The College of Religion is seeking proposals this month for the 2009 Sydney B. Sperry Symposium. Proposals, due April 28, should address next year's theme of how the Old Testament teaches of Christ.

"We invite proposals that demonstrate a scholarly exploration of ways in which the Old Testament teaches of Jesus Christ and His gospel," said Patty Smith, a supervisor in The College Religious Education. "Only papers fully grounded in the Old Testament will be considered. The proposed research is expected to make an original contribution to our understanding of the Old Testament."

The theme of the symposium alternates among the four standard works.

"We want to show that the gospel is visible and present in the Old Testament," said Kelly Ogden, co-chair of the symposium committee.

Proposals must be no more than one page and written in essay form, including the following

* The central question the research aims to answer

* A preliminary thesis

* A brief bibliography

* A brief statement of the writer's experience or training

Proposals must also include researcher's name, occupation, address, phone number, e-mail address and working title.

Those wishing to participate can submit their proposals electronically as an attached Word, WordPerfect or PDF document to patty_smith@byu.edu.

The College of Religious Education will notify participants of their proposal's status by June 2, 2008. Final drafts, from 15 to 25 pages in length, will be due Oct. 6, 2008.