While the Dead Sea Scrolls brought to light an abundance of new prayer texts, hymns, liturgical, and apotropaic texts, these are not the only scrolls that provide evidence of ritualized practices, performative actions, and collective coordination of action. For the special topic of the IOQS meeting, we welcome both papers that consider liturgy, ritual, and performance from new theoretical angles, and papers that investigate other scrolls and genres (halakhah and rules; calendars and astronomical texts; wisdom and narrative texts; commentaries, etc.) from ritual or performance perspectives. We also welcome papers that seek to relate liturgical and poetic scrolls to other genres or specific scrolls to further our understanding of the ritual life in the movement of the scrolls and Second Temple Judaism or of the scribal practices that produced these intellectual connections. We recognize that genre categories are fluid and non-fixed and open to investigation themselves.

IOQS wishes to encourage scholars and PhD candidates at all levels who are working on the topic to propose a paper for the meeting. Papers that are directly related to the topic of the meeting will be considered for publication in a corresponding volume of the STDJ series. In addition, those working on other topics are encouraged to submit papers on any area of Qumran studies for one or more open sessions.

In IOQS 2022, we will also experiment with a new “workshop” format for one or two sessions. Workshop session participants will circulate a short (2,000‒3,000 word) written version of their paper in advance. In the session, participants will briefly summarize their main points (5 min), with the remaining time for remarks from a designated respondent and audience discussion. This format is meant to maximize participation, scholarly exchange, and productive feedback. Any scholar is eligible to participate in the workshop sessions, and participation is completely voluntary. If you are interested in presenting your paper in this workshop format, please indicate that in your submitted abstract (by adding “Workshop session” in the proposal).

Paper proposals should be sent with the following information: name, academic institution, paper title, and an abstract of no more than 250 words. Abstracts should include a clearly formulated research question, hypothesis, or argument, and (with the special topic) explicit mention of the sources that will be discussed and/or of the theories or theoretical framework employed.

Proposals should be submitted by 28 Feb, 2022 via the IOSOT Zürich website "Call for Short papers" (https://www.iosot2022.uzh.ch/en/Call-for-Short-Papers.html). For any questions, please contact IOQS president, Jutta Jokiranta, jutta.jokiranta(at)helsinki.fi, or secretary Molly Zahn, mzahn(at)ku.edu. Proposals will be reviewed and accepted or rejected by the IOQS Executive Committee. If your proposal is accepted, you are required register for the IOSOT/IOQS (early bird 12 June).