The Journal of Ecclesiastical History's remit is an expansive one: we publish and review original research into the history of Christianity broadly conceived, from the ancient world to the present, throughout the world, extending to every variant of Christianity and every historical subdiscipline. However, the shifting currents of academic attention and the traditions which the Journal itself has built up mean that our coverage is not uniformly spread. In itself, this is to be welcomed. The Journal has particular fields of longstanding strength, and we will always be ready to publish high-quality fresh work in those fields.
However, there are times when the Journal's natural mix of subjects needs to be stirred a little. For example, in 2012 we decided to encourage further submissions in the area of early Christian history through the provision of the annual Eusebius Essay Prize (see p. 264). More recently, we as editors and the Advisory Editorial Board have been concerned to improve the Journal's coverage of the history of Christianity beyond the Mediterranean and North Atlantic worlds. We have been actively seeking to improve the scope of our reviewing in these fields, and also to encourage the submission of outstanding research articles from leading authorities and from rising young scholars.
Some of the early fruits of this effort can be seen in this number of the Journal, in the shape of James Fujitani's article on the early Jesuit mission to Japan, and David Kirkpatrick's article on the Ecuadorean Evangelical theologian René Padilla. There are more to come in scheduled future numbers of the Journal. However, we continue to encourage scholars of Christianity's history outside Europe and North America both to draw relevant books for review to our attention, and also to continue to submit first-rate research articles for publication.
In order further to encourage this, and on the model of our previous initiative, we would like to announce an annual World Christianities Essay Prize, which like the Eusebius prize will be worth £500. This will be awarded to the best essay submitted on any aspect of the history of Christianity beyond Europe and North America since the year 700. Scholars in any relevant discipline, regardless of seniority, are encouraged to enter the competition. As with all articles submitted to the Journal, submissions should not exceed 8,000 words, including footnotes. Submissions for the inaugural prize should be received by 30 March 2017, and we would hope to publish the winning entry in the January 2018 number of the Journal. Full details will be provided in the next number.
