Martyria I Call for Papers

For the first edition of Martyria: Student Journal of the St Andrews School of Divinity (formerly The Heretic), we are seeking for student papers that engage with one or more of the following areas within Divinity:

•    Biblical Studies and Languages
•    Systematic Theology and Philosophical Theology
•    Historical Theology and Church History
•    Religion and its intersections with Politics or Science

Before making a submission, authors must ensure that their papers conform to the following guidelines:

(1)    Authored by undergraduate students; mature students completing their first taught Divinity degree (e.g., BD or MDiv) who have not previously earned a Divinity qualification; or recent graduates who have not yet completed a year of a second Divinity degree. We welcome contributors from other disciplines so long their papers engage with the areas listed above.

(2)    Submissions may originate as university coursework but need not do so. If graded by your institution, accepted submissions will generally have received a first-class grade (letter grade A), though this is not a strict requirement.

(3)    Between 2,000 and 5,000 words long, excluding bibliography and abstract.

(4)    Include an abstract of no longer than 300 words.

(5)    Anonymized for double-blind peer-review.

(6)    Submitted as a single Microsoft Word document (.docx) containing a title page, abstract, main text, and bibliography. 

(7)    Formatted, styled, and referenced according to The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. (University of Chicago Press, 2017). However, British spelling conventions following the Oxford English Dictionary should be followed.

(8)    As the Chicago Manual forms the basis of referencing in Biblical Studies, submissions in this area should also consult The SBL Handbook of Style, 2nd ed. (SBL Press, 2014) for discipline-specific referencing (but not formatting or style).

Please submit your work using the OJS submission portal found here by 16th January, 2026, 11:45 PM. 

We invite and strongly encourage submissions from undergraduates, recent gradutes, and early postgraduates. Please note that, often, the publication of accepted submissions will be contingent on them undergoing certain revisions. Any questions can be sent to martyriajournal@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Key dates:
•    Fri, 16 Jan: Submission deadline
•    Mon, 2 Mar: 1st round—Acceptance/Rejections
•    Sun, 22 Mar: 2nd (final) round—Resubmission deadline
•    Mon, 6 Apr: 2nd round—Acceptance/Rejections
•    Sun, 27 Apr: Final resubmission, author's bio sent
•    Mon, 25 May: Final publication

Blessings,

Wilson Sugeng and Maria de Feo
Martyria Senior Editors