsaken, and Jesus risen among us), pneumatology, Mariology, ecclesiology, eschatology, patristics, charism and sacrament, sanctification, unity, modalities of the presence of God, theology of religions