The Unitarian Christian Alliance is pleased to announce a call for papers to be presented at our conference at Lakeshore Bible Church in Tempe, Arizona, October 22nd-24th, 2026. (Watch this blog for the opening of registration.)
- The paper submission deadline is the end of the day (US Eastern Standard time) on Saturday, August 15, 2026. Please do not submit multiple papers. Submissions will be blind-reviewed by a committee.
- We are looking for scholarly (or at least: clear, informed, insightful, and well-argued) papers which are also accessible to an educated lay audience on topics which can advance the cause of unitarian Christianity. Previous conference presentations can be seen on YouTube and some model papers are referenced here.
- Topics may include but are not limited to: biblical theology, systematic theology, biblical studies, textual criticism, history of theology, history of unitarian Christianity, apologetics, Christian philosophy, analytic theology.
- Authors may submit (and if accepted, present) even if they are neither a member of the UCA nor a unitarian Christian.
- Paper submissions must conform to the Chicago Manual of Style (Notes and Bibliography style, with footnotes and bibliography).
- A fully written paper must be submitted; an outline or proposal is not enough.
- The main text should be no longer than 6,000 words, so that the presentation is no longer than 45 minutes. Submitted papers longer than 6,000 (in the main text–not including footnotes) will be automatically rejected.
- Authors should plan on about 10 minutes of audience Q&A after their talk. Papers may be read, although authors are encouraged to present the material in an engaging way.
- Conference presentations will be video-recorded and may be posted on the UCA YouTube channel, and our social media committee may also snip out interesting “sound bites” for short videos. By submitting a paper, you agree that your presentation may be filmed and used in these ways by the Unitarian Christian Alliance
- After removing any self-identifying features (such as your name and references to your other work), please email your submission to conference@unitarianchristianalliance.org. When submitting, please indicate your country of residence. We especially encourage submissions from new presenters. Our conference coordinator will ensure that the papers are suitable for blind review and then pass them on to the committee.
- Decisions will be emailed to authors by the end of Tuesday, August 25, 2026.
Also, if you are planning on attending the conference and you are interested in leading a practical workshop (as opposed to a scholarly presentation) please contact the conference organizers with your idea at conference@unitarianchristianalliance.org.