From the Editor

This special issue, "Shaping Christian Politics in Late Antiquity," which has been curated by Richard Flower, Meaghan McEvoy, and Robin Whelan, collects seven revised and peer-reviewed papers originally delivered at a conference hosted in June 2019 at the University of Liverpool. As detailed in this issue's Introduction, these superb studies develop innovative approaches to a series of problems relating to Christian politics during Late Antiquity. As a collective, they thus epitomize this journal's robust tradition of showcasing cutting-edge, methodologically sophisticated work by everyone from early-career researchers to more established scholars.

This issue also is my tenth and final one as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Late Antiquity. Beginning in January 2023, the chief editorship will be assumed by Professor Sabine Huebner of the University of Basel, who has contributed substantially to the journal's mission as both an author and Review Editor. As of January 1, all article submissions and correspondence should be sent to her at sabine.huebner@unibas.ch.

Since the beginning of my five-year term, JLA has published 84 articles which have derived from a total of 235 submissions, with an average acceptance rate of 35.7%. These manuscripts were sent by 164 male and 71 female authors, making the submission population 70% male and 30% female. Of the articles published or accepted, 48 were by male and 36 by female authors, yielding a gender rate of acceptance of 57% male and 43% female. The journal has also published three special issues during my tenure:13.1 "The Muses and Leisure in Sidonius Apollinaris"; 14.1 "Envisioning the Roman Emperor in Speech and Word in Late Antiquity"; and the current issue, 15.2 "Shaping Christian Politics in Late Antiquity." Because most of the papers submitted with these issues' original dossiers were accepted, they artificially inflate the perceived acceptance rate of JLA relative to the rate from open submission. Open and unsolicited submissions to JLA numbered 212, of which 61 were published, bringing the actual acceptance rate from open submission to 28.7%.

During its first ten years (2008–17), this journal rapidly became a premier international venue for late antique studies, thanks in no small part to the herculean labors and outstanding stewardship of both Ralph Mathisen (JLA's founding editor) and Noel Lenski. As a marker of its standing within the broader field, JLA has been honored with an impressive number of awards through the years, including most recently in 2019, under my editorship, the prestigious Codex Award, which is bestowed once per year by the Council of Editors of Learned Journals in recognition of excellence in a journal that covers any subject before 1500 (JLA previously had garnered this award in 2013).

JLA's core mission since its founding fifteen years ago is to provide comprehensive, multi-disciplinary coverage of Late Antiquity in all of its topical dimensions: society, culture, politics, religion, literature, art, etc. The past ten issues, like the twenty that preceded them, exemplify this "big tent" approach to the late antique world, and they mirror well the diversified interests of our ever-evolving field. The specialized studies featured in their pages make significant advances in their target research, often formulating novel solutions to long-vexing problems or newly-identified conundra. They represent a rich variety of subdisciplines—from papyrology, epigraphy, textual criticism, numismatics, and archaeology, to the history of society, politics, economics, literature, law, religion, medicine, art, and the environment. They engage critically with written sources that reflect the colorful linguistic palette of the late antique Mediterranean region (Coptic, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, etc.), and they transport us to Africa, the Middle East, the British Isles, Gaul, Hispania, Germania, Italy, the Balkans, and many other locales.

Reflecting back on the past half-decade, I am very proud of all of JLA's accomplishments, especially as we forged ahead in the face of a global pandemic which upended life as we all had known it. I am as acutely aware as ever that JLA has flourished, and will continue to flourish, thanks to a corporate effort, and so it is only fitting that I close my...