Mick has traced the beginning of the idea for what Kairos would become to a conversation between he and Becky Rickly, which took place on the way to a Hootie and the Blowfish concert in East Lansing, Michigan. It occurs to me that the term from which the journal takes its title is also, like the journal, not constrained by linearity: I am writing this webtext now in East Lansing, Michigan, which I consider to be both the right time and right place for this activity. But as Philip Sipiora notes in his interview with Krista Homicz Millar, "Kairos" contains a multiplicity of meanings: "For the ancient Greeks, kairos was a master concept, transcending disciplines, and was no less significant than logos" ("the Opportune").
Two of the most often-asked questions about the journal relate to its title: "What does Kairos mean?" and "Why was it named 'Kairos'"?
Mick does an excellent job of explaining this in "Layers of Meaning" -- a piece that was curiously never published in an issue of the journal, but was originally linked from the main page. Mick suggests that Eric Charles White's (1987) definition of "kairos" served as the progenitor for the name:
"Kairos is an ancient Greek word that means "the right moment'" or "the opportune." The two meanings of the word apparently come from two different sources" (13).
As you may have surmised from the title of this webtext, these two sources are archery and weaving. More...
